Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Farewell to the Lynx
7,468 people showed up yesterday to say farewell to the Ottawa Lynx after spending 15 years in a sleepy government town. I saw things I haven’t seen in ages at a Lynx game, like a line-up for tickets and cars jammed bumper to bumper trying to get a parking space. It hasn’t been officially announced, but it’s all but certain the Lynx, the last Canadian Triple-A ball club, will move to Allentown, PA and they will be renamed the Ironpigs. I don’t know what an Ironpig is, except it’s a pretty horrible name for a team.
As a non-baseball fan, I went on average to 2-3 games a season. It was mostly for the atmosphere and the company more than the game itself, as baseball is just too slow for my tastes. Are there any die-hard baseball fans in Ottawa? If I liked baseball, much like I do hockey, I would have definitely made a trip to the ballpark more often. But I have friends who are baseball fans that don’t bother. What are the reasons?
No one really knows why. Having some conversations with others about the team, some say the baseball strike back when the Montreal Expos were the clear favourites to win the World Series in 1994 put a sour taste in the fans' mouths that has not been forgiven. Some say the way management tried to nickel & dime fans got to be too much: for example, there was a player named Henry Rodriguez who was on the roster for the Expos, and like the tradition in Montreal, the fans in Ottawa would throw Oh Henry chocolate bars onto the field whenever he hit a home run when he was sent down to the Lynx. Well...Lynx management didn’t like that, not because of the litter on the field, but because the fans didn’t buy the chocolate bars from the team and were losing the concession. Thing is, fans would still buy things to eat at Lynx stadium because they didn’t throw empty wrappers on the field, they threw the whole frickin’ bar. In a city like Ottawa, when some spontaneous enthusiasm like that would occur, you should embrace it. This city rarely shows any sign of life for an average sporting event as it is. If you’re going to charge $4.25 for a chocolate bar a fan isn’t going to eat, they’ll bring a bar from elsewhere. Let the fans have their fun.
Some say after the Lynx won the league championship in 1995 (and for reasons still unknown to me, the section of the outfield wall that proclaimed them champions in 1995 was removed) the fans thought, well, we’ve won, there’s nothing else to watch here. The 1996 season was the year attendance started to noticeably go down in Ottawa.
Ticket prices were cheap: $7 to $11. Parking a mere $3; just compare that to a Sens game and it’s a huge bargain.
Now the talk of the town is what will happen to Lynx stadium, a place that can seat 10,000 people and is completely paid for. The Can-Am baseball league, which is said to be the equivalent of Double-A baseball, is willing to take the keys from the Lynx using the current lease agreement with no cost to the taxpayer starting next year. They don’t start their season until late May after the cold, wet weather has passed (which is often cited as the reason for low attendance during April and early May) and also have a theory that since the league has teams in places like Montreal and Quebec City, maybe some rivalries between these cities will develop that might generate fan interest. These factors seem to make too much sense, so of course we’re hearing the city isn’t event talking to the league commissioner about the possibility of bringing a team to Ottawa and is instead considering turning the stadium into a soccer field by building a dome at the cost of $40 million to taxpayers. Unless a private interest is footing the bill, this is a complete waste of money, especially when indoor soccer can be played at Frank Clair stadium where a seasonal dome is already being used for events like Ultimate. If Frank Clair is good enough for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, it's good enough for anything else. I guess we’ll find out what happens in the next few months on the fate of Lynx stadium.
After the game, where the Lynx dropped an 8-5 decision to the Syracuse Chiefs, the players went straight to the dressing room and didn't so much as offer a wave goodbye to the fans. However, Lynx manager John Russell let his three year-old son round the bases and jumped on home base to the appreciation and cheers of the crowd. At least someone wised up to the fact Triple-A is leaving town.
In the end, I didn’t have an emotional attachment to the Ottawa Lynx as I do the Senators, but it still wasn’t nice to hear they were being moved elsewhere. Whether it’s football, lacrosse, or in this case, baseball, it seems Ottawa’s interests can’t expand beyond hockey and once something new becomes old, it’s quickly tossed aside and forgotten.
Perhaps then, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Ottawa Lynx have left town.
As a non-baseball fan, I went on average to 2-3 games a season. It was mostly for the atmosphere and the company more than the game itself, as baseball is just too slow for my tastes. Are there any die-hard baseball fans in Ottawa? If I liked baseball, much like I do hockey, I would have definitely made a trip to the ballpark more often. But I have friends who are baseball fans that don’t bother. What are the reasons?
No one really knows why. Having some conversations with others about the team, some say the baseball strike back when the Montreal Expos were the clear favourites to win the World Series in 1994 put a sour taste in the fans' mouths that has not been forgiven. Some say the way management tried to nickel & dime fans got to be too much: for example, there was a player named Henry Rodriguez who was on the roster for the Expos, and like the tradition in Montreal, the fans in Ottawa would throw Oh Henry chocolate bars onto the field whenever he hit a home run when he was sent down to the Lynx. Well...Lynx management didn’t like that, not because of the litter on the field, but because the fans didn’t buy the chocolate bars from the team and were losing the concession. Thing is, fans would still buy things to eat at Lynx stadium because they didn’t throw empty wrappers on the field, they threw the whole frickin’ bar. In a city like Ottawa, when some spontaneous enthusiasm like that would occur, you should embrace it. This city rarely shows any sign of life for an average sporting event as it is. If you’re going to charge $4.25 for a chocolate bar a fan isn’t going to eat, they’ll bring a bar from elsewhere. Let the fans have their fun.
Some say after the Lynx won the league championship in 1995 (and for reasons still unknown to me, the section of the outfield wall that proclaimed them champions in 1995 was removed) the fans thought, well, we’ve won, there’s nothing else to watch here. The 1996 season was the year attendance started to noticeably go down in Ottawa.
Ticket prices were cheap: $7 to $11. Parking a mere $3; just compare that to a Sens game and it’s a huge bargain.
Now the talk of the town is what will happen to Lynx stadium, a place that can seat 10,000 people and is completely paid for. The Can-Am baseball league, which is said to be the equivalent of Double-A baseball, is willing to take the keys from the Lynx using the current lease agreement with no cost to the taxpayer starting next year. They don’t start their season until late May after the cold, wet weather has passed (which is often cited as the reason for low attendance during April and early May) and also have a theory that since the league has teams in places like Montreal and Quebec City, maybe some rivalries between these cities will develop that might generate fan interest. These factors seem to make too much sense, so of course we’re hearing the city isn’t event talking to the league commissioner about the possibility of bringing a team to Ottawa and is instead considering turning the stadium into a soccer field by building a dome at the cost of $40 million to taxpayers. Unless a private interest is footing the bill, this is a complete waste of money, especially when indoor soccer can be played at Frank Clair stadium where a seasonal dome is already being used for events like Ultimate. If Frank Clair is good enough for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, it's good enough for anything else. I guess we’ll find out what happens in the next few months on the fate of Lynx stadium.
After the game, where the Lynx dropped an 8-5 decision to the Syracuse Chiefs, the players went straight to the dressing room and didn't so much as offer a wave goodbye to the fans. However, Lynx manager John Russell let his three year-old son round the bases and jumped on home base to the appreciation and cheers of the crowd. At least someone wised up to the fact Triple-A is leaving town.
In the end, I didn’t have an emotional attachment to the Ottawa Lynx as I do the Senators, but it still wasn’t nice to hear they were being moved elsewhere. Whether it’s football, lacrosse, or in this case, baseball, it seems Ottawa’s interests can’t expand beyond hockey and once something new becomes old, it’s quickly tossed aside and forgotten.
Perhaps then, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Ottawa Lynx have left town.
# posted by SBP : 4:04 PM
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"Are there any die-hard baseball fans in Ottawa?"
Um, what about Andrew Forbes? Alright, I suppose -- technically -- he doesn't live in Ottawa. Fair enough.
OMG! "Photograph" just started playing on the radio! It's like THEY KNOW.
Um, what about Andrew Forbes? Alright, I suppose -- technically -- he doesn't live in Ottawa. Fair enough.
OMG! "Photograph" just started playing on the radio! It's like THEY KNOW.
Andrew was the exception. A baseball fan who also went to see the Lynx on a regular basis.
God bless Andrew!
PHOTOGRAPH!
God bless Andrew!
PHOTOGRAPH!
Holy cow, I've been name-checked! Sorry I didn't see this sooner. I wish I could have seen the Lynx on a more regular basis, but life sometimes gets in the way (work, distance, baby, etc). I think the term "die-hard" is more properly applied to folks who structure their lives around a team, and of those there were a scarce few in Ottawa (which is not to diminish the devotion of the ones who did make the commitment). But I did - and do - love the team.
Couple things: the championship banner left when the team's affiliation with Montreal ended, which isn't uncommon in the minors. The Orioles weren't necessarily interested in touting the accomplishments of another organization. That said, I am glad the 2 retired Lynx numbers never left the wall.
What happened to the people? MLB's '94 debacle didn't help, but that came before the enormous crowds of the championship year. The parking situation was a big part of it, too - after the crowds started to dwindle, the City of Ottawa virtually ensured they'd never come back by slashing the amount of available space (for a hotel and big-box store, no less). But the problem was probably there from the very begining, in that initial owner Howard Darwin (who is to be thanked and commended for landing a Triple-A franchise to begin with) never really promoted the team the way a minor league operation requires. There was a very intense honeymoon period, as there often is in Ottawa, but in order to keep crowds coming for years to come, the organization would need to work hard to cultivate the fanbase, to grow it, and to continue to appeal to families and the casual fan. Outside of a few select towns where baseball is religion, minor league ball pretty much requires nightly promotions to keep things interesting for fans. Darwin didn't do that. He just opened the door and let the fans come, and was encouraged when they did, initially. You can do with with hockey here, but anything else takes work. By the time new owner Ray Pecor came to town in 2000, it was too late, I reckon. He and his people did some incredible work and stuck with it far longer than most folks would have, but in the end it wasn't going to be viable.
One more thing to consider is that the parent teams were no longer interested in putting in the effort required to keep AAA baseball in Canada. It makes more sense for them to keep them closer to home. Crossing the border is too big a hassle. Had the Jays swooped in when the Expos ended their relationship with Ottawa, things MIGHT have been different, and resulted in increased fan interest, but the timing was bad there (TO had several years left on their agreement with Syracuse).
In the end it's a sad thing to lose this team. We can hope that another takes its place. Independent league ball is much cheaper to operate, so you can get by on smaller crowds. And who needs another soccer dome?
Whatever the case, thanks are due Darwin, Pecor and GM Kyle Bostwick for 15 years of incredibly high quality baseball.
[And sorry that was so long]
Couple things: the championship banner left when the team's affiliation with Montreal ended, which isn't uncommon in the minors. The Orioles weren't necessarily interested in touting the accomplishments of another organization. That said, I am glad the 2 retired Lynx numbers never left the wall.
What happened to the people? MLB's '94 debacle didn't help, but that came before the enormous crowds of the championship year. The parking situation was a big part of it, too - after the crowds started to dwindle, the City of Ottawa virtually ensured they'd never come back by slashing the amount of available space (for a hotel and big-box store, no less). But the problem was probably there from the very begining, in that initial owner Howard Darwin (who is to be thanked and commended for landing a Triple-A franchise to begin with) never really promoted the team the way a minor league operation requires. There was a very intense honeymoon period, as there often is in Ottawa, but in order to keep crowds coming for years to come, the organization would need to work hard to cultivate the fanbase, to grow it, and to continue to appeal to families and the casual fan. Outside of a few select towns where baseball is religion, minor league ball pretty much requires nightly promotions to keep things interesting for fans. Darwin didn't do that. He just opened the door and let the fans come, and was encouraged when they did, initially. You can do with with hockey here, but anything else takes work. By the time new owner Ray Pecor came to town in 2000, it was too late, I reckon. He and his people did some incredible work and stuck with it far longer than most folks would have, but in the end it wasn't going to be viable.
One more thing to consider is that the parent teams were no longer interested in putting in the effort required to keep AAA baseball in Canada. It makes more sense for them to keep them closer to home. Crossing the border is too big a hassle. Had the Jays swooped in when the Expos ended their relationship with Ottawa, things MIGHT have been different, and resulted in increased fan interest, but the timing was bad there (TO had several years left on their agreement with Syracuse).
In the end it's a sad thing to lose this team. We can hope that another takes its place. Independent league ball is much cheaper to operate, so you can get by on smaller crowds. And who needs another soccer dome?
Whatever the case, thanks are due Darwin, Pecor and GM Kyle Bostwick for 15 years of incredibly high quality baseball.
[And sorry that was so long]
One more thing we need to add to this discussion. The media. I read five articles in Ottawa's two English dailies following the Lynx last game on Monday. They all asked the same question: Where did the fans go?
Funny...I was wondering the same thing about the media. How can you follow a team when there are no or very few write-ups about road games? How are you supposed to get to know the players when box scores don't appear? Ever see any International League stats in the paper? The Western Hockey League gets better coverage!! You're lucky to get five Lynx articles in two weeks worth of papers!!
I don't want to excuse the jobs that people like Darwin and Kyle Bostwick have done (sorry, Kyle deserves some blame too...maybe hiring a real media relations person would have helped) but the media should not be left unscathed either.
Oh, and the diehard baseball fans? Some of 'em are home watching their favorite MLB team every night on the MLB Ticket package. Not saying it's right....
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Funny...I was wondering the same thing about the media. How can you follow a team when there are no or very few write-ups about road games? How are you supposed to get to know the players when box scores don't appear? Ever see any International League stats in the paper? The Western Hockey League gets better coverage!! You're lucky to get five Lynx articles in two weeks worth of papers!!
I don't want to excuse the jobs that people like Darwin and Kyle Bostwick have done (sorry, Kyle deserves some blame too...maybe hiring a real media relations person would have helped) but the media should not be left unscathed either.
Oh, and the diehard baseball fans? Some of 'em are home watching their favorite MLB team every night on the MLB Ticket package. Not saying it's right....
# posted by 
: 4:57 PM, September 14, 2007
: 4:57 PM, September 14, 2007Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
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