Double-A Baseball

Last night I went to my first Double-A baseball game – the Montgomery Biscuits vs. the Mobile BayBears. The Biscuits stadium seats approximately 7,000 and tickets go for $8 to $12. So every seat has a good view at a cost less than a movie ticket.

Even though it was the home opener with fireworks (which were surprisingly on par with the fireworks shows at Phillies games), it never appeared that the stadium was more than 80 percent full. By the 5^th inning people began leaving – despite the score being tied – and by the end maybe 20 percent of the seats were still occupied. I’m thinking that the low ticket price actually hurts commitment to the team. For so little money I’m sure that people buy tickets and don’t feel like they’re out any money if they show up late, leave early, or never even attend.

As for the game, the pitching sucked which made it a three and a half hour war of attrition. As little as I know about baseball, the head cheerleader knows less. At one point he said, “We’re only two points down!”

The mid-inning entertainment was excellent. The highlight was a baby race. Two parents handed their 5 month old children over to cheerleaders and then walked to the end of a 25ft runway. The babies then raced to their parents. It was exploitive, but highly entertaining. Also noteworthy is that in addition to shooting hot dogs and T-shirts into the stands, they also fire biscuits.

Final score: Mobile 3-2 in 10 innings.