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Mar
7
CCBL All-Star Game at Fenway
Posted by Dave | Filed Under News | 17 Comments
Cape Cod Baseball League All-Stars will play somewhere over the rainbow -- Fenway Park
It’s official. According to a newly revised CCBL schedule, the 2009 All-Star Game will be held at Fenway Park on Thursday, July 23. For those who are chosen, this will be a tremendous opportunity to play in “America’s Most Beloved Ballpark.”
Interestingly, there appears to be no announcement by the league nor do we see anything on the Cape Cod Times newspaper site. Perhaps we missed something? The Red Sox calendar does show July 23rd as an open night at Fenway. The following Thursday night is scheduled to be All-Star Recognition Night at Fenway.
As has been discussed on CodBall on a few other occasions, it should be interesting to see how many spectators this game draws. For players, scouts and pro personnel folks – in other words, for those who this game is all about – hosting this game at Fenway will be wonderful.
For those who are interested as to whether the game will draw 3,000, 5,000 or 8,000 fans, my guess is that the crowd will be more toward the smaller side. As baseball-crazy as the New England region, and Boston in particular is, this is a pro sports town. With few exceptions, such as keeping an eye on a certain baseball team that plays 200 miles to the south and a basketball team that plays 3,000 miles to the west, Bostonians are a parochial bunch who think the world ends where Route 495 begins. Some of us may even believe that Worcester and Springfield are in a different time zone.
Anyone who listens to local sports radio knows how few calls are received from people who want to talk about Boston College football or UMass basketball. There is interest in February’s Beanpot and there might actually be two or three callers to WEEI who want to talk about a B.C. appearance in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, but unfortunately college athletics are way down on the list of sporting interests.
I hope the game draws a great crowd. Maybe just throwing open the gates to Fenway will be enough to draw a large crowd to one of the shrines of the game. It will certainly be a good opportunity for folks to walk around Fenway and be able to sit in a box seat that they otherwise couldn’t afford without getting their own personal federal bailout. It doesn’t matter to me if the game is held at Fuller Field or Fenway Park, but I like the fact that the folks in the Cape League are being creative and are willing to try something like this.
This is a mistake! Holding this game in a place that takes away all of the interaction that makes the All-Star game special is a huge mistake. What looks like a big crowd in Bourne will look like a homeless shelter in Fenway.
This is the Cape Cod Baseball League! Why try to be something you are not? Why take the game recognizing the league’s best away from the people who support it all season? Look at the poor results of the game in Brockton last year… Oh that’s right, they charged admission at that game.
I drive 45 miles from off Cape to attend most games. This is not a question of ease of access. This is about destroying a tradition.
Congratulations Board of Directors: you have just taken a major step towards the demise of the best league in the country.
We still don’t know all of the facts about this game. We don’t know how what will happen if it rains. We don’t how much it is going to cost to attend and we don’t even have confirmation about what teams that will be playing. (However, I did a little digging and found that the USA National team has a scheduled game at the World Baseball Challenge on the same day. The NECBL, PawSox, Spinners, Sea Dogs, and the Alaska Baseball League also are booked. So, it seems likely that this will be a traditional East vs. West game.)
I am amazed that the league has not released any information about the game other than updating the 2009 schedule. This also seems to have been ignored by all media outlets including the Cape Cod times.
Anyway, I’ll see you at Fenway this summer.
Interestingly, in an article in today’s Cape Cod Times by Rob Duca, the All Star game is mentioned but with no official announcement that the game will be played at Fenway. The article in question pertains to how the economy is affecting sponsorship of the league as well as other “signature summer events” such as the Cape Cod Open, the Figawi Regatta and the Falmouth Road Race. Here is a link to that story: http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090308/SPORTS/90307009
Duca notes “There has been speculation that the game will be staged at Fenway Park, increasing exposure and revenue.” Judy Walden Scarafile is quoted as saying “We’re considering changing the location to jazz it up.”
The Cape League schedule was revised on March 5 to show Fenway as the location for the All Star game. I have to believe Rob Duca had been working on the article for a few days before it was published today. That may explain why nothing official was reported in this article. I find it to be a bit odd that there is no official announcement on the league website, nor a press release sent to various media, but I’m sure that will happen soon.
Fan of the Game, I respectfully disagree with you. Question, do you also disagree with MLB playing games in places like Japan?
Probably a thrill for the players selected, but I agree the all-star game belongs on the Cape and the subsequent recognition and scout day is sufficient for additional player exposure.
I also “indirectly heard” that USA Baseball NT already has feeler calls out to players for tryouts?
Greg: I think the games in Japan are nothing more than a cash grab by MLB. And, as much as I love the game, I think the WBC is a worthless endeavor, needlessly placing additional stress on the players bodies. Do you want to see the Sox and Yankees battling on September with less than their full rosters because MLB chased after some additional revenue?
I go to 10- 12 games at Fenway each year. The seats cost $23 and are a couple of rows from the bullpen. I love the view, I love the atmosphere but it is an entirely different feeling than Cape games.
The CCBL needs to embrace its unique status versus chasing the quick money being like everyone else. Take a look at last season’s championship series.
The league builds a greater fan base for MLB through the relationships the fans develop with the players. My 9 yr. old son follows players through the minors because they coached him at camp or they gave him a ball.
There are better ways to generate revenue than to rip the All-Star game from under the people who support the league all season.
Ask yourself this: Does Judy think the majority of people at the game will drive up from the Cape? No, she is trying to get new people to follow the league. That is what NESN is for.
As I said, I live off-Cape. It is an equal drive for me either way. The experiences are nowhere close to compatible.
The think I don’t get is why fans think baseball — even amateur baseball — is not about money. Every Cape team has a budget. They have to pay for buses, gas, uniforms, upkeep on the field, coaches fees, front office, etc. I suspect most of the teams operate at a loss or maybe a very slight profit which they put back into capital expenses.
If I were head of the league, I’d have a game at Fenway and another one at Yankee Stadium. I would want to promote my league to draw sponsors and tourists
The best way to preserve a great league during tough economic times is to promote the league and attract new sponsors and new fans.
Another thing. The Cape still doesn’t attract all of the great talent. A player choosing where he is going to spend the summer might choose the Cape over another opportunity if he knows he’ll play at Fenway.
I think we all want the same thing — a vital and enduring Cape League where great talent will develop for generations to come.
Greg:
You make valid arguments. If the move was to host a game at Fenway or even a series of games at Fenway I’d support it wholeheartedly. We are not talking about that. We are talking about taking one of the premiere events of the summer and ripping it out from underneath the fans who support the league.
Don’t you think that Bourne would love to host the game and show off its new facility? The host team of the All-Star game does rather well. Now where does that money go? Aramark will do well with the concessions but that is about it.
The All-Star game belongs on the Cape.
That’s a good point. I am a little spoiled because I can walk to the Woods Hole ferry terminal, hop a Bonanza bus and be downtown Boston in no time for a very small cost.
Not everyone can do that and it is too bad if going to Boston is prohibitive for most Cape fans.
On the point of the Cape League and the economy, yesterday’s Cape Cod Times has an interesting story on how the recession is hitting not just the league but other signature Cape sports like the Falmouth Road Race.
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090308/SPORTS/90307009
Ok, sorry to beat a dead horse. Here is the first mention other than the league schedule that the game will be at Fenway. This is from yesterday’s CC Times story:
The league will shift the popular All-Star Game next summer from a Saturday to Thursday date, holding it on July 23. There has been speculation that the game will be staged at Fenway Park, increasing exposure and revenue.
Scarafile declined to comment, saying, “We’re considering changing the location to jazz it up.”
I’ve spent a considerable amount of time trying to track it down over the last half hour but I read “somewhere” in the last 10 days or so where Paul Galup mentioned that the game would most likely be at Fenway Park. I thought it was in his tribute to John Wylde on the league website and now it is gone.
Also: I heard that if the game is rained out or for some reason doesn’t get offically scheduled in Boston, that the game will be played in Hyannis.
I was initially against this game being at Fenway but now that I think about it…why not? The league has a history of experimenting with the all-star game such as when they played other leagues, etc. Perhaps proving that they can secure Fenway for the game attracts an opponent such as USA Baseball, the Alaska League, etc. Also, after reading the article this weekend about problems with sponsors due to the economy, perhaps playing at Fenway attracts more sponsors that could make up for the lack of the full season sponsors that seem to be lacking for ‘09.
Lastly, a little bird also told me that something was in the works with USA Baseball for a game on the Cape this summer. We’ll see.
Very interesting. When I was looking at the USA National team’s schedule, I did notice they were playing the NECBL All-Stars on July 5th…
http://web.usabaseball.com/teams/index.jsp?team=2491
The team sees very booked. It looks like the Cape team would have to come down to NC (which means I’d get to see them), but that would be insulting to the Coastal Plains League. Or, maybe Team USA could squeeze in a game on July 8th before the trip to Tokyo.
I doubt the Cape League would pay to travel to NC but I could see something being worked out to play while in New England. The word I got was that they were “trying to work out a potential game”. Perhaps nothing got worked out but I find it encouraging that there was at least a discussion; even if nothing gets worked out until some future season.
[...] CCBL All-Star Game at Fenway [...]
[...] slightly happier news, the Cape League All-Star Game is coming back to Fenway Park after a couple of decades away. [...]
These kids travel from all over the country to play summer ball. The kids that made it to the allstars deserve to play on an allstar field like fenway. Think of the players and their first experience at “FENWAY PARK.” I think it was a great idea. ESPN had great coverage of the game and also had a wonderful tribute to the CCBL and to John Wylde. What is all the complaining for?