Labor Day hangover for MLB attendance
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| Chipper Jones wasn't happy with the empty seats in Atlanta on Tuesday. (Getty Images) |
Baseball fans must have had a serious collective party on Labor Day, because the hangover effect made ballparks across the country look quite sparse. All 15 of Tuesday's games around Major League Baseball saw the home team draw fewer fans than their season average, and even Pittsburgh in a pennant race drew just 12,785 for its game against the Astros.
In Atlanta, which drew 16,686 for the game against the Rockies, Braves third baseman Chipper Jones took notice of the Braves' lackluster crowd:
Come on Atlanta! The Ted was a morgue tonite. We need you in full force. We feed off you guys. No excuse for the loss! Just sayin...
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) September 5, 2012
The 15 games on Tuesday drew an average of 21,042, buoyed by 40,000-plus in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Perhaps the day after Labor Day being a tradition back-to-school day could be a factor, but last season an average of 27,409 came out on the day after Labor Day (it should be noted that only six teams hosted games on the day after the holiday last year and this year).
Since Major League Baseball isn't going to be issuing a press release looking at yesterday's attendance, here's what happened around baseball, in order of largest crowd (Giants) to smallest (Athletics):
Team | Tuesday attendance | Percent capacity | 2012 average attendance | Percent capacity | Change in Avg. from 2011 |
Giants | 41,038 | 98.7 | 41,738 | 99.6 | -119 |
Dodgers | 40,619 | 72.5 | 41,263 | 73.7 | +4,459 |
| 34,108 | 77.6 | 40,611 | 92.4 | +2,676 | |
| 27,729 | 67.2 | 37,953 | 92 | +5,913 | |
| 23,403 | 63.3 | 27,733 | 74.1 | +9,476 | |
17,806 | 42.1 | 29,511 | 69.7 | +1,612 | |
| 17,652 | 49 | 20,020 | 58.8 | +1,260 | |
| 17,648 | 42.1 | 29,586 | 71.3 | +6,207 | |
Braves | 16,686 | 33.5 | 29,247 | 58.8 | +929 |
| 15,698 | 38.7 | 24,368 | 60 | -764 | |
13,556 | 27.4 | 27,039 | 54.9 | +4,230 | |
PIrates | 12,785 | 33.3 | 26,531 | 69.2 | +1,393 |
| 12,756 | 26.6 | 22,294 | 46.6 | -1,826 | |
| 12,462 | 32.6 | 22,140 | 58.4 | +1,556 | |
Athletics | 11,688 | 33.3 | 20,293 | 59.5 | +1,859 |
Is there a greater significance to all of this? Somehow I doubt it. It's one day in six months of games. I think it's just one day with poor attendance several places, nothing more. Overall, attendance is up nearly 1,000 people a game across baseball -- and that's up from a record-setting year. Baseball is as healthy as ever, no matter what one day's ticket sales say.
As for Chipper getting on Braves fans? Isn't it the players' jobs to get the fans excited, not vice versa?
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