Top Menu

C-Tigers continue community outreach

The Connecticut Tigers are doing more this preseason than just preparing Dodd Stadium for play: they're reaching out and doing some community outreach before the first pitch is thrown.

It has been a transitional off-season for the Connecticut Tigers (short season; NY-Penn League): the team uprooted from its home at Oneonta's Damaschke Field and set up operations in Norwich's Dodd Stadium, the former home of the Connecticut Defenders (Class AA; Eastern League).

There were some hurt feelings in Norwich when the Defenders left, even though the market didn't really enthusiastically support the franchise, even going back to the days when the Norwich Navigators benefited from the New York Yankees as a parent. Assuaging those hurt feelings, therefore, is one of the biggest challenges facing Tigers management.

So far the game plan has been pretty simple: reach out on the community level. The team has already had one town-hall style meeting and has another one scheduled for Saturday at the Old Mystick Village Art Cinemas in Mystic, CT from noon-1 p.m.

The forum will allow fans from the southern part of New London County to meet the staff and ask questions or provide suggestions.

The consensus in the baseball world seems to be that Norwich is a much better short-season market than Class AA market; a look at Navigators/Defenders attendance trends shows that the best time the team drew fans was squarely within short-season timelines. It may take a little while for the C-Tigers to establish themselves in the marketplace; we're guessing there will be some small, small crowds at the beginning of the season.

RELATED STORIES: New for 2010: The Connecticut Tigers; O-Tigers to Norwich for 2010; Oneonta to Norwich?; After loss of Defenders, Norwich turns attention to replacement; It's official: Defenders to Richmond; Key decisions due on Connecticut/Richmond move this week; DiBella to keep Defenders, move team to Richmond; Opening Day Partners, HNTB propose radical overhaul of Richmond's Diamond; Sale of Connecticut Defenders scrapped; New Richmond ballpark can't happen without city assistance: consultants; Community support lacking for Richmond ballpark proposalMiLB: New ballpark still preferred route in RichmondBostic: It makes no sense to renovate The Diamond; Richmond baseball study didn't consider renovated Diamond, stacks deck for new downtown ballpark; Richmond ballpark consulting deal draws criticism; Norwich approves Defenders lease transfer; Richmond to study new ballpark; Defenders ballpark lease transfer on tap for next week; new team for Norwich chosen?; Renovated Diamond may do in RichmondMiLB to Richmond: Show us the ballpark plan; Richmond group applies for permission to buy team; New Richmond ballpark would rely on sales-tax rebates; Richmond group says it's close to buying team

Share your news with the baseball community. Send it to us at editors@augustpublications.com.

Subscribers to the weekly Ballpark Digest newsletter see features before they're posted to the site. You can sign up for a free subscription at the Newsletter Signup Page.

Join Ballpark Digest on Facebook and on Twitter!