Series to profile area baseball stadiums

Go to Anyplace USA and you're bound to find one.

A field of luscious green grass with endless rows of benches, smells of hot dogs and roasted peanuts and the sounds of the national pastime.

These are the fields that actor Kevin Costner dreamed about, the ones where he promised that people would come if we built these ballparks.

Now, 15 years after the movie "Field of Dreams," almost every stretch of the country is blanketed with these Minor League Baseball ballparks that are high on family fun and value and low on costs and congestion.

Throughout this week, The REPUBLICAN & Herald and The News-Item in Shamokin will profile these diamond dreams, offering up a sample of these stadiums where the name of the game is the fan. Our sister newspaper in Valley View, The Citizen-Standard, will also run the series over the course of a few weeks.

By focusing on a fan-friendly concept, these ballparks that we will profile this week in Reading, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Harrisburg and Williamsport have created a fan frenzy.

Just go to a game.

What makes these places special is the fact that you don't have to watch the game.

There's so much to do.

At FirstEnergy Stadium in Reading, the fun never ends.

First, there's the entertainment on the field.

You can watch the Double-A team of the Philadelphia Phillies with former Major Leaguer Kevin Barker.

Or slap high-fives with mascots named Screwball, Blooper the Hound Dog, ChangeUp the Turtle or Bucky the Beaver.

Taking a stroll around the concourse will also allow you to test your arm on the speed gun, putt a few holes to win free tickets to a game, shoot some hoops or wait your turn to get autographs from eager players hoping to make it to the Big Leagues.

And, if you come with a group, you may have a chance to splash around and watch the game from a pool in right field, a pool that is one of a few across America located inside a baseball stadium.

Then there are the giveaways and promotions: Bobble-heads, doubleheaders, hats and jerseys, bats and balls, post-game fireworks.

You can even play golf with some of your favorite Harrisburg Senators for charity.

And sometimes, you get to meet some of your old heroes up close and personal.

For example, former Phillies Larry Christensen and Darren Daulton will appear for a special tribute to the late Tug McGraw at an Aug. 11 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons game.

The first 3,000 fans will receive a special Tug McGraw photo card and a silent auction will take place featuring memorabilia signed by Larry Bowa and Steve Carlton.

All proceeds will benefit the Tug McGraw Foundation to promote the public awareness of brain tumors and brain tumor research.

The list of events goes on and on.

Those giveaways and other promotions have helped the sport surge.

In fact, Minor League Baseball is on a pace to break its all-time regular season attendance record set 55 years ago.

A total of 8,253,376 fans visited the 176 teams in 15 leagues in June, increasing the season total to 21,078,293, the league reports.

That June figure topped last year's mark by almost 1 million people, according to the latest figures from the league.

The all-time attendance record of 39,782,717 was set in 1949 when there were 59 leagues and 448 teams.

The league believes that mark will be broken if attendance continues at its current pace over the rest of the regular season, which ends around Labor Day for most leagues.

The fan frenzy is across the board, too.

Ten of the 15 leagues registered increases over last year, based on average crowd per opening. The Mexican, Eastern, Southern, Carolina, Florida State and Appalachian leagues all enjoyed at least a 10 percent spike in attendance.

The frenzy is led by the Triple-A International League — which includes the Barons and has drawn the largest average crowd.

Reading, meanwhile, tops the Eastern League in attendance with 348,405 patrons after 50 games.

Minor League Baseball is so popular right now in Pennsylvania that the Pennsylvania Cable Network recently televised a series on the sport.

The special — "A Day at the Ballgame" — which began on the Fourth of July and just concluded Sunday — highlighted teams such as the Altoona Curve, Washington Wild Things, Reading Phillies, Williamsport Crosscutters and the Harrisburg Senators.

The half-hour shows profiled the history of each team as well as each team's stadium and baseball in the area. PCN also addressed the impact each team has on the community and its economy.

For more information, visit www.pcntv.com.

These teams have cool names and logos, too.

Here are a few: The Augusta GreenJackets, Brooklyn Cyclones, Charleston Alley Cats, Delmarva Shorebirds, El Paso Diablos, Frisco RoughRiders, Jupiter Hammerheads, Lansing Lugnuts, Midland RockHounds, Puebla Parrots, Savannah Sand Gnats, Tulsa Drillers, the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx and the Winston-Salem Warthogs.

But what really makes Minor League Baseball such a draw is the value for families.

The cost for a general admission ticket is around $3. Children under 4 usually get in free and food is relatively cheap too. A hot dog might cost a buck or so.

And, like at Reading, getting a 12-game pack of general admission seats only costs $42. And they throw in two free seats for opening game.

Talk about a value.

All are within a two-hour drive from Schuylkill County and northern Pennsylvania too.

There's still plenty of time left to catch some of the action and see what the hoopla is all about.

Just go to a game. You won't have a better time.