That revised route led me as a young man to baseball and the broadcast booth for both my alma mater and a short-season A affiliate of a bay area big club. That was a true detour in and of itself because I returned to the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-90′s. There was another gold rush on and it had more to offer than ‘the booth’ was offering at the time.

The Bay Area is going through a serious transformation today. It held up despite the downturn in the economy at the end of last year and beginning of this, but signs may be emerging, as least according to a Forbes article titled ‘America’s Abandoned Cities‘ that the second Gold Rush is indeed over. Lower pay and fewer jobs mean more people are realizing that there is more to life than fog, sourdough bread, fog, steamed beer, views of the Golden Gate, and more fog.

Living On Tulsa Time

‘Beth’ left San Francisco’s Excelsior neighborhood six years ago. Home to oft-forgotten McLaren Park, the Excelsior is in the southeast corner of the city about 10 Willie Mays home runs due west of Candlestick.

She lived all over the City (as it’s known): North Beach (Joe DiMaggio’s old haunt – the Italian section), the Avenues (a perfect grid of numbered streets between the ocean and the park), and Hayes Valley (near the Painted Ladies and another seven Barry Bonds home runs from the corner from Haight/Ashbury).

However, when the rising tide of free money and skyrocketing home values hit San Francisco (read: when I bought a house) Beth decided she wanted to do the same thing. Against the advice and desire of her brother and sister she did indeed do the same thing. In Tulsa. OK?

Trampling Out The Vintage

Over the past three years states such as Nevada, Michigan, and Virginia launched major handbill-type advertising campaigns in California promoting cheaper land, lower taxes, and a better quality of life in an effort to tilt the country back to east and filter out some of California’s loose business sediment into their own bottles. To an extent is has worked, benefitting the bordering states more than more distant ones, but the attraction to California is still fairly magnetic.

For Beth, the City was worn out and cramped and a place like Tulsa, Oklahoma offered her more space, a slower pace, and a smidge more opportunity. Oklahoma did not heavily market there and she did not do extensive research on where to go. She “just picked” Tulsa.

While at the Drillers game I overheard her talking in the row behind me about the new ballpark being built for the team Tulsa. She was comparing the excitement of new digs to what San Francisco (the town and team) went through moving into AT&T Park. Drillers Stadium is past its prime within the Tulsa Sate Fairgrounds and many avoid it because of its location and condition. It is a great place to watch a baseball game as the stands sit above the sunken diamond for that “on top” feel. The corrugated metal flooring and wooden overhang roof allow for some pretty good stompin’ when the Drillers are rallying. But many of the people I talked to felt attendance was down because people are in anticipation mode. There’s no other way to explain it being 2/3 full on Kids’ Night (a Friday) for a first place team. Unless of course – ‘It’s the economy’, stupid.

Get Your Kicks

Beth sees the changes even hitting a place where the oil business has buoyed the town so much over the last few years. Working part time in the event planning/catering business she is looking for more to do. Business is coming her way, but it is difficult to predict because it is usually smaller in scope than it used to be and it is more spur-of-the-moment.

Other types of recreation are being impacted as well. She has seen a large spike to the positive at her regular Wednesday movie matinee. The empty theatres for the cheap showing now fill to 3/4 capacity and the demographic is younger. Our speculation led us to the same natural conclusion – those out of work were taking a break from blogging – but then again I was 15 years old the last time I paid $3 for a movie.

Beth does not go to many baseball games, but with the new stadium in place next season she and her neighbors will be there in full force. I asked her if she would ever re-join me as a neighbor in San Francisco – and although the lack of good food and warmth in the winter gets her down, there is enough to keep her there in Tulsa.

While I do not think it is fair to call Beth’s migration ‘reverse-Okie‘ to its core, there are certainly some elements to it. She is actually more like a ‘New Sooner‘. Oddly enough there were billboards in west-central Kansas offering free land for both residential and industrial/agricultural purposes. Some people this century are migrating. We are making a mistake if we ignore the echoes of The Depression.

Given where I am these days, I often wonder the same thing about San Francisco. That’s one of the reasons why I took this trip.

I don’t really know. It’s just stuff I’ve been thinking about.

In other news – The Arkansas Travelers sent 14 men to the plate T1 and scored nine times en route to a 12-4 victory over the Tulsa Drillers. A helicopter landed on the field during the pre-game ceremonies delivering a local news personality and one of the three first pitch baseballs.

View the video here.

Quote attributes: Grapes of Wrath, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Route 66, Jason Friedman/LSJUMB

THe KTUL News Chopper. No one was hurt in the filming of this footage.

The ghost – my traveling companion (of 38 years old) was gone. He got called up you could say. A heavenly thought that. He had fans both in California (family) and Wisconsin that needed him. There’s really nothing you can do in the minors when the big club calls except shake hands, say, “thank you”, and wish all the best for a great opportunity.

The empties – the feelings of leaving family, more friends, and possibly even better things behind in behind in Chicago. The choice was between staying and watching Yankees @ White Sox; or head down to the farm and keep my appointed route. Since I hate the f*cking Yankees it only made the choice slightly easier. Besides, there has always been a part of me that wanted to see Graceland.

A late start and multiple lane closures on the way south meant I didn’t cross the Mississippi into Tennessee until 6:45PM or 25 minutes before first pitch. The Redbirds’ radio play-by-play man did what all good shills do (and I can say that because I have done it myself): “Despite the standing water and funnel cloud touchdowns in the area the game has not been called yet.” Whether or not the folks in Germantown (East Memphis) or Olive Branch, MS (suburb south) were going to be able to use their tickets was inconsequential because those weren’t real tornadoes that ripped though their towns just two hours prior.

I went down to the field anyway despite that I knew the game would be called. Surely the surrounding nightlife would support the stories of poorboys and pilgrims on and around Beale St.

All Shook Up

Bob and Sue from Akron, OH stood on the concourse behind the last row of seats behind home plate in Autozone Park watching the bat boys and clubhouse attendants (presumably) having a catch in bare feet in short right field. They did not know when tonight’s rainout would be made up as they were in town all weekend and would be able to go again if their schedule allowed. They did not seem like they were interested in talking to me until they found what kind of shenanigans I was up to.

This kind of trip is something that they aspire to do, but Bob said he wanted to see all 30 parks. His wife agreed. They are not yet at that stage of life, but they are getting closer. Claiming great pride for the success of his hometown minor league team, the Akron Aeros of the Eastern League and true sadness at the end of the fad that was the Cleveland Indians/Jacobs Field, Bob intimated at a gaping hole gorged in the hearts of all Cleveland sports fans be it from the football Browns of the 80′s, baseball’s Indians of the 50′s and 90′s, and basketball’s Cavs this decade.

Sure Cleveland is part of the landscape, but does it really rock? When Bob and Sue get the call to tour the country, they will find out.

Heartbreak Hotel

I should never have met Carlos from Pine Bluff, AR. The man obviously knows his sore thumbs however, because he could immediately tell that my first pass up-and-down a tornado-scared Beale St. resulted in nothing but more confusion.

As Beale St.’s unofficial and unintended concierge, Carlos quickly stopped me asked me where I was from and whether I wanted music or food. Within three minutes, Carlos was able to extract form me where I lived, where I was raised, why I was in Memphis, and how Oct. 27, 1986 was the happiest day of my life (to that point). He also knew that I was good for a little bit of money.

I did not get into too many specifics with Carlos. Other than hailing from Pine Bluff and that he was tired from sleeping on a bench in a nearby park, I did not want to hear anymore. I just heard a similar story of business failure from Pirani in the cab in Chicago, and whether or not Carlos’ story was true – it was still unfolding and he was trying to recount it. He seemed trustworthy and I had no reason to think otherwise.

He led me to the Rendezvous and told me I would have a delicious meal there. I would eat delicious ribs there and I thanked Carlos monetarily in advance. Locals may have sent me elsewhere, but I had Carlos looking out for me. He is waiting for a call up too. Hopefully he gets one.

It’s Now Or Never

The server who took care of me at the Rendezvous didn’t seem too impressed with my version of ‘Aw shucks’ method of conversation creation, so I had to pull out the heavy artillery about the trip to get her talking. Once we got talking, she kind of stopped working. We talked the whole time I sat at the bar. I hope she didn’t get in trouble.

A product of the schools in the East Memphis area, she left college with a degree in finance. However, the reason why she no longer works at the bank is not because of the economy, but frustration with the South and its ways. Despite what we think is changing regarding chauvinism, racism, and small-minded thinking – no matter how many beers we have – it’s not happening fast enough.

She will have a career in business sooner rather than later as she bides her time for the right thing to come along. First – she is sharp. I always look for common sense in entrepreneurs and she is that. Second – she saves, yet does not deprive herself of finer things. One she learned I was from New York she told me about the trip she recently took to NY with friends. The trip included meals at some of the best restaurants in town and a trip to Yankee Stadium.

They got tickets to Yankee Stadium!! Let me re-phrase: Holy crap! She does not go to many Redbird games and she is not much of a baseball fan, but her friends are. They researched, engaged in the mission, and executed. They also took the subway too. That’s damn impressive. Savvy rookies, if you will.

Kentucky Rain

My grand plans for Memphis, including sneaking into Kentucky for five minutes on the drive from Chicago, were washed out. Normally, when the visiting team is making its final trip to a city the clubs take every care to make sure the game is played – even in the minors. That didn’t happen in Memphis, but I don’t consider it my last trip.

I don’t consider it to be the last trip for those I met in Memphis either.

In other news – The Memphis Redbirds won the make-up version of the originally scheduled game with the Round Rock Express by the score of 5-2. And Jesse did not go to Graceland. He snuck into Mississippi instead to but a toothbrush and gum. That’s state #45. Oklahoma will be state #46 in about four hours.

Lyric attributes: Paul Simon, Elvis Presley, Ian Hunter

For players, helmets that get left in the sun upside-down singe the forehead. Metal cleats that stay on the dirt infield too long start to cook the soles of feet. For fans, the breeze that blows hot air actually feels like the Schwarzenegger-portrayed Mr. Freeze is at the game and the sno-cone becomes colored liquid corn syrup fast from the heat transferred by your hand.

The mercury levels may have adversely affected the gate for the Sacramento Rivercats’ game at Raley Field. Then again, it gets this hot in the summer. Every Sunday home game is a 1:05 start. There are 11:35 AM weekday start times as well. The official game time temperature was 104 degrees. Wunderground said the highest temperature in the city was 106. After the game, the car said it was 117. Hellooooo, Riyadh!

The team announced a paid attendance of 8,056 for this game. Perhaps one-third of that number were there. Maybe 40%. All this for the best team in the league against their newly-formed geographic rival the Reno Aces. By the third inning those that were not in their assigned seats or under umbrellas, tents, and trees on the outfield lawn congealed in shaded sections at the top of the stadium.

Two of the heartiest souls were long-time Rivercats’ fans Tom and Rebecca from a nearby town in the Sacramento area. They have not missed any of the 51 games so far this season and they do not plan on missing any of the remaining 26. While they too sought relief from the sun for an inning or two, it presumably gave them strength for the rest of the game.

General sports fans aware of the support the area is capable of as evidenced by the love shown the NBA’s Sacramento Kings earlier this decade when it consistently made the playoffs. The Rivercats receive the same support from its fans. Sacramento leads the league in attendance through July 19. Tom and Rebecca are a big part of it.

If anyone has the proper perspective – it’s them. They seem like any team’s perfect season-ticket holders: always there, always participating, and not just rooting.

For example, the night before had fireworks. It was also Susan G. Komen ‘Swing for the Cure Night’. That’s a double bill rarely seen in the minor leagues because of the “lost gate” theory, but there is not a better night to have a fundraiser than on a night when you are guaranteed a big crowd.

Tom said the night was a lot of fun. The team won in pink jerseys rounding pink bases. Unfortunately, the fundraiser did not seem to raise as much money for the breast cancer–focused charity as it did last year. Fewer bids and smaller bids appeared in the silent auction. One of the player jerseys that Tom and Rebecca set money aside for all year – and won – was one of the highest bids of the night and certainly lower than what they remember what some of the jerseys went for last year. They thought there could really be only one reason for that.

They also shared a perception that crowds had been trending smaller in the summer months. “It might be the economy,” we thought. The average temperature for the Aces’ series was 99 degrees. That might play a part as well. There could be a bit of Atlanta-syndrome too. The theory there is that the team has been a perennial winner over the last ten years that perhaps fans are not coming out like they used to. They are waiting for the games to mean something. The Rivercats are two-time defending Triple-A champions after all.

A quick back-of-the-envelope check reveals that while the actual turnstile count may be lower, the average announced attendance for the Rivercats’ last 19 home games, dating back to June 11, has been 9,545 or 4.5% above their season PCL-leading average of 9,130*. That’s a small victory for a team in an area that saw hyper-growth in the ten years leading up to last year fueled by cheap land, urban/suburban exodus, and a recall.

Fans are guaranteed a great time at Raley Field whenever they go. Tower Bridge as backdrop provides a major league view, very similar to that of PNC Park in Pittsburgh. They are going to get good baseball. I can personally vouch for the manager, Tony DeFrancesco. He was the first person, I ever heard say, “Nothing good happens after midnight.”

Tom and Rebecca already know all this though. Despite whatever is going on in their lives, or in the capitol building two miles away they, will be there. When asked as to whether or not they would renew their season tickets, the answer was a resounding, ‘yes’.

Nothing more needed to be said. Few wanted to engage in conversation this day. Tom and Rebecca’s enthusiasm for the endeavor powered this exercise. Minds and bodies were focused on staying cool rather than the economy, the budget, and even the field in some cases.

In other words, “They’ll be back.”

In other news – Shawn Chacon threw six effective innings and got the win in the Rivercats’ 4-1 victory over the Reno Aces. 2B Eric Patterson led off B1 with his ninth home run of the year and had three hits on the day. 1B Daric Barton hit his ninth home run of the year a well – a two-run shot B5. The win put Sacramento, owner of a 10-game lead in their division, 22 games over .500 on the year.

* Note – The average for six Sunday games is over 9,800 so far, in much more temperate weather. The average for six 11:35 games to this point is a respectable 7,625.

Petit (foreground) and Barton (background) sign autographs for fans of all ages.

Success

Of all the inescapable talk radio banter out there, and because the stars are marketed more than the teams, this is the only legitimate question. All the other debates like Hall of Fame, Best Ever, and Trade Talks do not impact ME. The price of a ticket does.

This question is also worth asking on the same day the AP released the results of a poll* in which 63% of respondents said that baseball’s biggest problem was the high cost of attending games, despite that 1/3 of all major league teams have lowered or held prices steady for this season.

The only individual players that I believe are worth of the price of admission today are Albert Pujols and Tim Lincecum. That is why when the man behind the register at the San Jose Giants souvenir shack told me that one of the reasons why attendance was down (half the 3,000+ average) for the Thursday night tilt against the first place High Desert Mavs was because Lincecum was pitching for the big club, it made perfect sense.

San Jose as a baseball town has been getting a lot of publicity where I live lately. First, there have been at least six players on the team’s roster this season that may make the big club within two years. Second, San Francisco Baseball Associates, L.P. has been flexing its territorial muscles on the town as it prevents the A’s from trying to build a stadium there. Ah, the business of baseball. As a team, The San Jose Giants have been playing well this year. Winners of the first half of the California League season in their division and a 11-3 start in the second half is not too shabby for a team at any level.

Winning has translated into strong attendance and strong souvenir sales so far. All this despite that Silicon Valley has not been immune to the economy’s ills over the past nine months. Unemployment is on pace with the state – higher than the national average both ~11% – and some sectors have been hit harder than others. On this night, only 1,538 paid for tickets, but it seemed like fewer than that showed up. Many reasons were given for the drop. Lincecum on TV. 20,400 for the previous five games around the holiday. No promotion. Cooler weather. Final game of a homestand. All were given as reasons.

One fan who did show up was John from nearby Fremont. He has been coming to five or so Giants games per season for the last 8 years. I caught John for a couple of innings while his wife and daughter left their seats on the top row of the sparsely inhabited bleachers down the left field line. John was kind enough to oblige.

He told me that he purchased a total of 14 tickets – enough for his family of three to attend 4 games together with two to spare – for the same price it would have cost them to attend one A’s game from where I sat for the Tigers game.

John certainly feels he is priced out of major league games. A one-income family for now means value (there’s that word again) comes first when it comes to entertainment as evidenced by his family’s patronage to other intimate events such as the sprint racing at the San Jose Fairgrounds Speedway or in Watsonville. He feels much more connected to the San Jose Giants than he does to the Oakland A’s. He saw Pablo Sandoval AND Lincecum pitch here last year. I think if you ask him point blank, he’d say he underpaid to see them as members of the San Jose Giants.

There is another reason for John’s disconnection. When the NHL canceled its 2004-05 season because of a strike/lockout, he knew of two businesses in San Jose that went under shortly after that stoppage because the fans were not filling restaurants and bars before and after Sharks games. “Millionaires fighting with billionaires,” he said. It just doesn’t add up.

John can tell which houses in and around his neighborhood are in foreclosure. While it gets him down, part of him does get encouraged when he sees things like record donations at local food drives in some of San Jose’s and Fremont’s neighboring affluent zip codes.

This was my first San Jose Giants game in 12 years, but it felt like 12 days. San Jose Municipal Stadium looks exactly the same as it did in ‘97, but it is an anachronism. Amidst the world’s largest companies and the smartest workers in California’s 3rd largest city sits a stadium with hand-painted signs, high-school-esque metal bleachers down the foul lines, and a bbq pit and beer garden that make one wonder why they even have regular concession stands.

John wonders why this team does not have a state-of-the-art facility of its own. The S.F. Giants protect the area like it is Fort Knox, and the community has been coming out for this incarnation of baseball for over three decades.

It may be that the stadium was built as a WPA project in the 40′s. If we have to resort to a nationwide program like that again, maybe they will.

In other news – Pitchers threw strikes and hitters swung the bat in the Giants’ 3-1, two-hour and 14-minute victory over the High Desert Mavericks, an affiliate of the Mariners. The pitching performances of Clayton Tanner (W,7-3) and Dan Runtzler (1IP, 2K) cannot go unnoticed. The game’s highlights, however, were provided by Mav RF Joe Dunigan, who struck out in his first three AB’s. Beer drinkers rejoiced. As the Beer Batter of the game, each Dunigan strike out meant a discount on a cold one.

Joe Dunigan (#20) prepares to lower the gross margin for the San Jose Giants' nightly take in a game on July 9, 2009 by swinging and missing often.

* See all the results of the AP/KnowledgeNetworks poll here.

Yet despite that perceived value and lower cost, minor league baseball will see a similar or worse drop in attendance due to 2009’s macroeconomic conditions?

A confession first. This exercise reminded me of a few things. One, how hard real reporters work to source and produce information. Two, the enormous low-hanging temptation that exists to ‘run with it’ when writer is editor.

I did stumble upon some information that ran counter to my prevailing notion. A nationally-syndicated radio talk show host said the other day that minor league baseball had grown more in popularity (15%) over the past few years than any other sport. Alas, he and Google both could not be more specific in citing a source or better-qualifying the timeframe.

There was also another note produced by a terrific blogger (The Bleacher Report) recently who was able to get quotes from general managers for teams minor leagues across Pennsylvania. The GM’s indicated that 09 attendance was flat to up so far despite the weather because affordable entertainment is as good in a bad economy as it is in a good one.

What do the numbers say across the country? A statistical look paints a mixed picture, couched again by the information that is available and the limited statistical abilities of this reporter.

Here are some starting points:
1. Minor League Baseball announced record attendance for the fifth consecutive year at 43.3 million fans in 2008, up 1.1%
2. On June 9, 2009 Minor League Baseball president Pat O’Conner announced that five of the eight advanced minor league teams* enjoyed increases in attendance to that point year-over-year.
3. Despite this increase average crowd/game stood at 3,924, a mere 30 fewer customers per game than last season.

Attendance figures and games played numbers are available for the eight leagues. The ever-so-simple, wholly unreliable, and yet baseball-nerd friendly ‘At This Pace’ analysis for projected attendance in 2009 as a percentage of 2008 reveals the following:

AAA Int’l League -3%; Richmond Braves relocated to Gwinnett Cty. (suburban Atlanta)
AAA PCL -4%; Tucson Toros relocate to Reno
AA Eastern -1%; no relocations
AA Southern -2%; no relocations
AA Texas -1%; no relocations
A California +9%; no relocations
A Carolina -6%; Two nickname changes, no relocations
A Florida State +28%; Vero Beach relocates to Port Charlotte accounting for nearly half of the over all increase.

What are the possible inferences? The weather might be getting better? The smaller the regional area, the more water the “good entertainment value” theory holds? Ted Gianoulous will be really busy in August?

I am sure it is all and none of the above, but one that can be said is that for the most part, the numbers are trending flat to down.

That’s why I am excited to go see the San Jose Giants, Sacramento Rivercats, Memphis Redbirds, and Tulsa Drillers to find out.

One final note I came across in my exhaustive research. The Southeastern Conference – the college conference whose schools get 80,000 to come see football scrimmages in May – announced record attendance for baseball in 2009 at 1.9 million. That is a near 19% increase over 2008. One of the conference’s members – LSU – took the hardware from the prairie to the bayou in June when it won the CWS.

Good ball has always been a reason to geaux to games.

* For purposes of this exercise, only the eight advanced minor leagues (not low or short season A) were considered.

Perhaps the most important paper I wrote in my college career was about baseball… sort of. First, Henry Breitrose was the professor; and ‘The History of Film’ was the class. The paper was important because it was the last class – the last required class at that – I needed in order to graduate. We saw all the important titles and all the important pioneers: Eisenstein, Griffith, Welles. I was ready for my close-up, until it was time to write the final paper -the theme of which was entirely of our choosing. We essentially had to find examples of the techniques about which we learned in a certain genre of film.

It being spring quarter and me spending a majority of my time in the press box at the diamond anyway I chose sports movies as the genre. The theme essentially was how baseball movies are not about baseball, but baseball is only the medium through which the story is conveyed. As my subjects I chose ‘Pride of the Yankees’, and ‘Field of Dreams’ for sure. I think I also chose ‘The Natural’, but I cannot be sure. ‘Bang The Drum Slowly’ sounds right also, maybe it was ‘Bad News Bears’, but I cannot find the floppy disk that holds the paper.

What I argued was that ‘Pride’ was more about having pride in yourself than about baseball; ‘Field’ about the familial bonds created by the game; ‘Natural’ about doing the right thing no matter what the circumstance; and ‘Drum’ about overcoming life’s obstacles.

I do recall that the paper did well in the class too. If I can find it, I will certainly reprint it. We’ll see if my thesis holds water. Notice how I did not choose ‘Major League’.