THE CANADIAN PRESS
The reincarnation of the Vancouver Canadians as a single-A team in the Northwest League is becoming a rare success story for minor-league baseball in this country.
Attendance is solid, the ownership is both local and strong, and, perhaps most importantly, a long-term commitment to the city has been made with a 25-year lease for Nat Bailey Stadium.
All of that is why Vancouver looks set to buck the woes that have killed minor-league clubs in other Canadian cities, leaving it the sole remaining outpost of affiliated ball north of the border.
"The Northwest League business model works real well for us," team president Andy Dunn said during a recent visit to Toronto. "I think what we need in Vancouver is just a good, strong, traditional minor-league promotional plan.
"We really play on the old throw-back, historic feel, both at the facility and with the promotions."
The departure of the triple-A Ottawa Lynx to Allentown, Pa., after the 2007 season capped what has been a disastrous decade for Canadian minor-league teams.
It was the Canadians, then part of the triple-A Pacific Coast League, who started the mass exodus south after the 1999 season. That year they clinched the triple-A World Series title with a Game 5 victory in Charlotte and then headed right to Sacramento, where they continue to thrive as the River Cats.
The other two Canadian PCL teams were next, the Calgary Cannons moving to Albuquerque, N.M., following the 2002 season and the Edmonton Trappers leaving two years later, down to Round Rock, Texas.
During that time, the Pioneer League also abandoned Medicine Hat, Alta., after the Toronto Blue Jays pulled their affiliation following the 2002 season.
Combined with the departure of the Montreal Expos after the 2004 season, the Canadians — reborn in 2000 as the single-A Canadians after Fred Hermann relocated the Southern Oregon Timberjacks to Vancouver — and Blue Jays were left as the only teams tied to Major League Baseball in the country.
Canada also has five independent minor-league teams: the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the Northern League; the Edmonton Cracker-Cats and Calgary Vipers, formerly of the Northern League, now of the five-year-old Golden Baseball League; and the Quebec Capitales and Ottawa Rapids of the Can-Am League.
"I think it hugely hurts the country," said Walt Burrows, Canadian supervisor for the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau. "The triple-A teams leaving really hurt and independent baseball is just not the same, it’s like a higher version of a college league."
The drop from triple-A to single-A is also a significant one but the Canadians have managed to make fans forget the sour taste they were left with following the triple-A team’s abrupt exit.
In 1999, the triple-A club had a total attendance of 241,461 over 63 home dates for an average of 3,832 fans per game. Last season, the first under the ownership of Jake Kerr and Jeff Mooney, they drew 126,491 fans over 37 dates for an average of 3,418.
In 2000, the single-A club’s first season, attendance was just over 109,000.
Season tickets range in price from $335-$510 for the 38-game home schedule. The Canadians open up their 2008 season June 17 at home versus the Tri-City Dust Devils.
."Most of the fans are coming out for the entertainment experience more than they are the baseball experience," said Dunn. "So part of your fanbase is the die-hard baseball fan and they’re going to notice the difference, the other part of your fanbase is looking for the entertainment experience, so they want the fireworks show or to see the San Diego Chicken or an inexpensive night on the town that’s a great experience.
"If you give people a reason not to come, they’ll always find it. That’s the mentality you have to look at it with. Yeah, it’s not a triple-A franchise but it’s still professional baseball."
The Canadians are the single-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics and recently extended their player development contract through the 2010 season. Recent alumni include Rich Harden of Victoria, Joe Blanton, Nick Swisher and Andre Ethier.
Much of the focus for the Canadians is on bringing families and kids out to the ballpark. Dunn — who worked for the Expos and Florida Marlins as vice-president of Florida operations and later served as vice-president of ballpark operations and director of player development for the Nationals — is against the stunt or shock-value promotions employed by other minor-league teams, instead preferring the more traditional approach.
This season, for instance, kids attending every Sunday game will be outfitted from head to toe with a Canadians batting helmet, replica game jersey, batting gloves and umbrella. That way, the team hopes to build lifelong fans.
"They want to come out first and foremost because they want a night out with their families," said Dunn. "Then they want to be treated well at the ballpark, have a good time and hopefully have some take away experience from it.
"If you can pay $10 for your tickets and you have four people in your family, that’s $40 to get in but you’ve already got your kid a souvenir, that’s a pretty good night out on the town."
HURT’S LOGIC: Frank Thomas was mostly diplomatic about the Toronto Blue Jays after joining the Oakland Athletics last week, but there were hints of his unhappiness if you read between the lines.
Thomas, in comments made to Athletics beat writers, disagreed with the Blue Jays’ assessment that he was struggling at the plate, even though he was batting .167 in 16 games, with three homers and 11 RBIs.
Minus a monster series against Boston during the season’s opening week, when he hit two homers and drove in eight runs, Thomas was a non-factor batting just .125.
Thomas saw things differently, and explained away his problems.
"There are two ways to look at it," he said. "The second series of the season, I was on fire. I really felt if I was used properly, I could have stayed hot. I drove in eight or nine runs in three games. But they spent $200 million on two guys, and they were the priority in the middle of the lineup.
"Maybe it wasn’t a good fit for me, and I’m happy to be back (with Oakland). … It just wasn’t a good situation (in Toronto), for them to tell me I wasn’t in their plans."
Thomas didn’t elaborate on how he wasn’t used properly but one source said he was unhappy about being bumped from fourth to fifth in the batting order this season. Vernon Wells opened the season batting cleanup with Alex Rios in the three-hole.
Thomas also seemed to suggest he was getting no protection behind him.
"I know it’s still there," he said of his bat. "I just wasn’t getting pitches to hit there (in Toronto), everyone saw that."
Thomas has been hitting fourth for Oakland.
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP: The Canadian national team will compete against host Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea in Group B at the Women’s Baseball World Cup later this summer.
The schedule for the Aug. 24-29 tournament in Matsuyama was released last week, with Canada slated to play Hong Kong on the 24th, Japan on the 25th and South Korea on the 26th in the preliminary round.
A second preliminary round will follow on the 27th and 28th, when the top two teams from each group play each other to determine the medal matchups.
Group A consists of the United States, Australia, Taiwan and India.
Canada won bronze at the first two Women’s Baseball World Cup events, in 2004 and ’06.
