A rehab appearance by Derek Jeter helped the Trenton Thunder (Class AA; Eastern League) draw 9,212 fans on Sunday, July 3 to set a new franchise record for single-game attendance, surpassing the 9,134 fans that attended Roger Clemens appearance in a Thunder uniform on May 23, 2007.
Jeter played the second of a two-game rehab assignment on Sunday. His rehabilition assignment drew a total of 18,214 fans to Mercer County Waterfront Park this weekend. This two-day total is more than any other back-to-back games in franchise history, besting May 9 and May 10, 2003 in which Derek Jeter rehabbed with the Thunder (17,190 total).
“This has been an amazing weekend for the greater Trenton region,” said Thunder General Manager Will Smith. “We can’t thank ours fans enough for coming out to see this future Hall-of-Famer and making this such a special time to be at the ballpark.”
The new top ten highest Waterfront Park attendances are listed below.
1) 9,212 – 7/3/11 Derek Jeter Rehab assignment
2) 9,134 – 5/23/07 Roger Clemens Rehab assignment
3) 9,002 – 7/2/11 Derek Jeter Rehab assignment
4) 8,729 – 5/10/03 Derek Jeter Rehab assignment
5) 8,602 – 5/27/98 Exhibition vs. Boston Red Sox
6) 8,461 – 5/9/03 Derek Jeter Rehab assignment
7) 8,380 – 5/7/03 Derek Jeter Rehab assignment
8) 8,369 – 6/8/96 Exhibition – Double A All-Star Game
9) 8,242 – 7/4/03 Bernie Williams Rehab assignment
10) 8,128 – 8/5/06 Robinson Cano Rehab assignment
Being bumped from the top ten list this weekend were the crowd of 8,072 that came out on September 9, 2010 to see Andy Pettitte in a rehab assignment and the crowd of 7,994 on August 13, 2009 for a regular season game against the Reading Phillies (Philadelphia Phillies affiliate).
The Thunder wasn’t the only record setter in the league this past weekend: the Altoona Curve drew a season-best 7,920 fans on Independence Day at Blair County Ballpark.
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