Archives: April 2-8, 2005
Beginning today, touch history, savor the past
Posted April 8, 2005
These are heady days for the St. Louis Cardinals: the team is playing its final year at Busch Stadium, preparing for a move to a new ballpark next year, and significantly expanding its regional presence with the establishment of the Springfield Cardinals (Class AA; Texas League). This afternoon the Cardinals will open at Busch for the last time, as the construction of the new ballpark past right field looms over the proceedings at Busch. There was a lot of affection for Sportsman’s Park in the old days; you probably won’t see that same level of affection for cookie-cutter Busch in the future, though some may beg to differ.
Minor-league ballpark brings major-league smiles
Posted April 8, 2005
It was a sellout crowd last night at Manchester’s Fisher Cars Ballpark, the home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Class AA; Eastern League). Despite some horrendous traffic jams outside the ballpark and some long lines within, fans at the game seemed pretty pleased with the new ballpark: the concourses are wide and covered, and there are some pretty good views of downtown Manchester.
State refuses to play ball
Posted April 8, 2005
The chances of a state sales-tax rebate being awarded to the Florida Marlins decreased significantly in the past days when Senate President Tom Lee reported Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga had no intention of booting the Marlins from Dolphins Stadium (despite a public letter to the contrary) and a state legislative economist testified there were few economic benefits from public funding of sports facilities. The view among some is that Florida should call MLB’s bluff and see if the Marlins will move. Probably not a good idea to call a bluff when a gambler like Oscar Goodman has a hand at the table, however. More from the Washington Post.
Conroe council taking "wait and see" approach to minor league baseball team
Posted April 8, 2005
Southern Independent Baseball LLC, the owner of the Shreveport Sports (independent; Central Baseball League), is working with Conroe (Texas) officials regarding a new ballpark for a new Central League team. The proposal calls for a public-private partnership for construction of the ballpark, as well as development of surrounding property. The ballpark would be owned by the city and possibly leased to the team for use. For those not familiar with Texas geography, Conroe is located north of Houston; SIB has already approached other cities north of Houston (The Woodlands and Shenandoah) about a ballpark before settling on Conroe.
Lynchburg City Stadium renovations complete
Posted April 8, 2005
Ongoing renovations to City Stadium, the home of the Lynchburg Hillcats (Class A; Carolina League) are finally complete as the team prepares for their season opener. The team added six more skyboxes and a new message center above right-center field this past offseason (costing the team $750,000), with a total of $7 million spent on improvements. (Thanks to Paul Crumlish.)
Haughian buys Santa Monica Indians
Posted April 8, 2005
Kevin Haughian, formerly GM with the Salinas Spurs (Class A; Pioneer League), Palm Springs Angels (Class A; Pioneer League) and the Lake Elsinore Storm (Class A; Pioneer League), has purchased the Santa Maria Indians, the oldest semi-pro baseball team in California. For the past six years Haughian has worked as CEO and principal owner of the Casper Rockies (rookie; Pioneer League). "I’m looking forward to building on the successes of one of the premier college summer teams in the nation," he says. "My yearly goal will be to compete for an NBC championship in Wichita and to provide the citizens of Santa Maria and central California with affordable family entertainment."
Hungry? You’ll do okay at the ballpark
Posted April 8, 2005
The Washington Nationals announced the concession lineup at RFK Stadium, which will host the season opener on Thursday. There will be more than 50 food vendors, a pre-paid buffet area, and a half-dozen full bars as well as beer stands. Possible future additions include barbecue, burritos and perhaps even Zweigle’s "white hot," an all-pork hot dog. Something cool: a lower-concourse Foggy Bottom bar with murals, vintage photos, a uniformed Nats mannequin and a special beer Bohemian Pilsner on tap. Also, the team received an unexpected boost in its attempt to sell naming rights to the ballpark: Sen. Ted Kennedy says his brother Bobby would have approved of the plan.
With Nats off TV, anger channeled to O’s
Posted April 8, 2005
Tony Tavares and crew have done a pretty decent job whipping up interest in the Washington Nationals, so it’s not a surprise that local fans were upset when the team’s first series games wasn’t televised. Many blame Major League Baseball and Orioles owner Peter Angelos, who collaborated on setting up a regional sports network that — at least so far — has found local outlets for only about half of the Nationals’ 162 games. Fans missed a broadcast of the team’s first victory as well as a record-setting cycle by Brad Wilkerson. Meanwhile, the location of one’s season tickets is beginning to be a real status symbol in status-conscious D.C.
Q&A with A’s new owner Lew Wolff
Posted April 8, 2005
Oakland Athletics fans are hailing new owner Lew Wolff as the savior of the franchise, but a close reading of this interview may give them pause. I mean, here’s opening day, and Wolff can’t be bothered to actually show up to the team’s first game in Baltimore: he watches it via computer from his Los Angeles desk. Add to that the fact that the Fisher family is actually putting up the money for the purchase, and you’ve got to question whether all the optimism is warranted.
Japanese traveling team joins GBL
Posted April 8, 2005
Here’s an interesting way to solve the problem of an uneven number of teams: the independent Golden Baseball League announced the eighth team in its inaugural season will be the Japan Samurai Bears, who will serve as the league’s traveling team. The need for a traveling team came when the league could not procure a lease in Tijuana, forcing the Toros out of business. The Samurai Bears team will truly be an international entourage, consisting of 24 roster players, a coaching staff, trainers and interpreters; managing the team is former MLB player and Japanese League star Warren Cromartie.
Blue Jays deliver new advertising pitch
Posted April 8, 2005
In addition to all the changes planned for Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome) this season, the Toronto Blue Jays are preparing a new marketing pitch that stresses the ballpark experience rather than individual players or winning. The key: attracting more women and casual baseball fans to the ballpark. The team has sold more than 20 luxury boxes for the season — up from just three last year — although the increase is largely because the price was slashed. And the team has sold about 8,300 season tickets — up from 7,000 a couple of years ago.
Braves tackle attendance drop
Posted April 8, 2005
Addressing the same issue are the Atlanta Braves, who have seen attendance at Turner Field drop yearly since the ballpark’s opening. The Braves have made a number of off-the-field changes designed to enhance the experience of coming to the ballpark. They include a new traffic plan, a new kids’ play area under construction, new concessions stands and $12 million worth of new video boards, including the much-talked-about 5,600-square-foot, high-definition screen in center field. Again, the emphasis is on attracting the casual baseball fan to the park.
PCL shoots for 7 million this season
Posted April 8, 2005
Barring some huge collapse, the Class AAA Pacific Coast League should be the first minor-league circuit to draw 7 million fans. The addition of the Round Rock Express will boost the bottom line, while a resolved ownership situation in Portland and ballpark renovations at Colorado Springs should raise attendance in those two cities as well. "Setting our sights on 7-million fans is a terrific indication of where the PCL is today," said League President Branch B. Rickey. "This is a projected increase of almost two million fans in just the past seven years, a real reflection on the health of the Pacific Coast League and Minor League Baseball overall."
Forbes releases annual MLB valuations
Posted April 8, 2005
Forbes Magazine released its annual survey of MLB team valuations. Overall, team values rose 15 percent last year, the biggest gain since Forbes started tracking their finances in 1998. There were three big reasons for the spike: two new ballparks in San Diego and Philadelphia, and the move of the Montreal Expos to Washington, D.C. As you might expect, the Yankees lead the list with a value of $950 million; the Nats increased in value 114 percent to $310 million; and Devil Rays trailed the Minnesota Twins for the bottom spot. Remember, team owners vociferously denounce these rating as being inflated.
Some big leaguers will miss Montreal, if not Expos
Posted April 8, 2005
Though Olympic Stadium wasn’t the best venue for baseball, there are many baseball players who will miss playing in Montreal, either as an Expo or a a visiting player. Expos enjoyed the passion behind the team during its glory years in the 1980s and 1990s, while visiting players enjoyed the European atmosphere of the city as well as the ability to just hang out before games.
This time out, big plans for Battle Creek
Posted April 8, 2005
This year marks the fourth ownership group for the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays (Class A; Midwest League), and the latest group — Fun Entertainment — has been focused on building up the team regionally, adding staff and signing a two-year contract to stay at C.O. Brown Stadium, although the long-term goal is to work on a new ballpark.
Much-needed overhaul starts at L&C Park
Posted April 8, 2005
The Sioux City Explorers (independent; Northern League) are making some changes to Lewis and Clark Park. During the early days of the Northern League Lewis and Clark Park featured the best playing surface in the league, but that position slipped as the turf gradually deteriorated. The Explorers responded by hiring Jim LeMoine, the X’s groundskeeper from 2001, and springing for new turf.
Baseball on a budget
Posted April 8, 2005
Here’s an interesting experiment: the Cleveland Plain Dealer set out to see how much $100 would buy you at Jacobs Field, the home of the Cleveland Indians. All in all, you can eat pretty well at the Jake on a budget: as we noted in our writeup of our Jacobs Field visit, concession prices there tend to be a little lower than average, probably because the market won’t really bear much more.
Busloads of fans prove they’re already hooked
Posted April 8, 2005
If there was any doubt Corpus Christi was ready for a return to affiliated baseball, here’s an interesting fact: Corpus Christi Hooks (Class AA; Texas League) fans flocked to San Antonio by the busload Thursday to be a part of history and to cheer on an era of minor league affiliated baseball for the Coastal Bend area that hasn’t happened since 1959.
B-Tribe’s Charlie Everett plays in Final Four
Posted April 8, 2005
Staff of the Burlington Indians (rookie; Appalachian League) had a special interest in last Monday’s NCAA basketball championship game, as former intern Charlie Everett was on the roster for the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. Everett played in 22 games for the Heels, including a Senior Day start against Duke. He led the team in field goal percentage and three point accuracy, with .625 success rate on 5-8 shooting from the field, and a perfect 1.000 percentage on one shot from behind the arc. The only Burlington Indians intern to ever play in a Final Four, Charlie logged 38 seconds at the end of Carolina’s semifinal defeat of Michigan State,.
Baseball Notes
Posted April 8, 2005
The Kansas City T-Bones (independent; Northern League) named Nick-N-Willy’s World Famous Take-N-Bake Pizza as the official pizza provider at CommunityAmerica Ballpark….Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona was taken to a hospital after complaining of chest pains after arriving at Yankee Stadium….Here’s an oddity. Former Brewers P/OF Brooks Kieschnick was signed by the Houston Astros to a minor-league contract and assigned to Corpus Christi Hooks (Class AA; Texas League). The thing is, Kieschnick is also an investor in Ryan-Sanders Baseball, which owns the Hooks, so Kieschnick must sell his shares before he can suit up for the team….The Newark Bears (independent; Atlantic League) announced a no-lose offer for all fans attending Opening Night on Wednesday, April 27. The Bears have guaranteed victory over their opponent, the Somerset Patriots; should the Bears somehow not manage to win the contest, all fans in attendance will receive a free ticket to any other Bears home game against the Patriots throughout the 2005 season….
The new Wrigley
Posted April 7, 2005
If you’re going to Wrigley Field this summer, take a good look, as there will be many changes to the ballpark in the next offseason. The Chicago City Council gave final, unanimous approval Wednesday to the Cubs’ plan to add 1,790 bleacher seats, a 100-seat restaurant overlooking center field and a year-round five-story building and parking garage next to the ballpark that will house retail stores, another restaurant and 400 parking spaces. The Cubs will pay the city $3 million for the right to build over the sidewalks on Waveland and Sheffield Avenues and for the rights to a piece of land west of Wrigley Field, currently a parking lot, where the new building will stand.
What’s up with a Twins ballpark?
Posted April 7, 2005
We’ve been asked by several readers recently about the status of a new Minnesota Twins ballpark, so we thought we’d share what we’ve recently heard. The Minnesota Legislature is in the midst of important activity– bonding, higher ed — and probably won’t even begin consideration of financing a Twins ballpark until a few more weeks have passed. Leadership seems optimistic about the chances of a ballpark bill passing, especially since it will probably be rolled into a University of Minnesota funding bill. The St. Paul delegation is putting together some sort of plan and has floated it to a few media outlets, but the chances of passage are fairly slim. The plan is based on a 2004 plan that never went anywhere: it calls for a 3 percent bar and restaurant tax (which proved to be widely unpopular citywide in 2004 despite downtown business support) as well as increased contributions from the state and the Twins, with the city putting in less. A deal calling for Hennepin County to build the ballpark on the Twinsville site has a better chance, as many legislators think the county is in the best position to finance the ballpark. Again, we won’t be hearing anything substantial about a Twins ballpark for a few weeks — but the issue will definitely be in play this session.
Huizenga remarks help undercut Marlins stadium deal in Legislature
Posted April 7, 2005
One of the selling points behind a new Florida Marlins ballpark is the need to find a new home, as the Miami Dolphins announced last November that the team was getting the boot from Dolphins Stadium after the 2010 season. Now, apparently, the Dolphins have changed course: owner H. Wayne Huizenga on Wednesday told Senate President Tom Lee that he has no intention of ejecting the two-time World Series Champions from Dolphins Stadium after their 2010 season. Now, whether Huizenga actually made the comment is under some debate — he made it only it Lee, and he’s not talking now — but it’s had the effect Lee wanted, which was to erode support for a measuring providing $2 million years in sales-tax rebates to the team. (There will be some collateral damage to other cities if the measure fails: it also includes funding for Sarasota, Fort Lauderdale and Winter Haven to upgrade or replace existing spring-training facilities.) Marlins officials have already met with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman about a move there; don’t be surprised if Jeffrey Loria and David Samson are Sin City-bound should a financing proposal fail this year.
Fresh start at Pringles Park
Posted April 7, 2005
Despite all the offseason wrangling and attempts to move the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (Class AA; Southern League) to Greenville, team management is making a pretty aggressive play for fans this season. And, of course, the beginning of the season is a good time for everything to begin anew, so the hope is fans will forget what happens off the field in favor of what’s going on in the ballpark. The promotional schedule for the team is pretty robust (midget wrestlers!), and if the flood of promotional correspondence we’ve received from the team is also going to the right fans, you may see some very good crowd at the ballpark. Meanwhile, we hear from city officials it will take at least two months — and perhaps up to four — before arbitration between the city and Diamond Jaxx takes place over the team’s attempt to invoke an escape clause in its lease.
Cactus League sets attendance record
Posted April 7, 2005
The Cactus League set a new attendance record this season, thanks in part to the huge crowds who enjoyed games at the Peoria Sports Complex. 1,270,739 fans passed through the gates during the 2005 Cactus League season (approximately half of which were from out of state), a mark that surpasses the previous record (set in 2004) of 1,248,642 fans. The Peoria Sports Complex hosted 225,451 fans, breaking last season’s mark of 222,927. (The Sports Complex record attendance for a season is 239,824, set in 1999).
Peoria’s home teams – the Seattle Mariners (123,427) and San Diego Padres (102,024) – ranked 3rd and 7th of the 12 Cactus League teams in terms of total attendance for the season. Average Cactus League attendance was 7,060. Peoria topped that, seeing an average attendance of 7,555 per game.
"The 2005 Cactus league season exceeded all of our expectations," said Cactus League President and Peoria Community Services Director J.P. de la Montaigne. "After a record-breaking season last year, who would have thought we could do it again? But we did, thanks to the great fans and first-rate baseball organizations that make the Cactus League what it is." Those record numbers translate to dollars spent in Peoria and across the Valley. The total attendee-based expenditure impact for Maricopa County for the 2003 Cactus League season (the last time a study was commissioned) was more than $161 million, with more than a $201 million impact for the entire state, according to the study by FMR Associates of Tucson. These numbers have likely increased since then, considering overall attendance has increased each year since the study’s completion.
The bigger numbers were not a complete surprise. The Cactus League embarked on a more aggressive promotion effort for the 2005 season, working with the Greater Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa and Tempe Convention & Visitors Bureaus, as well as the Arizona Office of Tourism, to promote Arizona Spring Training to out-of-state visitors from numerous Major-League cities.
Cooperation from the weather was helpful as well. Even though some rain drops fell, all scheduled games went off as planned.
"Thanks to our ground crews, not a single game was rained out in Arizona this year."
Sarasota ‘Reds’ open FSL
Posted April 7, 2005
The newest team in the Florida State League is the Sarasota Reds, as the Red Sox pulled their High Class A affiliation out of the FSL and to the Carolina League. There’s also a new GM in town: Dan Wolfert formerly was GM of the Thunder Bay Border Cats (college wood bat; Northwoods League). There are a slew of affiliation changes in the Florida State League this season, and as we hear it there are potentially more changes for 2006, as at least one team could be moving.
Tonight on the Web: Iowa at Albuquerque
Posted April 7, 2005
One of the more interesting (for lack of a better term) developments this season has been the takeover of the Minor League Baseball Website by MLB Advanced Media. The site is definitely livelier, but one of the nice things about all minor-league Web sites has been their free nature: MLB has commercialized the hell out of MLB.com, and the fear among many owners and GMs is that the minor-league sites will lose viewers to a centralized MiLB site. Tonight is a good example: