It's three hours until game time. As usual, Ken Throop is in the stands with his orange binder of baseball cards. He stares through flip-up sunglasses into the dugout of the visiting Rochester Red Wings. Throop's collection of 10,000 autographed cards is missing one of Jay Sawatski, a Red Wings pitcher.
A few players take the field to warm up. The thump of ball into leather is the only sound in Lynx Stadium besides the strange mix of Garth Brooks and hip-hop being pumped through the speakers. Overhead, dark clouds gather. The forecast calls for thundershowers.
In two days, the Syracuse Chiefs will visit for a four-game series, the last Lynx games of the 2007 International League season. Throop owns the cards of some of the Chiefs' players and hopes to get them signed, too. If he's successful, it will be, in all likelihood, the last time he gets a baseball card autographed in Ottawa.
The Lynx front office still hasn't confirmed anything, but all signs indicate the team will be moving to Allentown, a city of 100,000 in eastern Pennsylvania, and be renamed the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Opening day at under-construction Coca-Cola Park is set for April 11, 2008. An IronPigs online store is already up and running, offering more than three-dozen items, including jerseys, hats and "Born to be an IronPigs fan!" baby clothing.
For the most part, the news of the Lynx's demise is being met with a shrug.
Ottawa fell out of love with baseball a long time ago. In 1993, the team's first year, the Lynx set an International League attendance record of nearly 10,000 a game. Since then, average attendance has dropped like a fly ball into the right-centre gap. Last year, for the first time, the average attendance dipped below 2,000.
Players who've spent time in Ottawa have nice things to say about the city, but they don't enjoy playing here. It's difficult to get equipment. It's cold in the spring. Still, the worst thing about playing in Ottawa, the players say, are 8,000 empty seats.
"You don't mind it being cold as long as people are here," Lynx outfielder Pedro Swann says. "It just seems colder when you're playing the game and no one's watching."
There are some, however, who will mourn the loss of the Lynx.
Doris Renaud, a 79-year-old grandmother, is one of the faithful. In 15 years, she has missed two games: one because of an Ottawa Senators playoff game, the other for a grandson's wedding.
"I've got to teach them not to get married on game days," Renaud says.
Bob O'Connell, a security guard, has been here since the beginning, too, as has John Bryk, the clubhouse manager, and Bill Drury, the umpires' assistant. And, of course, there is Ken Throop, who can recall almost any moment in Lynx history as easily as a parent can recall his or her children's first steps.
On April 17, 1993, the Ottawa Lynx held their inaugural home opener. The fans, many of whom showed up two hours early to explore the new $17-million stadium, were greeted by Boy Scouts handing out calendars, a Dixieland band singing Take Me Out To The Ball Game and terrible weather. Wet snow and cold rain soaked everyone except the lucky few with tables in the Upper Deck Restaurant on the stadium's third floor.
"There was no way a middle-class person from Kanata was going to take a bus down there. When they took half the parking away, it hurt. It hurt bad."
What's done is done, though, he says, and it has been an enjoyable 15-year run. As for what he'll do with all his free time next summer, Drury isn't sure.
"I can get back to golfing," he says, "I guess."
Throop has many fond memories of the Lynx stay in Ottawa - especially 1995, when a team finished two games over .500 in the regular season, but caught fire and upset the Norfolk Tides in the Governors' Cup championship.
The memories Throop cherishes most, though, have nothing to do with winning. He remembers the day when a little-known infielder named Rico Rossy smacked three balls over the left-field fence and put a fourth to the warning track. There were the two no-hitters.
However, the moment Throop will never forget happened in 1993: A catch by Throop's all-time favourite Lynx player, outfielder Rondell White.
"We were playing the Richmond Braves, and they had a really good team," he recalls. "They had a lot of guys that went on to play with Atlanta in the majors. We had a one-run lead, and I believe it was the eighth inning.
"Richmond had two men on base, and there were two men out. Ryan Klesko was the batter. He still plays in the major leagues. Big, strong, muscular left-handed hitter.
"He just drilled one into right-centre field, into the gap, right in the alley, right between the outfielders.
"We were looking out there and all we saw was green grass. Nobody could catch it. We were thinking, 'Oh, shoot.'
"And then, all of a sudden, we saw this flash of white. (White) is coming from centre-field. He just dove flat out and caught the ball right on the ground.I just couldn't believe it."
There'll be no new memories of the Lynx after this season.
Next year, Throop will make a few trips to Toronto to watch the Blue Jays. He won't abandon the minor leagues, though, and will take in some games in Harrisburg, Pa., and Rochester, N.Y., and Syracuse, N.Y.
He may even catch a few IronPigs games, depending on where they're playing.
"I'll go see them if they're on the road," he says. "I'll never go to the ballpark in Allentown."
- Ottawa Citizen
Yeah, I've seen an Ottawa game on TV and there is NO ONE in the stands. Absolutely no one. Normally even shitty teams fill up the seats behind home plate, but in Ottawa you'll see like 5 or 10 people in the seats directly behind the plate, that's it.
Thats Because of Peter Angelos! He has ruined the Orioles franchise. Hes like the Bob Irsay of Baseball.The Orioles were AAA to Ottawa and fans there didnt wanna watch a bunch of losers.It won't be long before the fans of Baltimore run the orioles out of town like they did with the colts because of Peter Angelos. But if George Steinbrenner Swap the Columbus Clippers to Ottawa ill bet you 8,000 would pack that stadium because theyre the YANKEES. And Yankees are all about tradition.
I was watching some interview on CBC Monday and they were talking to the guy who owned the Calgary minor league baseball team before they also moved a few years back. He said the top three reasons were something like this:
3. Weather. Vancouver had a dome (BC Place) but the teams in Edmonton and Calgary had outdoor stadiums and the fans didn't want to come out and freeze their asses off in April and May and we haven't gotten to the players yet.
2. Canadian dollar. When the Canadian dollars was worth around 65¢ U.S. it was expensive enough to travel and there wouldn't be enough money to make a lot of ads, giveaways, stadium renovations, etc.
1. It's a gentlemens game. Baseball used to be embraced because you could have a conversation and not miss a beat with the game. Nowadays, youth demand faster, more exhilarating sports. Sports that are intense from start to finish such as NASCAR, college basketball or maybe even mixed martial arts.
Good article man. As a Rochester native & avid Red Wings fan, I have seen the Ottawa Lynx come to town since I was 14 years old. It is actually sad to see them go & I sympathize with the City of Ottawa in losing the franchise. City's with no Professional franchise, especially Baseball, absolutely embrace, live, and breath by their Triple-A club. Here in Rochester, where the only claim to a Pro team we have is a freakin ABA team, Red Wings opening day leads to a ton of School absences & adults playing "hookie" at work. I can never imagine losing the team & for Ottawa to lose this team to freaking Allentown, PA of all places is just a kick in the teeth. Nothing against PA, but there already are a pleathera of Triple-A teams in the area.
But sadly the attendance has not been close to sub par in Ottawa & Coca-Cola Stadium in Allentown would provide a brighter atmosphere for the team, which is now much closer to their Parent club, the Phillies.
I will the Lynx after this season & I will cringe anytime the "Iron Pigs" come to town in the future.