Sprindale Minor League Sports Complex and Minor League Baseball Stadium

[masons_dad1]

You don't get it because you're not used to having a Texas League team around. Let me put it to you this way, nobody on the business side cares whether the team wins or loses. They are exhibition games for the purposes of player development. The tradeoff is you get to see future greats. Growing up watching the Travs I saw guys like Todd Zeile, Ray Lankford, Pagnozzi, JD Drew, etc. However, when they are ready to go up to AAA they will quickly. The parent franchise cares nothing about winning or losing at the AA level. Nothing. They care about winning the World Series.

Don't believe me? Ask the Travs fans in Central Arkansas, who are clearly irritated with the current situation with the Angels.

Meanwhile college teams bust their butts trying to win games. A handful of those kids will have meaningful pro careers but most won't. They give it all they've got right now.

Anyway, it's tough to compete with that. Minor league baseball is more about drinking beer and letting your kids run the bases. Those attendance numbers generally include 1/3 or more of the seats being sold but empty.

That said, the Round Rock franchise was wildly successful despite UT baseball a half hour away. Granted Austin's MSA is 2.5 times that of NWA but this is an example of a place where minor league baseball did well despite a well-supported college program.

[Aporkalypse]

If nothing else you've helped support my attitude about Major League and College sports in general being more about the money and the titles than about the game. It'll be nice having a Minor League baseball team where the players are on the field because they love the game. And you're right, Minor League baseball is more about entertaining the families in the stands than about winning or losing. That said, the Naturals will most likely win more than lose. The parent company may not care, but at least the fans care.

[cocothief]

I've been to a ton of Traveler's games, and for the life of me, I can't recall whether they won or lost, or what their standing was when we went.

Don't care. Most of the games, I can't really remember who the opposing team was.

Razorback baseball, on the other hand, I remember the players, the games themselves, who we played and what the impact of the game was on the season and league standing...

Just my anecdote.

[masons_dad1]

I've been to a ton of Traveler's games, and for the life of me, I can't recall whether they won or lost, or what their standing was when we went.

Don't care. Most of the games, I can't really remember who the opposing team was.

Razorback baseball, on the other hand, I remember the players, the games themselves, who we played and what the impact of the game was on the season and league standing...

Just my anecdote.

[Sammy00]

I've been to a ton of Traveler's games, and for the life of me, I can't recall whether they won or lost, or what their standing was when we went.

Don't care. Most of the games, I can't really remember who the opposing team was.

Razorback baseball, on the other hand, I remember the players, the games themselves, who we played and what the impact of the game was on the season and league standing...

Just my anecdote.

[zman9810]

Razorback baseball will always be by far and away my first choice...and I'm afraid that's how it will be with many in this area.

Good thing the AA season lasts longer than the college season.

[masons_dad1]

I'm a huge sports fan. Razorbacks, NFL, MLB, NBA...but unless the AA team has a hot young player who's coming through the system, I usually don't care, I just go because it's baseball.

[Sammy00]

You're in luck. The Royals drafted an 18 year old shortstop, Michael Moustakas, with a California record 48 home runs during his high school career. He's considered to be the best power and average prospect in the draft this year. He's expected to be playing for the Naturals as early as late 2008.

There may also be some former Razorbacks playing against the Naturals. Razorbacks Nick Schmidt and Jess Todd were selected by Major League teams, Padres and Cardinals, which have Texas League Affiliates and most college drafts end up in the minors for conditioning. They both may be playing against the Naturals in the near future if they are able to progress up to Double-A. Razorback Brian Walker was drafted by the Angels and may some day come back to NWA as a member of the Arkansas Travelers.

The Naturals are made up of several "free agents" with 6 or more years of experience and the only reason they haven't given up is because of their love for baseball. These kinds of players "bust their butts" to make it so I expect the Naturals to really turn the heat up on the opposition.

I may have to keep an eye on the Razorbacks just to see which player may be going up against the Naturals or maybe even playing for the Naturals in the near future.

[Aporkalypse]

I've been to a lot of Traveler's games in Little Rock, and the only ones that I really remember are the ones when I got to see JD Drew, Rick Ankiel, Ervin Santana, Dallas McPhearsan, and all those guys play. It's a lot of fun when you can go and see a star before he's a star.

And the good and bad with the Royals is that they normally have a top 5 pick in every draft because they are always so bad. I know last year they picked pitcher Luke Hochevar with the #1 overall pick. Hopefully we will be able to see him pitch for the Nats next year.

Those are the guys that will keep me going.

And hopefully the marketing team will be creative like a lot of other minor league teams (some of the stuff the good ones come up with is nuts) to make otherwise boring matchups attractive.

[cowbreath]

Yeah I haven't been to too many minor league games, but I went to a few Durham Bulls games when I was living over there and I still remember the prospects I got to see: BJ Upton and Toby Hall, who made it to the majors with the Devil Rays. I even saw Fred McGriff there when he was trying to make a comeback (3 strikeouts) so he could hit 500 homers or something. I think the atmosphere was great and watching top notch baseball was great too. I know winning doesn't matter in the minors, but I was cheering for them to win as was everyone else.

[Sammy00]

Basil Shabazz

[Aporkalypse]

Man, it makes me sick even mentioning the name.

Ohhhh what could have been (football).

[Sammy00]

What's he doing now, I wonder? Last I heard he was a backup DB at UAPB but he never did much there.

[edensfall]

Just shows how impatient I am about this team. Yesterday I spent a good hour creating this faux ballcap and jersey and today the official team merchandise is for sale at http://shop.mlb.com. At least my ballcap is identical to the real one and I hadn't even seen it yet when I created mine. The jersey isn't available yet and I doubt that it'll be identical to mine, but a heather grey t-shirt with the logo is available. The ballcap is available in red, navy, or white.

There's some pics available with several showing some of the team merchandise that is or will be available. Here's the link: http://naturals.mlblogs.com

[masons_dad1]

I hope to god they make some 59Fifty New Era custom fitted hats that say NWA on them. Id buy one in every color!

[zman9810]

The Texas League has released their 2008 schedule and the Northwest Arkansas Naturals will make their Springdale Ballpark debut Thursday, April 10, 2008. Their first game as the Naturals will be against the San Antonio Missions on April 3, 2008. The first game in NWA will also be against the Missions.

I haven't seen much discussion on what the ballpark will be named. It doesn't seem likely Springdale Ballpark will be the long term name with money to be made off naming rights. Is there a bidding process? Tyson Field seems as a "Natural " choice as any.

[KJW]

After recently watching KTUL-TV's cast where they had to juggle Tulsa Drillers baseball with OU/OSU sports...it's going to be interesting watching local sportscasts have to do the same with the Naturals vs. the Razorbacks.

It's going to be strange not having U of A dominate the sportscasts all the time...but, that's what big city markets have to do all the time.

[Mith242]

I'm trying to remember now, did the city keep the naming rights or did the Riches end up with that as well?

As far as the sports, I think it will be nice to have some other sports news to talk about. Especially right now, there's not really anything going on at the university around this time of year. The Naturals will help fill a dead time when the Razorbacks aren't really doing much.

[KJW]

I'm trying to remember now, did the city keep the naming rights or did the Riches end up with that as well?

As far as the sports, I think it will be nice to have some other sports news to talk about. Especially right now, there's not really anything going on at the university around this time of year. The Naturals will help fill a dead time when the Razorbacks aren't really doing much.

[zman9810]

Indeed, Mith. (That will give them something to talk about in early July besides Razorback recruiting.)

Hard to believe that the April opening date is eight months away.

Last night while driving on an errand, I took a long summer night's detour and drove by the stadium.

Nice to see how (although not surprisingly) BIG that structure's going to be. They've apparently scooped out most of the land for the field. There are (retaining?) cement walls already being built in place around it. Plus, lots of "four lane" dirt roads...Watkins road is being four laned west (of the stadium) all the way to 64th St, which is the street immediately south of Steve Smith Auto Sales.

Again, it's going to be fascinating to see that heretofore "dark" corner of NWA light up next year. Though I doubt NWA ever becomes a more "east-to-west" metro area on the order of St. Louis or D/FW, the way Tontitown and the Har-Ber areas are filling in it sure is going to make the city of Springdale seem signficantly bigger driving from Tulsa to Huntsville. It's almost strange how little growth has taken place in Springdale southwest of the I-540/112 interchange...until now.

[KJW]

Nice to read this - the Susan G. Komen "Race for the cure" will be held at the NWA Naturals ball park.

[masons_dad1]

Nice to read this - the Susan G. Komen "Race for the cure" will be held at the NWA Naturals ball park.

[Mith242]

There was an interesting article in todays' Northwest Arkansas Times about them wanting to build the popularity of the Royals here in NWA, which is more of a Cardinals area. I admit I will probably follow the Royals a little more with their minor league team here. But I think if they really want to develop a fan base they need to at least occasionally be somewhat competitive. They're at the bottom of their division again. Although at least they don't have the worst record in baseball, but they aren't that far away from it either. I don't think people expect World Series every year, but it's been quite a while since they've been very competitive. seems like they surprised some people a few years back and were hot for a while but then really faded in the second half of the season.

[KJW]

There was an interesting article in todays' Northwest Arkansas Times about them wanting to build the popularity of the Royals here in NWA, which is more of a Cardinals area. I admit I will probably follow the Royals a little more with their minor league team here. But I think if they really want to develop a fan base they need to at least occasionally be somewhat competitive. They're at the bottom of their division again. Although at least they don't have the worst record in baseball, but they aren't that far away from it either. I don't think people expect World Series every year, but it's been quite a while since they've been very competitive. seems like they surprised some people a few years back and were hot for a while but then really faded in the second half of the season.

[Mith242]

Thanks for alerting us to this article, Mith...cute little paragraph at the very end of the story talking about "red to blue".

My .02? I question how successful this will be. My gut feeling is that this team will first and foremost be a Northwest Arkansas team that's not the razorbacks, and that a lot of folks moving in from elsewhere who may not ever have much allegiance to the U of A will be NWA Nats fans...they'll have allegiance to our area. Then again, so much else about this market is trendsetting, who knows what may happen here?

Good to read Edelstein's comments...he's a wise man.