Top Ten (10) Minor League Baseball Parks 2004 - MLN Sports Zone

Joe Mock
Special to MLN
from the editor of
Baseballparks.com

The minor leagues are filled with legions of players who are anonymous to fans in towns large and small. For more than a century handfuls of hardcore baseball fans endured decaying stadiums, bad food, and poor facilities to get a glimpse at some of the rising stars in the sport.

Today new stadiums are sprouting up around the American heartland faster than stalks of corn. They are being filled, not with the two thousand hardcore fans, but with six, eight, twelve-thousand people. Some minor teams out-seat their major league parent clubs.

Absent reporting from five of the affiliated minor leagues, and independent leagues, minor league baseball drew in 39.9 million fans in 2003, up from 35.2 million in 2000, up 13% in the last three years alone. Why has there been such a rapid surge?

You have to foster an environment that makes a family's trip to the ballpark an incredibly fun experience, win or lose.

Minor league baseball has come to grips with the trenches of the local entertainment business.

By broadening the entertainment to be inclusive of people who aren't as interested in baseball, including spouses and children who normally would have stayed away, the ballpark becomes a larger "event," that makes coming out to live sports fun for everyone.

"It's very competitive for the fan's entertainment dollar," observed Justin Tinder, Director of Media Relations for the Oklahoma RedHawks of the Pacific Coast League. "That's why guest services is number 1A on our list."

"To a lot of our fans, the entertainment aspect is more important than the game itself," said Dave Campanaro, the Media Relations Manager for the Brooklyn Cyclones of the NY Penn League .

Part of the team's formula for success is: Location, location, location. Sited in the Coney Island area, the ballpark and the amusement park and the lure of the ocean keep them coming to Cyclones baseball.

Much of the huge rise in attendance over the last fifteen years has come from improvements in the stadiums. Skybox seating, broader menus of food, more non-baseball entertainment and even better bathrooms drive up attendance.

Yet all new ballparks and remodels are not created equal.

The Dell Diamond, home of the Texas League's Round Rock Express, is one of the great success stories in all of Minor League Baseball. The franchise has broken the all-time attendance record for Class Double-A baseball in each of its four years. So successful, in fact, that the PCL will be moving the AAA Edmonton Trappers club into the city and shipping the Express off to work the magic again in Corpus Christi.

"We try to put ourselves in the shoes of the ten-year-old fan, the teenager and the adult, and find a way to entertain all of the various groups," says Express General Manager Jay Miller. "If you bring an eight or nine year old to a baseball game, after the first couple of innings, they will be hunting for something else to do."

The Sights. The Sounds. The Smells. The Tastes.

The team provides diversions appropriate to age groups: You'll find a Playscape playground, rock climbing, an enclosed golf driving range, a swimming pool, inflatable slide, game room, basketball court and something that has become a Friday-night tradition in Central Texas: fireworks. "I'm in my 23 rd year in baseball, and my favorite promotion is still fireworks," noted Miller.

"One of my favorite stories," he continued, "is about a lady who came up to me and said, 'I hate baseball, but I still came to 30 games last year!' It proves that we really do try to have something to keep everyone entertained."

The approach works. In 2003, the Express had the worst record in the Texas League, but still outdrew every other team in Double-A. "Last year offered great proof of the loyalty of our fans," said Derrick Grubbs, Assistant GM. "Because of that, we do not take the disposable entertainment dollar of our fans for granted."

The RedHawks are experimenting with valet parking. Their "Concourse Ambassadors," assist with everything from post-game dining recommendations to the location of the nearest restroom.

Restrooms may not seem like a big feature, but they are a key feature bringing in more fans to ballparks: Some have attendants, televisions, and newspaper racks. Others sport neon and new color schemes. Even providing good mirrors and a clean place for women to place bags on a counter can make a huge difference in attendance .

Having a local flavor at a ballpark is also good business. Good Texas barbecue abounds at the Dell Diamond. The San Angelo Colts of the independent Central Baseball League serve up a popular local beef jerky.

Mascots and promotional characters are big draws for kids and great lead-ins to what once was a sleepy merchandising business. Almost every team has a mascot these days. The smart teams spend big dollars on the research and design of the characters. The right character can sell a lot of hats, shirts, dolls, and other mascot-adorned souvenirs.

One of the most successful mascots in recent years has been the new Albuquerque Isotopes furry and loveable astro-bear called "Orbit." The Isotopes, named by fans after the fictitious team on "The Simpsons" television show, will generate several million dollars from the sale of Orbit gear.

Local companies doing between-inning promotions also use characters to entertain fans. A local sausage business in Milwaukee has dueling sausages race around the warning track during the warm-ups between innings.

Sponsorships and entertainment are blended, from the "Sing the Kit Kat Song" contest to knock down the bat game sponsored by a local company. The Missoula Osprey of the Pioneer League will feature a between-innings contest that is "specific to Montana," says Assistant GM Chris Hale. "We have two two-person teams compete in a fish-tossing contest," to see which is more proficient at catching and throwing real, slippery fish.

Park entertainers continue to be big draws. From the Blues Brothers to Berdzerk to Myron Noodleman (A Jerry Lewis clone), these touring acts can be big draws.

The biggest draw at any park are fireworks nights. Several teams have branched out beyond July 4th weekend to offer fireworks at different times during the season.

Some teams win with the fans, even when they take a theme to excess. The Coastal Bend area of Texas, for instance, is home to two Naval Air Stations. The local independent minor-league team in Robstown is known as the "Aviators." Visitors to their ballpark are not "fans," but "passengers." Team employees are called "the flight crew," and waitresses bringing drinks to your seats are "flight attendants." The team mascot, a huge bird in World War I aviation goggles, is named Ace.

There are still Minor League parks where the players and the games are still the center of attention. Vero Beach, the Mecca of Dodger Fans, is still one of the great shrines of baseball, past and future.

"We really promote our young players as being future LA Dodgers," said the Vero Beach Dodgers' General Manager Trevor Gooby. "The LA organization is very good at developing young talent, so we emphasize our link to the Major League club. Besides, the Dodgers have held spring training here for 56 years, and we've had a Florida State League team for 25 years. It only makes sense for us to promote that tradition in our regular-season games."

Let's take a look at the ballparks where fun is king , the most enjoyable places to watch a ballgame in minor league sports. Four new teams make this year's list, including three that make the top five.

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Joe Mock is an author and publisher. His "Joe Mock's Ballpark Guide" is perhaps the definitive text on the subject. His website, Baseballparks.com is full of great pictures, history, trivia, contests, and great travel tips for those about to make a sports pilgrimage, major or minor. This is his second year as author of the MLN Top Ten Ballparks. To see his 2003 review, click here.