Minor Miracles

By Mitch Frank

Maybe Bud Selig should visit Brooklyn. In the very borough that baseball abandoned during the Eisenhower Administration, Major League Baseball's commissioner would be treated to a nostalgic version of the national pastime. He would see 200 kids lining up early outside a ball park for a $5 bleacher seat despite the hot, sticky Coney Island weather. If he traveled to Memphis, Tenn., he would see families hurrying past downtown landmarks like the Peabody Hotel to get a good seat at AutoZone Park. Outside Chicago, he would see Kane County Cougars players being swarmed by young fans. And in cities and towns from Shreveport, La., to Medicine Hat, Alta., he would see how the major leagues' little siblings have turned themselves into the hottest ticket in sports.

While the big leagues struggle to increase attendance and deal with steroid-use allegations, a looming strike and the botched All-Star game, the minors are enjoying the best season of their 101-year history. Minor-league attendance has risen 29% over the past nine years, far outpacing the majors' 3% growth. Last year the minors drew 38.8 million fans, the largest total since 1949. This season could be a record breaker as minor-league owners, seeing profits in a business that had stagnated for decades, have opened new stadiums and offered every conceivable promotion to attract fans. Indeed, the showmanship is a throwback to the days of Bill Veeck, the legendary, maverick big-league owner who once sent a midget to bat. The St. Paul Saints, owned by Veeck's son Mike, gave out inflatable bats, sponsored by the maker of Viagra, to every man over 21. In Nashville, Tenn., 15 nuns opened a game with the national anthem and came back during the 7th-inning stretch to perform the Macarena.

As family entertainment, the minor leagues are hard to beat. "Kids are king here," says Kane County Cougars general manager Jeff Sedivy. "And Mom is marketed to, day in, day out." The average ticket price is just $6, compared with $19 for the majors. Throw in food, souvenirs and parking, and an evening for a family of four still averages $50 for the minors, vs. $140 for the majors. The friendly, open layout of minor-league parks is another plus. Kids can wander freely. (Do you know any 8-year-olds who can sit still for nine innings?) Clever owners provide kids with plenty of options: face painting, amusement-park rides, pitching cages where they can track the speed of their fastball. And kids are a lot closer to the players than they would be in the upper deck at Wrigley Field. "The kids don't know the difference between Cubs players and Cougars," says longtime coach Matt Winters. "They know they had a good time."

With the crowds pouring in, the minors have broken out of a long slump. Once upon a time, nearly every town in America had a ball club. But after World War II, televised major-league games gave everyone a taste of the bigs. The minors shriveled, going from 448 ball clubs and more than 39 million fans in 1949 to 141 clubs and 9 million fans in 1967. The big-league parent clubs didn't care, as long as they had farm clubs grooming future stars. But recently, team owners realized families were starved for a cheap night out other than at the multiplex or miniature golf.

In their cozy, new 15,000-seat stadium, the Memphis Redbirds, a Triple-A team affiliated with the major-league Cardinals, are drawing the largest attendance in the minors. Despite finishing last in 2001, the team is on pace this year to outdraw the doomed Montreal Expos. Owner Dean Jernigan originally scanned the suburbs for a site, but his wife and co-owner Jean convinced him that a stadium downtown could help the city. AutoZone Park now anchors a revitalized section of Memphis once occupied by porn shops and empty lots.

Part of the appeal of minor-league ball is nostalgia, and nowhere is that factor bigger than in Brooklyn, where pro baseball returned last year for the first time since the Dodgers blew town 45 years ago. The New York Mets moved one of their Single-A farm teams to Coney Island and built 7,500-seat Keyspan Park next to the boardwalk. Why go to Brooklyn to see apprentices when All-Stars are playing for the Mets and Yankees across town? "The girls like it here," says Betsy Baudillo of Brooklyn, who took her two young daughters to a game. "It's intimate."

All those young fans have shown team owners that there is money to be made, and that has attracted a new breed of owner. Investor groups, including the likes of Bill Murray, Jimmy Buffett and Nolan Ryan, have discovered they can get into the game for a relatively small investment. You can buy a whole Class A team for $2.5 million. Even better, the salaries of players and coaches of affiliated teams are paid by the big-league teams. (A Class A minor-league rookie makes $850 monthly.) Half the minor-league teams play in stadiums built or completely renovated since 1990. And many of them rival Baltimore's Camden Yards for beauty. Built of red brick and iron, Memphis' AutoZone Park looks as if it were erected in 1880, rather than a few years ago.

Are the majors concerned about the competition? Not when they take the long view. Cyclones vice president Jeff Wilpon, whose father Fred owns that team as well as a hunk of the Mets, sees a benefit in getting more kids hooked on the game. And as they grow up, they may just want to go see the nearby Mets, especially if former Cyclones stars are playing. "Part of kids' love for this team is love for the Mets," says Jeff Wilpon. Former Yankees catcher Rick Cerone, who owns the unaffiliated Newark Bears, says his team is giving the whole sport a lift. "We're helping the majors," he says. "We're cultivating younger fans to baseball." Who would have thought that players on teams like the Clinton Lumber Kings or the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes would be doing as much for the game as Barry Bonds?

--With reporting by Jackson Baker/Memphis and Matt Baron/Chicago

With reporting by Jackson Baker/Memphis and Matt Baron/Chicago