School’s out,
Memorial Day has come and gone, and the NBA playoffs are within a couple weeks
of mercifully crowning a champion. All of which means baseball season has
officially arrived. With the first-place(!) Memphis Redbirds hosting 17 games in
June, AutoZone Park will heat up right along with our local weather forecasts.
But considering
the ballpark’s attendance has dropped six straight seasons, the time seems right
for a few fan-friendly adjustments. Here are seven tweaks that might help.
• A shower on the
boardwalk. Don’t get carried away; this remains G-rated entertainment. I’m
merely suggesting one of those upright, chain-operated shower-heads that will
dump a couple of gallons of cool heat relief on fans who need more than a mist
blower. This was popular for a time in the leftfield bleachers at Tim McCarver
Stadium. To keep things civil, the Redbirds could charge a dollar per dousing.
• Autograph
Sunday. There are more kids at AutoZone Park for Sunday matinees than for any
other day of the week. So why not have two starting pitchers — not scheduled for
action or bullpen work that day — sign autographs in the plaza for a couple of
innings? Rockey’s a champ, and he’s there game-in and game-out. But if the
Redbirds want to create summertime heroes, an autograph from a ballplayer goes a
long way.
• Free beer on
your birthday. Better have a legitimate driver’s license with you for this one.
And be responsible, for Pete’s sake. But if you’re lucky enough to celebrate
your birthday when the Redbirds are home, you surely deserve a draft or two on
the house. And this is a winner for the AZP concessions, too, as no one
celebrates a birthday alone.
• Foul-ball
lottery. Among the biggest cheers at AZP are when a foul ball lands on the roof
then S-L-O-W-L-Y rolls back down and drops into a throng of fans desperate to
land a free souvenir. So let’s take this up a notch. Mark one baseball before
each game with a unique logo or number. If a fan catches this ball (either foul
or beyond the outfield fence), he or she gets a choice between season tickets
for next season or the equivalent value in the team store. (Calculate the odds
for this and you’ll recognize there won’t be many “winners” over the course of a
season. But this is the magic of a lottery. Just a single winner can spawn
euphoria . . . and LOTS of talk.)
• Suite for a day.
There are 44 luxury suites at AutoZone Park, and they each provide their own
distinct atmosphere for taking in a baseball game. They tend to be occupied by
the employees and friends of particular businesses that have ponied up a bundle
of cash to essentially own a room at the ballpark. Why not use this lavish
experience as a recruiting tool for future business titans? Each suite holder
should pick a Sunday game during June or July and donate use of the suite to a
summer camp of their choice (there are any number of these in the Memphis area).
The hard part is then left to the camp counselors: who are the lucky youngsters
who get a taste of the suite life?
• Home Run Hero.
The Redbirds pick one inning — announced before the game starts — and if a
Redbird homers in that inning, all fans get a coupon for a free soft drink at a
future game. The key to longevity for any sports operation is repeat customers.
A few homers in the right frames might go a long way toward that end.
• Player
introductions that count. Thanks to AZP’s p.a. system, we all know Josh Phelps
enjoys “Sweet Home Alabama” when he steps to the plate. But how far can a theme
song go in a relationship? Why not have the p.a. announcer share some background
info — approved by the player of course — when a batter steps into the box? (And
if the audio is too distracting, this can be done on the scoreboard.) What’s
Colby Rasmus’ birthday? Where is Joe Mather from? What’s Jarrett Hoffpauir’s
favorite movie? When fans become engaged with the players, they’ll be a lot more
interested in seeing them succeed.
