June 15, 2008
Happy Father’s Day to you dads out there! This is the first Father’s day that I have experienced without my dad, who passed away 8 weeks ago. I miss him and I know that those of you who have lost a parent can relate. Those of you who have not, I pray that you have taken the time to let your dad know how much you love him and appreciate him. It was nice to see all the dads on the field today and as I write this from the press level of the ballpark I am watching a father and son continue to play catch on the field. What a special place this is, and what a special way to enjoy it. I remember playing catch with my sons so many, many days and I miss that experience very much. In fact, the next time I see them, I am going to suggest that we play catch, even though they are 32 and 26 years old!
If you recall my last blog, I told you that I would give you a link to a discussion forum on which there was some debate about the article which appeared last week in the Star-Telegram. It is on the website of my friend, Bill Tyler who hosts a fans’ site for both the American Association and the Northern League. He is a die-hard Saints fan and he started the site many years ago when the Saints were, of course in the Northern League. Thus, he now maintains the site for the many fans who still follow the Northern League and when the Saints joined forces with the Cats and other teams to form the moden version of the American Association, Bill opened up a combined site for both leagues. I encourage you to visit the site at www.aabfan.com If you would like to go directly to the stream regarding the recent article, try this link: http://nlfan.yuku.com/topic/2370
Some of the folks at the game today have let various members of our staff know that they are a little warm out there in the seats with the 2:05 start time, because so many of the seats are still in the sun at that time of day.
I have to agree. We will have to make an adjustment to the Sunday start times, even early in the season for 2009.
Early in the year, when the league schedule was released to us, Carl Bell and I sat down and went over every date. We talked long and hard about each game, about the travel plans for our road trips, and about every possible quirk in the schedule. Trust me when I tell you that our ownership and management gives every consideration to both the fans and our players when it comes to setting the game times. Unfortunately, we do not have total control over our schedule, of course, because each team in the league is given the opportunity to send in requests with regard to special home dates as well as certain times during which the team would prefer NOT to be at home.
In our case, we try to stay away from home during the Colonial as well as certain other dates, such as Rangers - Yankees and Rangers - Astros dates. We also try to minimize the conflict with Rangers home games as much as possible.
Then, when we are given the schedule, there are always some quirks as a result…. and we deal with them. The most difficult situation in this year’s schedule was the first road trip which put us in the Northern Division at Sioux City, Wichita and then St. Paul. That was a long and difficult trip for our team. We decided to use air travel in order to reduce the stress on the team as much as possible.
Then, we turned our attention to the game times, particularly on Sundays. We do like to have some “day” baseball at our historic little ballpark, so the best opportunity to do that is on Sundays. When you consider Sundays here in the “Bible Belt”, you have to think a little bit about the fact that we are in an area in which church attendance is very high. Many folks attend church in the evening as well as the morning on Sunday. Furthermore, a lot of folks do not like to plan outings on Sunday evenings because they have usually enjoyed some activities on Friday night or Saturday and they are resting up for the work week again on Monday.
So… finding a time to play on Sunday is a bit of a dilemma. Over the years, we have tried 2 PM… 3 PM…. 4 PM….. 5 PM… 6 PM and 7 PM. The difference in attendance is almost negligible. The fact is that in our part of the world, Sunday just isn’t a good day to play when it comes to attendance.
So, our decision to play a few day games in May and June stems from the fact that we are hoping it will be a little cooler still (although that was NOT the case this week!) and that our fans AND OUR PLAYERS will then get an evening off. Keep in mind, that our players can spend the ENTIRE SUMMER in Fort Worth and get very, very few evenings off while in their own home city. So, since there seems to be very little difference in the attendance factor, we tried to give the guys a couple of evenings off in Fort Worth early in the season.
However, after this Sunday… we will be playing night games on Sunday the rest of the year, and we will be looking hard at the game time on Sunday for next year.
Once again, even if the day has passed, it is never too late to call your dad and tell him you love him, if you are lucky enough to have that ability.
God Bless, JPD
