I had good intentions. I wanted to give you a full report of Sunday's clash between the Lehigh Valley IronPigs and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. I watched just two innings of an ugly 14-4 loss, before heading out. Swirling winds and frosty temperatures were too much for me, although I did get to meet one of my readers."Are you Michael Molovinsky the blogger?"
"Why yes, I am."
I hightailed it out of Coca Cola Park, but IronPigPen reports that in the one statistic that matters - attendance - the Porkers lead the league.
"After the first weekend, the IronPigs LEAD the league in BOTH total and average attendance
8,028.25 avg - 32,113 total for Lehigh Valley IronPigs
8,020.67 avg - 24,062 total for Louisville Bats
7,529.50 avg - 15,059 total for Rochester Red Wings
7,409.67 avg - 22,229 total for Durham Bulls and star pitcher David Price
7,051.75 avg - 28,207 total for Buffalo Bisons at Coca-Cola Field (original, say)
5,721.00 avg - 11,442 total for Syracuse Chiefs
4,881.00 avg - 19,524 total for Charlotte Knights
4,850.25 avg - 19,401 total for Indianapolis Indians
The IronPigs were collectively stomped 39-13 in losing all four games to open this season in less than hospitable weather for baseball, to be polite.
In case anyone is curious, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs drew 30,037 fans to the first four games EVER at Coca-Cola Park last year.
This year, the IronPigs drew 32,113 fans to the first four ball games."
25 comments:
It's good to be #1 at something. Plus, it teaches the kids, it's not wether you win or lose......
(smile)
-Alfonso Todd
Friday Night they were selling mor coffee than beer, and that is saying something It went 11 chilly innings, Pigs lost by 1 but it was still a good evening.
Permission to Post:
Mr. O'Hare: There's something about a Monday morning that gets the ideas flowing. We've been wondering if you would ever consider an additional "comment area" that say could be called..."unfinished business." For example,
on Sunday as we watched the Masters, it brought to mind what ever happend with Allentown's golf course issues? What happened with those fines, the club house construction and even the rumors that golfers at the 19th tee were
going elsewhere for their burgers and fries?
I disagree that the attendance ($$$) is what matters. We've got, statistically, and for the past couple seasons, the worst team in the league.
The team has only been around one year. It has nowhere to go but up.
Winning is definitely important for player development, which is the reason why MLB clubs have farm teams in the first place.
Sooner or later Phillies will figure that out and get their farm system in gear along the lines of the New York Yankees. The quality of AA Trenton and AAA Scranton is obvious for all to see.
In the meantime, attendance is also very, very important. For a variety of different reasons, economics being just one.
Bernie,
We in Lehigh County all win, despite the final score, when the Hogs hit 10,000 attendance.
It is a great venue and lots of fun even if you stay only five innings.
Go Hogs !!!
PS - The NY Mets lost 120 games their first year.
I went Friday night for the first time. I cheered the Yanks :)
Me and some friends decided to go at the last minute and got seats behind homeplate for $9 (I think). That's gonna be tough to beat!
It turned out to be Fireworks night, too. And since the game went into extra innings, we got free coffee from WaWa!
Bernie...
The team is new to the Valley, but they aren't really new team... They were up in Wilks Barre/Scranton before moving down here.
And before W-B, they were in Canada, still stinking. So they have been around a while, and they have been the worst team in the league.
The nature of AAA teams is as holding areas for mostly veteran minor leagers who could be immediately plugged into the major league team. AA is where the stars of tomorrow play regularly (e.g. Reading with Rolins and Howard et. al.). AAA is about good baseball at reasonable prices for the entire family. The attendance figures bear this out in Allentown. Good on Pigs fans. At any rate, my team (SWB Yankees) wins there!
Most of the players in AAA have either been to Majors, shuttle back and forth to Majors, or will be in Majors someday.
LEHIGH VALLEY IRONPIGS
$ 14 second level
$ 9 first level
$ 6 standing room - general admission
AVERAGE COST OF NEW YORK YANKEES TICKET
$ 72.97
AVERAGE COST OF NEW YORK METS TICKET
$ 36.99
AVERAGE COST OF PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES TICKET
$ 31.10
AVERAGE COST OF AVERAGE MLB TICKET
$ 26.64
"Are Yankees Greedy Pigs In New Palace?" and "Yankees 1216% More Expensive" from our ECONOMICS 101 section offer a more detailed look at ticket pricing
lvironpigs.wordpress.com
MOST players, even those such as the great Cal Ripken, spend at least a little time at the AAA level
217 games (3 yrs) C.Utley
137 games (2 yrs) J.Rollins
89 games (2 yrs) R.Howard
Note - the current International League season is 144 games
I love going to Coca-Cola Park to see the Pigs. We go "for the love of the game," great seats at a reasonable price, close and easy to get to (though Airport Road S is STILL under contruction now for a second season), and I always seem to see folks I know. Food/beverage prices creeping up a bit, but I have a great picture of my son and I with the World Series trophy Friday night. I used to take him to Yankee stadium once or twice a year, but last year put the high cost of that to an 18 game Pigs package.
I hope they have as long a run here as the Reading Phillies have had.
History of Philadelphia Phillies AAA affiliates:
2009- 2008 LEHIGH VALLEY IRONPIGS
2007 --- OTTAWA LYNX
2006- 1989 --- SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RED BARONS
1988 --- MAINE PHILLIES
1987 --- MAINE GUIDES
1986-1983 --- PORTLAND BEAVERS
1982-1976 --- OKLAHOMA CITY BLAZERS
1975-1974 --- TOLEDO MUD HENS
1973-1969 --- EUGENE EMERALDS
1966-1968 --- SAN DIEGO PADRES
The Ironpigs are a great thing to have in the Lehigh Valley. I've been to many games and always enjoy myself.
It was pretty cool to have a couple of Ironpigs (Happ and Tracy) contribute to the Phillies' World Series run. One of the most important things minor league baseball does is develop talent - the Ironpigs are off to a good start in that regard.
It was also pretty cool to see Daisuke Matsuzaka pitch here last summer.
It's also pretty cool to be able to take my kids, and they have a great time without it costing a bunch of $$$.
Home run in my book!
The Banker
Four IronPigs players for this season - Andy Tracy, Mike Cervenak, Lou Marson, Kyle Kendrick - received official World Series championship rings because they played at least one regular season game for the Philadelphia Phillies last season.
World Series champions Randy Myers, Shane Victorino and, of course, J.A.Happ ('08 IronPigs Most Valuable Pitcher) all played at Coca-Cola Park for AAA Lehigh Valley IronPigs last season as well as in the World Series for Philadelphia Phillies.
It was great to have Boston Red Sox superstar Daisuke Matsuzaka lead Japan to victory at World Baseball Classic.
It demonstrated the very, very best players in the entire world come to Coca-Cola Park to ply their trade!
Players from '08 IronPigs who played at 2009 WBC:
Victorino - United States
Green - Canada
Snelling - Australia
Blackley - Australia
Robles - Mexico
Pascucci - Italy
IronPigs 5 Chiefs 1
attendance - 8,619
pretty good for Monday afternoon (4 pm start) and team who got pounded first four games...
The Iron Pigs are bad, jaw-droppingly bad, in fact. Folks, we're talking worse than 1st year NFL expansion team bad. Stink bomb, sand lot baseball bad.
A certain Morning Call sports writer wrote in praise of the Iron Pigs in one of the myriad of gushing, rah rah puff pieces published at the start of the season. The article was entitled "These Pigs Won't Stink Up the Joint" and contained the prognostication that these IP won't start off 0-11 or 5-30. I'm quite sure that this Svengali "journalist" is feeling his oats in spades right about now as the team is on the verge of going 0-5. You're right Sir, it's a brand new team.
If this was simply sports, it could be dismissed easily as a farce. However, as many know, it rises to the level of boondogle given the amt. of public financing involved in constructing Coca Cola Stadium. Tens of millions in fact, in Lehigh Cty. and Penna. long term debt obligations. Don't worry, the public is assured, the project will pay for itself. Keep in mind, the private co. which owns the franchise, makes rental payments of upwards of $1M a year to the county. Plus, there's an awful lot of economic development associated w/ the team.
The truth, however, is another matter entirely. How does the private co. get the money to pay the cty? Through tickets sold primarly to individuals and business who live in the area. This means that people get to pay 2x to watch toe-curlingly dreadful play. First, in the form of tickets, second and most importantly as local and state taxpayers. Oh, and that economic development argument works a bit better in places such as Philly, where out of towners come in, eat food and enjoy entertainment. Problem is in the LV there's not a whole lot of out of towners going to the ballpark. This means Peter, a resident of Allentown and the ticket holder is paying Paul, a resident of Bethlehem, the Coca Cola vendor for $4.50 hotdogs. Talk about redistribution of wealth.
All of this occurs in the midst of one of the worst financial periods in recent memory. And in an areas whose industries have headed for the exits (but we should still feel good that the team is named after an industry that vanished 20+ yrs ago, taking w/ it hopes, dreams and livelihoods of families who devoted their lives to it) and whose jobs creation plan hinges on coins going into a slot machine. Gambling on the future writ large, hey?
Finally, there is something vaugely disconcerting about a gov't, even a cty. gov't, owning a large facility amounting to a holding pen (pardon the pun) where people spend long periods of time, albeit voluntarily. It makes me wonder under what conditions the voluntary nature of the stay may become involuntarily and for whom.
Think it's farfetched? A paranoid delusion? Remember that the Kinsasha (Zaire) Stadium where the famous Rumble in the Jungle occured, doubled as a political prison under the regime of the ghoulish President / "Doctor" Mobutu. Also, under the brutal dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean National Soccer Stadium became a wharehouse for political dissidents.
But I'm sure that will never happen at Coca Cola Park. Nothing could ever stink up the joint.
Ironpigpen, thanks for the additional information on Ironpig players and the Phillies - you know your stuff!
The Banker
Anon 750pm, I am hoping Dean Browning, a frequent contributor to this blog, will review the specifics on the structure of the lease vs. the debt service. I have been told by several other county commissioners that it's a "0-sum" deal - the lease covers the debt service, and therefore there is no additional cost to the county taxpayers. It is paid by the many thousands of fans who attend. Like me, and I'm happy to do so.
Your arguments lose credibility though when you quote hot dog prices - sorry, it's $2 for a regular dog and $3 for a jumbo (prices I paid Thursday night at the home opener). I wonder since you were so far off those figures, have you ever even been there, and what other facts did you get wrong?
Comparing the stadium to crimes committed by some of the worst despots in history is in fact far fetched to say the least.
Finally, we live in a democratic society. If you think the county made a mistake, then vote against the incumbents. I certainly have had my disagreements with other decisions they've made, but not this one. It was the right move and will pay benefits to the Lehigh Valley for many years to come.
The Banker
Anon 750- spend a night at a Pigs game rather than boring us with your ill-informed homily about how rotten they are. You know nothing about the game, nothing about the fans and even less about writing.
Anon 750
If you don't like the IronPigs, then don't go.
If I see Augustino Pinochet at Coca-Cola Park, I will say hello for you...
Nestor was just terrible
Nestor hasn't found the plate since spring training started -
"Nestor Needs To Go"
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