Batter Up!

It looks like the sun will shine on the Lakewood BlueClaws as they begin their 9th season tonight against the Delmarva Shorebirds at FirstEnergy Park.
As one who has sat through and even broadcast some miserable home openers this one should be quite nice with temperatures in the upper 50’s for first pitch at 6:35.

As I have said before it’s hard to explain the phenomenon that is the BlueClaws, a low-level minor league baseball team that has been simply a grand slam since the very beginning. The team annually leads the South Atlantic League in attendance and last year drew more than 425,000 fans,
an average of more than 6,000 for each of their 70 home games. This despite some rough weather during the first month of the season as once it warms up and the school year comes to an end fans will flock to the park.

These fans for the most part are rooting for players they have never heard of but those who have followed the BlueClaws since 2001 have seen players like Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels call Lakewood home and they of course helped the Phillies win the World Series last fall. Who are the Phillies of tomorrow who will wear the BlueClaws uniform tonight? It could be 18-year old outfielder Zach Collier or 18-year old pitcher Jason Knapp of North Hunterdon, who will make the start tomorrow night.

Regardless of the players FirstEnergy Park has become a very popular destination for entertainment and that’s really the key to this whole thing.
Baseball is only part of the experience as a BlueClaws game is a family gathering for many. At any time you’ll see kids running around in the outfield playground or in the right field arcade. Speaking of kids the Claws will feed those under the age of 12 for free all season long. Once kids enter the park they will receive a voucher for a hot dog, chips and a soda which can be used that night or any other game. Just another great move by a team and business that has become a fixture in the community.

By the way all 140 BlueClaws games can be heard on the Shore Sports Network, 1160 WOBM AM and Fox Sports 1310. Greg Giombarrese is the lead play-by-play announcer and will be joined on the broadcasts by Josh Ellis.