It just seems like yesterday saw the end of the 2013 season, and here we are looking forward to the 2014 season with this spiffy rendering of the new Charlotte Knights (Class AAA; International League) ballpark. The first game at BB&T Ballpark is set for April 11, 2014. The team spent 24 seasons at Knights […]
Archive | Minor-League Baseball
City, MountainStar to address cost overruns at new El Paso ballpark
It could take an additional $10 million to complete the new El Paso ballpark slated to host the relocated Tucson Padres (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) next season, with city and MountainStar Sports officials slated to discuss the matter. Currently there’s no proposal on the table: just a note from MountainStar’s Josh Hunt that the […]
MiLB hits 41M fans for ninth consecutive year
A nice postscript to the attendance figures we posted yesterday: in 2013 Minor League Baseball attracted over 41 million fans for the ninth year in a row. MiLB recorded a 2 percent hike in attendance, hitting 41,553,781 total fans in 2013, some 275,000 over 2012’s total. “To experience increases in total and average attendance is […]
Stockton wants to rework Ports lease; Ports resisting
It’s never been the best of relationships, as the city of Stockton and the Stockton Ports (High Class A; California League) spar over a possible renegotiation of the team’s lease at Banner Island Ballpark. How bad is the relationship? The two can’t even agree on the name of the facility: the city calls it Stockton […]
More attendance news: P-Nats set franchise record
Another MiLB attendance record in the books: The Potomac Nationals (High Class A; Carolina League) set a franchise single-season attendance record, with 236,772 fans at at Pfitzner Stadium. An average of 3,534 fans per game entered The Pfitz during the Nationals’ 2013 regular campaign. The previous benchmark of 220,145 was set in 1998 by the […]
Announcers set for Triple-A Championship Game
George Grande and Bobby Valentine are calling the action for the Gildan Triple-A Baseball National Championship Game, to be broadcast from Coca-Cola Park, home of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, on the NBC Sports Network. The 2013 Gildan Triple-A Baseball National Championship Game will determine the overall champion of the classification. On September 17 the International […]
Young: New ballpark will spark downtown Biloxi growth
Experienced MiLB operator Ken Young is meeting tomorrow with the Biloxi City Council about his plans to bring a Class AA Southern League team to a new downtown ballpark. Young, with ownership stakes in the Albuquerque Isotopes (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League), Norfolk Tides (Class AAA; International League), Bowie BaySox (Class AA; Eastern League) and […]
Quinn: Let’s bring short-season ball to Hagerstown
Hagerstown Suns (Low Class A; Sally League) owner Bruce Quinn wants to keep pro ball in the city in the form of a short-season team playing in a new ballpark. Quinn met with Hagerstown officials and pitched the plan, where either his group or another group would own a short-season A team, presumably in the […]
Hillsboro pleased with Hops financial performance
Though the final numbers aren’t in yet, city officials say they’re pleased with the financial performance of the Hillsboro Hops (short season A; Northwest League) this season. The Hops drew 135,167 fans this season. The team’s rent at the new ballpark is partly based on attendance: the team pays $150,000 in base rent, the proceeds […]
RockHounds set another attendance record
The Midland RockHounds (Class AA; Texas League) set an all-time attendance record this season, on the heels of an amazing stretch that saw attendance increases in seven of the last eight years. The team drew 317,233 fans this season, good for sixth in the Texas League but 12th among all Class AA teams. —- Share […]
New for 2014: Four Winds Field at Stanley Coveleski Stadium
The South Bend Silver Hawks (Low Class A; Midwest League) have sold ballpark naming rights to the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, resulting in Four Winds Field at Stanley Coveleski Stadium. The Pokagon tribe operates Four Winds Resorts in Indiana. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. As part of the agreement, a permanent bronze […]
Aliens take in Canadians game at Nat Bailey
A mysterious object hovered just beyond the Nat Bailey Stadium right-field fence during Tuesday night’s Northwest League playoff game, prompting not mass hysteria but mass tweeting. We certainly are a blase population these days. If a unidentified flying object had appeared 50 years ago at a ballpark, you can bet there would have been mass […]
Headrick is Broadcaster of the Year in Carolina League
Darren Headrick, voice of the Carolina Mudcats, has earned the Carolina League’s second-annual Broadcaster of the Year award. Headrick garnered the most votes among the CL’s lead broadcasters and broadcast assistants. Headrick, 28, is concluding his second season as the play-by-play voice of the Mudcats. Before arriving in Zebulon prior to the 2012 season, the Maryville, […]