ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 26, 1996 TAG: 9606260023
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
It used to be, when you'd go to a ballgame on a summer night in Salem looking for something free, if you were lucky, you caught a foul ball.
Now, when you go to a ballgame on some summer nights in Salem, if you're lucky, you'll win $50 - and it doesn't sting like grabbing a cowhide carom does.
Times change, as do ballparks, and while the local minor league franchise's move from Municipal Field to Memorial Stadium was a welcome change of address, something is missing.
People.
The club has seen anything but an Avalanche at the box office. In the first half of the Carolina League season, Salem averaged 2,232 spectators at 6,000-seat Memorial Stadium. Those numbers are befuddling to some, dismaying to others.
``It is a little bit disappointing,'' said Avalanche owner Kelvin Bowles as the second half began with another mediocre gathering of 1,302 Monday night. ``We're hoping things will improve. This is our first homestand with the kids out of school.''
Dave Oster, the Avalanche's first-year general manager, said the club expected crowds to average in the 3,500 range. Salem's not even in the ballpark.
In 35 openings entering Tuesday night's game, the Avalanche has seen that many go through the gates only six times.
Salem averaged 3,474 per game in the new park in 20 August dates last year, after only 1,536 per date at Municipal. Some thought the fan-friendliness of the new yard would attract more fans. It hasn't happened.
And it may not, but the Avalanche is trying. In an attempt to boost attendance on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for the remainder of the season, the club is giving away $50 three times per game to someone in the seats.
Say what you will, the Roanoke Valley never has been a baseball capital. When the new stadium was built, some suggested Salem try for one of the two Double A expansion franchises that begin play in 1999.
The ballpark qualifies. The support doesn't.
There are some who bemoan the spaciousness of Memorial's dimensions, limiting the scoreboard-igniting games that were regular at the old park.
Baseball, unlike hockey and basketball, hasn't done a good job promoting its game with youth. No Salem team has finished a half-season at .500 since June 1988, although the 34-35 Rockies' farm club of the half just completed was the best club since then.
There also is still an antiseptic feeling to the new park, where the unoffensive rowdiness of Municipal days is absent. A Memorial fan yelling at an umpire or opposing player often gets glares like he's screamed in church or at the public library.
Hey, it's nice and clean, but it's not an operating room. You're supposed to yell, boo, clap, or scream, ``You're snake bit!''
Just don't scream about the prices.
``It's not the money,'' Bowles said. ``It can't be.''
He should be right. A box seat is $6. A reserved seat, nine rows from the field, is $5. General admission is $3. Parking, and there's plenty of it, is free. The concessions are not only reasonably priced, but cheaper than at most other Carolina League stops.
However, Salem has a terrible schedule, which is part of paying the price for the nice park and its location adjacent to the grounds for the wildly successful Salem Fair.
The Avalanche also loses a potential home week to the Roanoke Valley Horse Show in June and to the NCAA Division III World Series in May.
Considering the minuscule attendance at the NCAA tournament last month, the city should let the contract run out next season. The NCAA softball at the Moyer Complex outdrew the baseball. If the city wants college ball, it could find other events that would draw more spectators.
After this week's homestand, the Avalanche doesn't come back to Salem until July 19 - and that's the night the Olympics begin in Atlanta. In pro baseball this season, only the Braves are out of town for a longer stretch, due to the Summer Games.
The Avalanche has only seven July home games, then plays 20 of its last 32 dates at home between Aug.2 and Sept.2. If there is to be a pennant chase, it will be on familiar soil.
However, August is family vacation month. Youth sports teams and camps are over, and people hit the road before school starts. Many already are thinking football in August.
The Avalanche, however, also has failed in understanding and appealing to its potential fan base.
The club dropped the sale of the popular 20-game general admission ticket book in the off-season, although a similar ticket voucher has been added after the club received complaints.
Oster also said the club has sold 560 season tickets - a very low number for a local market of 225,000. By comparison, the Roanoke Express sold about 1,800 for last hockey season.
``I think we made a mistake on the ticket books, and I'd say we'll probably go back and sell them next year,'' said Oster, in his first year as the Salem GM, after moving from Wilmington, Del., where a $5 ticket in Philadelphia's backyard was a steal.
``Our expectations certainly were for higher than the attendance has been. Starting now, this is going to be the key. We can say we've been hurt by the weather and because school wasn't out, but now, there are no more excuses.''
Or, as Bowles said, ``We just need to make more people aware of what's out here. It's a great atmosphere. We just have to work harder at getting people here.''
The Avalanche will start by fifty bucking a trend.
LENGTH: Long : 105 linesby CNB