A Sellout at Ed Smith Stadium! For real…

Posted on 19. Mar, 2009 by Corey in General Baseball.

Just came from Ed Smith Stadium to watch the Cincinnati Reds take on the Boston Red Sox in a game under the lights.  Not surprisingly, it felt like a road game for the Reds as the place was packed with Red Sox fans.  Ed Smith Stadium was completely sold out, and there were even a large number of standing room only tickets sold.  Only having my credentials, and not a ticket, I had to fight for some wall space around the concourse to be able to see the game, a task very difficult to do.

I can tell you that it truly makes a difference in that park when there is a large crowd of fans to watch.  Hey city of Sarasota, where are you all the time?  The place only remotely fills up, and usually sells out when the Sox or Yankees come to town.  True, it sucks to feel like a visiting team in your own ballpark, but it has to be nice to come out to a packed house.  I will have to ask the players, but I bet they will tell you that it does truly make a difference to them also.

The end result with a big crowd or not, as C. Trent puts it, the place is still “Tired Old Ed Smith Stadium.”  As Coach Huggins use to always tell me, “You can take a piece of trash, shine up it up real nice, buff it, and stick it up on the mantle for all to see, but in the end, it is still a piece of trash.”  He may have replaced the word “trash” with something else, but I am trying to keep this site rated “G.”