The Montgomery Baseball Blog

TALKING STICK

Having a blog is sometimes like holding the talking stick in the dark, you arent sure who is around to hear what you say!

He speaks softly

GONNA BE A HOT TIME IN THE OLD TOWN

I got a phone call returning my message asking/complaining about the start time being moved to 6:30 on Saturday Biscuits games. The reason I was given is to "have the games earlier so more kids can stay to see the fireworks".


Uhm, okay but, how are the kids going to survive the heat? And what about the rest of us, who already border on heatstroke?

"We all hope its not too bad this year" was the team line on how hot it is.


So I checked the facts -
In 2011 The Weather Channel listed Montgomery Alabama as the third hottest city in the USA. 

In the first two weeks of the month of June....
All but three of the record high temps occur in my lifetime.
Only four of those fifteen record high temps are less than triple digits.
The average temp on June 15th is 90 degrees

And then it gets hot, the start of June is often just a tease compared to what comes after, with July being the hottest month in the hottest city of the Southern League.


Also, consider this - summer solstice is June 21st, the sun sets at 7:56.... an hour and twenty minute game would be super fast, but it would be twice as long as the shortest game in minor league history! We might get to see fireworks before it gets dark.

Daytime Fireworks = Impressive!

DONT FORGET THE STOCK ANSWER

Also stated in connection with the early start was to "Make it more 'family friendly'"
Thats a statement I hear often when they dont have a reason, or dont want to share the reason. Its another way of saying "the owner thinks its cheaper" or "the staffers decided it would be cute" or, in this case perhaps "we hope it will keep the drunks away".

I think the early starts will be very effective at letting those who work at the ballpark get off work early on weekends, at the expense of the attendees sitting in the the afternoon sun for thirty more minutes.

Obviously its an idea generated by someone in an air conditioned office. I challenge that person to come and sit with me on those six thirty starts before calling the change a success.

KITTY LEAGUE - A different kind of heat problem

NOT AN ISSUE

Of course, there heat wouldnt be an issue if the team addressed it. Its only because they choose to ignore the fact that high temperatures affect attendance. On one hand they use it as an excuse for not being better at drawing customers the past few years, yet on the other offering no relief whatsoever to the fans who do show up.

The real question for the ownership, are they running a baseball team or a fireworks show? If they want to have baseball they should work harder on that, because at this point they seem to be letting fireworks dictate their operation.

Its a bad trend a team has taken when they start overlooking miserable fans in large numbers, no matter what the reason. Instead of raising prices on concessions to cover slipping profit they should address the real issue, as many other teams in places cooler than our city have done.

FORMER BISCUITS

Congrats to Ryan Garko, who signed with the Colorado Rockies organization. I think he will really enjoy the thin air out west! Hes a great guy who really knows how to hit, plus he is a super positive influence on younger players. Not to mention he has one of the happiest faces in the game today.