LOWELL, Mass. – The players are prospects of the Boston Red Sox. They regularly play before sell-out crowds. There’s even a lovable mascot that the kids flock to.

Hadlock Field, you ask?

Could be.

But not even the Portland Sea Dogs can match the run the Lowell Spinners are having at the box office.

When the Spinners, the short-season Class-A affiliate of the Red Sox, host the Vermont Expos this afternoon, they will be playing before the 147th consecutive standing room only crowd at LeLacheur Park.

But it hasn’t always been that way.

“It actually took us about 3 years to be able to draw some crowds,” said Lowell president and general manager Shawn Smith. “It took a lot of patience and hard work. But it was certainly worth the wait.”

A place to call home

The team moved to Lowell, an old mill town about 30 minutes from Boston, from Elmira, N.Y., in 1996.

For the first two years, the Spinners played at an old high school field, Alumni Field.

In 1998, LeLacheur Park opened for business on the banks of the Merrimack River.

Designed by HOK Sports Facilities Group, the same company that came up with the concepts for Camden Yards in Baltimore and Coors Field in Denver, the ballpark is built near old factories, which can be seen beyond the right field wall along with the aging arches of the Aiken St. Bridge. The park seats 4,767 and tops out at 5,000 with standing room tickets.

The Spinners have played before capacity crowds at every home game since Aug. 2, 1999.

“It’s a nice environment for the first-year player to get introduced to professional baseball in,” said Red Sox farm director Ben Cherington. “It’s a good ballpark for the developmental experience.”

The Red Sox send a good number of their picks to Lowell every June following the draft, including current Portland Sea Dogs right fielder Justin Sherrod, who played for the Spinners after being selected in the 19th round of the 2000 draft.

“I had an awesome time,” said Sherrod. “You could not ask for a better situation to get your feet wet. If you can’t play there, you can’t play anywhere.”

The Spinners have had a number of players who have gone on to bigger things.

Just last year, Anaheim Angel shortstop David Eckstein became the first Spinner alum to play in the World Series.

Other players to pass through Lowell include Bangor native and current Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Matt Kinney, Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Shea Hillenbrand, Red Sox pitcher Casey Fossum and Boston’s top prospect, shortstop Hanley Ramirez.

But while being a part of the Red Sox’s New England triumvirate along with the Double-A Sea Dogs and Triple-A Pawtucket is nice, Smith says there’s a lot more to the Lowell experience than just coming out to see players who might be future big leaguers.

“It lends a great deal of credibility to what we do,” said Smith. “But we don’t market baseball or specific players. We market the experience of coming to the ballpark. You can enjoy a beautiful night out and not even be interested in baseball.”

That’s entertainment

The Spinners operate with the idea of attracting young families and the approach has been successful.

David Maranda, who lives in Lowell, has been coming to games from day one.

“It’s fantastic,” said Maranda, as he sat with his wife Tina, their 5-year-old daughter Elyse and 2-year-old son Kyle, at a recent game. “The way tickets are and the way food is priced, that’s why we’re able to come. Plus, there’s a lot for the kids to do.”

Down the leftfield line at LeLacheur Park is the Kids Section, which features a giant inflated slide, a bounce house, and an obstacle course, among other things.

The Canaligator and Allie Gator, the team mascots, are also favorites of the kids.

For the adults, there are plenty of offbeat promotions, contests and giveaways.

The Spinners gained national attention in 1999 with Birth Night, which was mentioned on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Thirty expectant mothers were invited to a game, with the first to deliver her baby promised a year’s supply of diapers. A local obstetrician sat in the stands and an ambulance idled nearby, but nobody went into labor that night.

“We try to do a variety of zany, different things that people enjoy,” said Smith. “Our goal is to have our fans escape reality when they come to the ballpark. We call it Spinner-tainment.”

Last weekend, the Spinners celebrated Jimmy Buffet Day by inviting various Parrothead groups to the game and staging a post-game concert by a Buffet tribute band.

Later this month, there will be a Jack Kerouac Bobblehead giveaway in recognition of the renowned author and Lowell native.

The big challenge now is keeping things fresh for the fans.

“It’s tough,” said Smith. “But we believe in taking risks and making mistakes and learning from them.”

Reaching out

While the Spinners have sold every ticket for every game for the past four years, it is still possible to attend a game.

Following the lead of a number of big-league clubs, the Spinners put a ticket posting page on their website where season-tickets holders and other fans who can’t make it to a specific game can re-sell their ducats.

“The idea is to get the tickets into the hands of people who can use them,” said Smith.

It’s also an opportunity for what Smith sees as an untapped resource, the individual who has never experienced a game in person, to learn what the buzz is about.

“There are still hundreds of thousands of people in the New England area who haven’t heard of the Lowell Spinners,” said Smith. “We won’t rest until they have.”

bfoley@sunjournal.com

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