If independent baseball teams were smart, they'd count their age in dog years. You know, every year of survival equals seven years. It's only fair. Both indy baseball franchises and pooches grow old and die that quickly.
Using that standard, the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks are nothing less than a minor-league miracle. They turn 91 today.
The RedHawks open their 13th season tonight in Schaumburg, Ill. If you don't consider that noteworthy, consider the work of a fellow named Kevin McCann.
McCann runs a web site based on independent baseball teams that have gone belly-up since the boom of indy ball began in the mid-1990s. How ugly has some of the blood-letting been among the independent baseball entrepreneurs? McCann's site - www.indygraveyard.com lists 18 leagues and about 50 other teams that have died. The list isn't complete. Just this spring, the year-old South Coast League of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida met its maker. It wasn't included on McCann's site.
Yet here we are, 13 years after the RedHawks began their existence in Jack Williams Stadium, and the club is still going strong. The attendance will not be what it was in the glory years of the late 1990s - the RedHawks averaged almost 4,300 a game at Newman Outdoor Field in those days, while they've leveled off around 3,800 now - but general manager Josh Buchholz said the club has improved sales from a year ago.
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"It's been a very positive offseason," Buchholz said. "We set a very ambitious corporate sales goal and we're going to meet that in the next week or two. Our ticket sales are up. Our suite sales are up. We're continuing to grow, and not a lot of independent teams in year 13 can say that."
The questions are: Why and how? Why have the RedHawks worked in Fargo-Moorhead? How have they avoided the Black Plague of indy baseball?
"No. 1, I think we had good leadership right away. They came in and did things the right way, getting the community involved with the naming of the team and things like that. A guy like John Dittrich, our first GM, he knew how to get a team off the ground, he had a track record," said Buchholz, who's been with the RedHawks since their first season. "I also think there were a lot of dormant baseball fans in this town. I played Legion ball for Moorhead and I can remember a couple thousand people showing up for the games when we played Fargo. Those people didn't have an outlet for that passion, other than driving to Minneapolis for a Twins game. We also had a lot of colorful personalities right from the start - Doug Simunic, Brian Traxler, Chad Akers, Chris Coste. Everything just kind of worked together."
It has helped, too, that the RedHawks play in a wonderful little stadium during the three months when people can actually sit outside in the Red River Valley and not lose their nose to frostbite. RedHawks tickets have gone up $1 in 13 years, from $7.50 to $8.50 for an advance reserved seat. A hot dog's risen from $1 to $1.50.
First pitch tonight is scheduled for 6:20. The first home game is May 23.
Happy 13th (or 91st) birthday, RedHawks. May you avoid the independent baseball graveyard for many more.
Forum sports columnist Mike McFeely can be heard on the Saturday Morning Sports Show, 10 a.m. to noon on WDAY-AM (970). He can be reached at (701) 241-5580 or mmcfeely@forumcomm.com . McFeely's blog can be found
