published: Friday, September 03, 2010

Shame on Cincy

By DAN HOEHNE

daniel.hoehne@newssun.com

They've had some lean years, the Cincinnati Reds, but it hasn't been that bad.

And it's a town rich in baseball history, with the dominating Big Red Machine of the 70s, the Lou Piniella team of the late 80s with the "Nasty Boys" bullpen that won the '90 World Series.

And so Cincinnati knows baseball success, so then what's with the attendance this year.

I noticed the other day, the flame-throwing phenom Aroldis Chapman had been brought up and was likely to make his debut in the bullpen.

They were leading the National League Central heading down the stretch and have a player, Joey Votto, with a realistic shot at the Triple Crown this year.

Given all that, the pennant race, two must-see players in action on a warm, late August night - and the Reds attendance for that game was 19,218.

That's just 45-percent of the capacity of Great American Ball Park.

Even after Chapman's electric debut, in Tuesday's win, eight pitches, seven strikes, to get through his inning of work and hitting 103 on the radar gun, Wednesday's game drew even fewer fans, 16,412 - 39-percent of capacity.

Meanwhile, in Chicago on Wednesday, the second-to-last-place Cubs were hosting the last place Pirates and drew 33,555.

Sure, with Wrigley Field, the Cubs draw well regardless of their place in the standings, but there are other comparisons.

Minnesota, in first place in the AL Central hosted Detroit Wednesday and drew 39,438.

Second-place San Francisco, in the NL West, saw 31,186 turn out for Wednesday's game with Colorado.

Teams that drew around the same as the Reds on Wednesday?

Arizona, last in the NL West hosted San Diego and drew 17,599; Houston, tied for third in the NL Central but out of the race, drew 22,068 against second-place St. Louis; Baltimore, last in the AL East had a crowd of 16,210 against Boston and last-place in the AL West, Seattle, saw 17,515 come through the turnstiles for their game against the Angels.

Times are tough, I know, but that's the case in every baseball city and yet the first-place Reds, with some very exciting players, are drawing on equal terms with last place teams - in the Major Leagues' oldest baseball city.

Teams with no hope of the postseason, in the last month of the regular season, are drawing about as many fans as this first-club - a sad and somewhat confusing state of affairs.

Then again, the Reds did outdraw another contending team Wednesday night, as only 14,859 showed up to see the Blue Jays at Tampa Bay.

Dan Hoehne is the Sports Editor of the News-Sun. He can be reached at daniel.hoehne@newssun.com.