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Old 10-24-2007, 01:38 PM
MicroBob MicroBob is offline
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Default Re: How good are pitchers compared to the average Joe

CanAm League attendance appears to be a lot better now with better markets and better stadiums than even just 5 years ago when I was there. If a team doesn't draw it's not going to survive obviously.
2,000/gm is probably surviveable and 3,000+ is doing pretty well I guess.
Remember that for every Friday and Saturday night big-promotion type game that packs 'em in for a 7k turnout you've got all those boring Monday and Tuesday night games where it's a lot tougher to get people to come out.

I think Elmira averaged around 1,400 or so per game in 2002.
Pittsfield, Mass almost certainly was below 1,000.

Pittsifled played in a really old, little stadium that was built before night-baseball so it faces west and on many nights you have a sun-set delay for 20-30 minutes or so because the batter is completely blinded and can't see the ball.

I was in Erie and Johnstown in 94 and 95 in the Frontier League which is a rookie-level indy-league and is AT LEAST 1 step lower than the CanAm League.
Johnstown had not had a team since 61 so there was a ton of hype and we got 8400 on opening-day and 9000 on the 4th of July and ended up averaging over 2000 per game.

We had some away games in Pikeville, Kentucky in that same league that drew 21 and then 8 fans on consecutive nights.

So yeah, it can vary wildly. And then you have some of the teams that draw 400 people on a Monday but find a way to call it 1200 or something more respectable because of tacking on 8 season-tickets to every corporation that buys an outfield billboard or something.
But that type of attendance inflation which puts me on life-tilt is a different topic entirely.

TDarko mentioned Quebec which is just a really fun place to see a minor-league ball-game. Those crazy Frenchies do nothing but dance and sing and make noise and get drunk all game long in their old, quaint and happenin stadium.

I was at the first game in the history of the Brockton franchise in 2002. Jimmy Fallon and Bill Murray are part-owners. Briefly met Jimmy Fallon when he half-drunkenly walked into my booth thinking I was the Brockton radio guy.
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