R-Phils are tough to beat even in current economy

You don’t need to be reminded that times are tough. So many people have been gobbled up by the black hole of Wall Street – defined by incompetence, greed and outright fraud.

And so, people are losing their jobs, their health care, their savings, not to mention their homes.

All of a sudden the early-bird special looks a lot more appealing.

Yet, even though they’ve tweaked their salary structure and in some cases their prices for tickets and concessions, some clubs in Major League Baseball sail along blithely as though it were the best of times.

For the Reading Phillies, on the other hand, it is business as usual.

General manager Scott Hunsicker talked about the organization’s long-standing approach to its loyal fans and also about a number of plans for the 2009 season that should make the games even more enjoyable for the average family.

“Though I would still prefer the economy was booming, that being said, from our standpoint we didn’t have to reinvent the wheel to appeal to families in a dead economy,” Hunsicker began. “The thing that (owner) Craig (Stein) and (team president) Chuck (Domino) have been diligent about since they took over the team in the late ’80s is to provide affordable family entertainment, and we never get away from that. Even in the year when the stock market was 14,000 and all that, we were still making sure our concession prices, our ticket prices and our group outings were always affordable.

“It’s not like we were gouging people in the boom times and now we have taken a step back. We didn’t have to change our focus. What we’ve decided to do is further enhance the family experience.”

Remember back in the day when there was something called disposable income, and a family of four could attend a ballgame in a big-league city without applying for a second mortgage? (As though they’re available these days.)

Today the profligate Yankees, the so-called Evil Empire, charges $20 just to park your car. There are seats at the new $1.5 billion Stadium that go for $2,625. That’s per game, by the way. The cheapest bleacher seat costs $12.

The average ticket price in the major leagues last year was $25.43 – up 11.7 percent over the previous season. (If you’re a single guy who lives within walking distance of the stadium and has an aversion to fries and hot dogs you have it made.) This year, according to MLB, 20 of the 30 teams have lowered either their average ticket price or some level of seats.

The game’s dollar amounts – the Yankees lead with a payroll of $201.4 million (the champion Phillies are at $113 million – have become so abstract that no figure seems real anymore.

The Reading Phillies? They’re responded to these down times with family packages such as the 4-for-48 Family Night – four tickets, four hot dogs, four sodas, player autographs, a catch on the field before the game and a photo op – all for $48.

They have upped that attractive package from once a week to three times a week. Eat your heart out Hank Steinbrenner!

They also have for the first time opened up the picnic area and pool to families.

“We have hundreds and hundreds of advertisers that have always underwritten the expense of coming to our games,” Hunsicker said. “We’re able to keep our prices low because we have all these corporations that pay the bills, so to speak, as far as our total bottom line. Some teams go with eight or 10 signature partners; that was never our philosophy. Our philosophy was, from the sandwich shop up the street to the guy who wants to be a major partner, we’ll find a niche for each of them. Luckily for us, we weren’t dependent upon those three or four companies to basically carry us. That being said, we’ve gotten creative on everything.”

And people – the fans – seem to be paying closer attention.

“We’ve had dollar hot dogs on Sunday the last couple of years,” Hunsicker said. “It’s just now people are listening to those things a little more intently.”

For example, the club has an affordable promotion each year on President’s Day. This year it more than doubled its ticket sales during that promotion.

The club was surprised by its record Opening Day crowd of 8,412 – many of them standing in line some three or four hours before the gates opened to be eligible for one of the 2,500 Phillies Championship throws the club gave out.

Right now, anything with 2008 Philadelphia Phillies on it is a big attraction. And, as Hunsicker pointed out, it doesn’t hurt that the name on his team's shirt is also Phillies.

By the way, in coming games the club will also be giving away Cole Hamels caps, replica rings, Charlie Manuel bobble-heads, Cole Hamels T-shirts and a desktop championship ring for adults.

“Opening Night has been a struggle for a lot of years,” Hunsicker said. “Clearly, the Phillies winning a World Championship, the stadium getting nicer and nicer each year, the article in Baseball America naming us the No. 3 Minor League stadium in the country . . . there are a lot of good things going on.”

Hunsicker said it almost takes an act of Congress to raise a concession price or a ticket price at FirstEnergy Stadium.

He also says that Stein and Domino have become spokesmen for Minor League Baseball each year at the winter meetings. The two are highly regarded by their brethren and have become very influential.

“They don’t want the perception of Minor League Baseball to be anything but what it always has been, which is affordable family entertainment,” Hunsicker said. “Even more so, we compare favorably even with other Minor League teams in our area.”

The Reading Phillies have been the attendance leader in the Eastern League the last seven years. The goal this year, according to the GM, is to exceed last year’s figure. He acknowledged it will be a challenge.

Oh, and did you hear about Family Night at the pool, where you can eat and drink (non-alcoholic beverages) as much as you like, hang out with a couple of players and of course take a dip – all for $15 a person.

Then there are the ever-popular fireworks displays and something new and obviously dear to Berks County – Gluttony Night. That one needs no -- burp! -- explanation.

Of course, the Reading Phillies ARE the Reading Phillies, a Double-A team. You have to settle for prospects such as Joe Savery, Michael Taylor and Brad Harman, not Hamels, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. But remember, 15 of those guys wearing championship rings came through Reading.

And you can’t beat that for any amount of money.

This story was posted on April 17, 2009