Last night, for some unknown reason, Durham Herald-Sun writer Stephen Wiseman took to twitter last night to shame Rays fans.
As we all know, Tampa Bay Times writer Marc Topkin usually tweets the attendance during every home game. Topkin never comments on it, he just puts it out there. Seeing the daily Topkin tweet, Wiseman thought it would be constructive to tell his audience how the Bulls attendance compared to the Rays.
When I replied to Wiseman's tweet and asked him for the meaning of his comparison, he doubled down on shaming Rays fans, calling the situation "pathetic" and "weak".
Of course, when I asked for positive contribution to the attendance situation, Wiseman had no reply.
Classless.
Yes, Wiseman made a factual observation. On Thursday, June 5th, the Durham Bulls attendance was within 1,000 fans of the Tampa Bay Rays attendance. That is a fact.
However, the Durham game had a lot going for it which made it a good draw.
First of all, the game was at night. The Rays game was during the day.
The Durham Bulls featured three promotions Thursday night. Two dealt with the price of a trip to the ballpark: college night, which provides discounted tickets for the many college students of the Durham area, and $1 concessions night.
Thursday night was also Merge Records Night, where well-known "indie" record label Merge Records "took over" the stadium, playing music from local bands throughout the game. The promotion was big enough to be mentioned by Minor League Baseball promotions guru Benjamin Hill in his weekly wrap-up of the best in MiLB promotions.
And, last but not least, the Durham Bulls starting pitcher on Thursday night was Alex Colome, one of the Rays top pitching prospects.
That over 9,000 fans went to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park to watch baseball Thursday night is awesome. Phenomenal. Fantastic.
It shows good promotions, combined with a good time of day, combined with a good prospect on the mound, will draw more people than average. Great to see.
But the attendance in Durham on Thursday night had nothing to do with the attendance of the Tampa Bay Rays or the proclivity of the population of the Tampa Bay area to go or not go to the Thursday day game versus the Miami Marlins at Tropicana Field.
Nothing. Zero. Zilch.
Beyond the scope of one game - one isolated incident - the Durham Bulls are currently averaging 7,127 fans per game. The Rays are averaging 18,119 fans per game. The Rays draw 60% more fans per game than the Durham Bulls.
Not to throw any other team under the bus, but as of June 5th, the Cleveland Indians are only drawing 48% more than their top affiliate, the Columbus Clippers (15,253 to 8,026). But that's a situation for the Indians and their team, marketing staff, and fan base.
As well is the Rays attendance is the concern only of the Rays, their marketing staff, and their fan base. Not the concern of a Minor League beat writer.
Especially one who covers the top affiliate.
I don't expect the Rays to ask for apology like I did when Daytona Cubs employee Robbie Aaron compared the Rays attendance to the attendance of the Daytona Cubs, but I do think the Durham Bulls might want to talk to Stephen Wiseman about things he should or should not say about the team's parent club.
Like the players on the field, the dream of most minor league media members is to eventually get the call to cover the bigs. In 2012, Rays Radio host Neil Solondz made the jump from the Bulls to the Rays. Yes, radio is different than print, but if Wiseman ever wants to cover the Rays, shaming the fan base and making ignorant judgements on fan support is not something you want in your portfolio.