Dec

26

Hyannis Mets Lighting System is Being Installed!

Posted by Andrew | Filed Under News | 

Work is underway at the end of High School Road in Hyannis on the new lighting system at McKeon Park. The Park had lights before, but they fell into disrepair (Weissman, 2005). The new lights are funded by a Yawkey Foundation grant and will push all game start times in Hyannis to 7pm. The grant also was put toward the brick backstop, which was installed for the 2006 season.

The lights were supposed to be installed for the 2006 season (in fact, all printed schedules had 7pm start times for Hyannis home games), but could not be due to weather conditions.

Hyannis is home to some of the least attended Cape League games and the re-addition of lights is hopefully going to boost the numbers. In my opinion, I don’t think lights will boost numbers dramatically, and I think that a re-working of the area east of the field should be considered to grab the people coming off the ferries. Still, one of my best memories of is seeing the 4th of July fireworks from McKeon Park while watching a Mets night game. This year Hyannis will have a 6pm start time on the 4th of July to cooperate with the 9pm Hyannis harbor fireworks.

Comments

7 Responses to “Hyannis Mets Lighting System is Being Installed!”

  1. Zlax45 on December 26th, 2006 10:37 pm

    We should trade links or something…My site is very similar!!

  2. Dave B. on December 27th, 2006 9:08 am

    I agree that the Mets likely will not see a big boost to their attendance. Although most people think of Hyannis as the “hub of the Cape”, that actually works against the Mets. There are too many other things to do in the area and the people who go to the mall, stroll downtown, and go to the many pubs and cafes, aren’t the people who would be most likely to take in a Cape League game. Hyannis is a strange place in that families may visit these other places but they aren’t likely to venture over to the ballpark. Many of the people who go to Hyannis stay in a motel for two or three nights whereas people who vacation in other Cape Cod towns are more likely to be there for one or two weeks. Also, there is a large immigrant population in Hyannis and baseball just is not that important to them.
    The story goes that the old lights at McKeon Park could not be used due to the osprey nests that were built in a light fixture on top of one of the poles. Although it is true that ospey chose to make a light pole their home, I have heard from a few reliable sources that a more likely reason for not using the lights was that the Mets could not afford to pay for them. Although the former makes for a better story, the latter seems to be a more reasonable explanation.

  3. Andrew Wirtanen on December 27th, 2006 10:07 am

    Dave: I am all too familiar with the osprey story, and the effort to divert their nests. Steve Weissman said in his book that the lights fell into disrepair, but I would also buy the story of Hyannis not being able to afford running them (though I’m not an expert on baseball field lighting costs). I have also heard the story that the salt from the harbor affected the lights.

    Good comment on the crowd situation. I think that McKeon is just too far away from Main to draw a lot of people away from it. That’s why I suggested in my post to try to get people from the other direction (Ocean St.). That said, I am personally more likely to go to a Hyannis game this year because of the lights.

  4. Greg Shaw on December 27th, 2006 6:21 pm

    The relevant blog site in zlax45’s post is http://collegebaseball.blogspot.com/

    I’ve taken a look and it’s an interesting compilation of amateur baseball news.

    Thanks.

  5. Dave B. on December 27th, 2006 6:57 pm

    Andrew: I haven’t been to a game in Hyannis in a number of years. When I go to the Cape to take in games, I always try to attend two games on one day. It is relatively easy to make it from a 5:00 game in Bourne to a 7:00 game in Wareham or to go to a 5:00 game at Y-D or Brewster and still make it to a 7:00 game in Harwich, Orleans or Chatham. There are some other combinations that work well too. When the Mets had a 5:00 start time, it was not possible to go to a 7:00 game at any other field without missing at least half of that second game. I will also be much more likely to take in a game at McKeon now. It may now be possible to go to an early game at Y-D or Cotuit and then go to the night game in Hyannis. It gives this baseball fan another option !

  6. Anonymous on December 28th, 2006 6:44 pm

    Good idea Dave, I’ll probably end up doing that (going to Cotuit or Y-D and then going to Hyannis after). If you show up late for Hyannis it will probably be hard to get a spot around the school, but you can always park in one of the lots on Main St. A lot of people also park in the lot adjacent to the High School. However, I have never figured out if that was fair game or not. But, then again, that would be a pain in the ass to tow or ticket all of those cars.

  7. Anonymous on January 1st, 2007 11:40 am

    hi zlax45

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