11/23/24
April 07, 2010
Phillies fans infiltrate Nationals Park.: Who knew the Phillies home opener would be in Washington?
posted by Ying Yang Mafia to baseball at 09:21 PM - 11 comments
... and many's the day I attended a Mets home game at the Vet.
posted by billinnagoya at 10:07 PM on April 07, 2010
It's cyclical, for sure.
I remember my parents driving to Cleveland and Detroit to watch Blue Jays games (1989-1994 time period), and a large portion of the crowd was transplanted Jays fans.
Now, Red Sox and Yankees visit Toronto with a huge group of their fans throughout the summer.
posted by grum@work at 12:08 AM on April 08, 2010
When the Tigers were bad going to a series against the Indians was like watching a game at Jacobs Field. The Tigers fans were most certainly outnumbered.
Even though the Tigers are much better now the Red Sox always have a huge following at their games.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 02:11 AM on April 08, 2010
When the Indians were bad and playing at Municipal Stadium, most of the games were sponsored by the federal witness protection program.
posted by beaverboard at 08:19 AM on April 08, 2010
For years now we have been hearing about how Camden Yards and Tropicana Field turn into Fenway and Yankee Stadium South when the Sox and Yankees travel down there. I think that the significance of this case though is that it is the home opener.
The Yahoo Baseball Blog Big League Stew had an article up talking about this, and points out the same way that the Washington Post article does, that the problem here is that this was orchestrated by the Nationals own group sales people contacting Phillies fans. The bigger mistake that the Nationals made though was not tying the purchase of the opening day tickets (which really shouldn't have been a group sales day anyways) to the purchase of other less attractive games to deter Phillie only fans from bombarding the park the way they did. There would have still been fans who would have bought the packages (I did this a couple of years ago so that I could take my wife the Red Sox fan to a Sox game in Miami and just sold the extras on E-Bay, for less than face value by the way), but at least they would have kept out some of the one day fans or gotten some extra revenue from them.
posted by Demophon at 08:27 AM on April 08, 2010
That's exactly right, Demophon. They solicited Phillies fans. That is not okay. The Nats are working really hard to make people not like them. They are a new team in this city. In addition to not at all trying to put a good product on the field, they alienate potential fans with this kind of thing.
posted by bperk at 11:55 AM on April 08, 2010
In addition to not at all trying to put a good product on the field
I disagree with that. They signed Stasburg and gave him the money he wanted (I believe it was a record signing but not positive). They've brought in free agents like Pudge. Last year they got Morgan who had a great second half last season. They have Zimmerman at third who is an all-star and a powerful bat at first with Dunn. That doesnt seem like a team not trying to put a good product on the field to me.
Pitching is where they need to most improvement.
posted by WolfpackMD at 01:03 PM on April 08, 2010
They up and cut Elijah Dukes for no reason. Dunn belongs in the AL because his fielding leaves a lot to be desired. Who knows if he will ever be a decent 1st baseman? Pudge is like 88 years old in catcher years. They are once again likely to be setting records for futility. And, don't get me started on Bowden and all of that shadiness. I think there pitching (or potential pitching) is the best thing about this team.
There was booing when Zimmerman received his Gold Glove award. The Nats should be embarrassed.
posted by bperk at 04:16 PM on April 08, 2010
Obviously fans have found ways to get into visiting stadiums in droves, but we're talking about opening day here. There's no excuse for letting this many tickets go to visiting fans on opening day, which should be the one day of the season even the Nationals should enjoy a sellout crowd that's into the game. But just like the team itself, the organization as a whole needs to figure out how winning, successful teams go about things. I tend to believe they'll do things different next season.
posted by dyams at 05:47 PM on April 08, 2010
The stadium was empty today, by the way. I'm not so sure the Nationals would have sold out without all those Phillies fans.
posted by DudeDykstra at 09:07 PM on April 08, 2010
This isn't anything new. The Cubs play "home" games in Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh all the time.