Andrew Weber-USA Today Sports
In the last few days, Cincinnati Reds‘ players have gone to Twitter to express their displeasure in the attendance, or lack there of, at Great American Ball Park.
Reds’ reliever J.J. Hoover said on Twitter in reply to a Reds’ beat writer: “you ain’t lyin[g,] that was a pitiful showing last night (talking about last night’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals). [I] Thought we were trying to break an attendance record.”
Hoover wasn’t the only reliever who talked about attendance via Twitter. Sam LeCure hinted that he was upset with last night’s crowd by saying, “Sure would be nice to see a packed house against a team we are chasing to go to the playoffs…hint hint.”
The Reds’ attendance has been pretty good this year as they average 31,592 fans per game, which good for ninth in the National League and 15th in the MLB. Even though the attendance rankings aren’t that great, 31,592 is, especially considering that there are only 296,223 people in Cincinnati, making it the smallest Major-League city population-wise.
Last night’s game against St. Louis was an important contest, and a very good one, but Hoover and LeCure had no reason to be disappointed in last night’s crowd. It was a Tuesday night game, and Tuesday’s aren’t good nights to go to games because majority of people have work or school in the morning. Also, they were playing the Cardinals, so thanks to their ticket-pricing system, tickets were a little bit more expensive. Also, it’s not like everyone can just go out, pay $25 for an OK seat, then pay $30 for a couple of hot dogs and a few drinks.
Major League Baseball players should never get mad at the fans for not showing up to a game; not everyone is an upper-class citizen like them, so not everyone can afford it or is able to go to the games. I mean, it’s good that they care, and want to see a packed stadium, but on a Tuesday night, it’s just not going to happen.
Coop Ledford is a Cincinnati Reds writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @CoopLed and add him on Google Plus.
