2013 Affiliated Attendance by League
With the 2013 Minor League Baseball regular season over, we’ll begin looking at what happened this season on the attendance front. We’ll start with a look at teams by league, ranked by average attendance. We’ll follow this up with listings of affiliated attendance by average and attendance by total. Summer-collegiate attendance has already been posted, […]
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 […]
The Week That Was: Sept. 1-6, 2013
Lease negotiations in Anaheim, a potential extension of pro ball in Tucson, attendance records going by the wayside, and more. The top stories this week on Ballpark Digest, as measured by page views. Angels casually threaten move during lease negotiationsMountainStar Sports Group extends Kino Stadium leaseBrown leaving River Bandits, Modern Woodmen ParkAliens take in Canadians […]
Tex Simone retires as Syracuse Chiefs COO/EVP
The end of an era: Anthony “Tex” Simone has retired as executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Syracuse Chiefs (Class AAA; International League), but will stay on as vice president emeritus and team consultant. He will also retain his position as vice president of the International League and maintain an office at […]
Rays: We won’t buy out Trop lease on St. Pete’s terms
No wonder talks over the future of the Tampa Bay Rays stalled: St. Pete officials say the team refuses to pay anything toward retirement of debt or a future demolition of Tropicana Field. Now, it’s defensible that the Rays pass on paying to demolish the Trop down the road: that’s the responsibility of the owner […]
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 […]
Jake McGhee GM of new Kenosha Northwoods League team
Jake McGhee is the first general manager of the new Kenosha team in the summer-collegiate Northwoods League, which begins play next season at historic Simmons Field. “After a comprehensive search, we realized the best candidate to lead Kenosha’s newest team was an individual that we have worked closely with for the last three years,” Kenosha […]
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 […]
St. Pete mayor: Talks with Rays going poorly
St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster, tied up in a tight reelection battle, says talks between his office and the Tampa Bay Rays over Tropicana Field lease are not going well — and blames MLB for the impasse. In a report to the City Council, Foster took aim at the commissioner’s office as he declared talks […]
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, […]
Tritz is American Association Executive of the Year
Sioux City Explorers General Manager Shane Tritz is the 2013 American Association Executive of the Year, as decided by a vote of a league field managers and media representatives. This is the first time in team history that a member of the Sioux City Explorers organization has received the award. “We are thrilled to have […]