Schaumburg Flyers Players Angry Over Fans’ Influence On Team

Independent Northern League Schaumburg Flyers P Dan Jackson on Thursday “didn’t hold back on the team’s anger toward” MSN’s and LivePlanet’s joint online venture, “Fan Club: Reality Baseball,” which allows fans to determine the team’s day-to-day operations, according to Scott Powers of the ILLINOIS DAILY HERALD. Jackson: “True fans of ours don’t want to set the lineup. If this ‘reality’ thing is all about the fans, which is what [Flyers Managing Partner & President Rich Ehrenreich] has said, let the fans vote online about the price of admission, let the fans vote on the price of hot dogs, let the fans vote on the price of beer. That’s giving back to the fans.” Powers notes on Wednesday, Flyers C Ryan Walker was “moved to third base by the fans and committed a costly error.” After the game, players “screamed in the locker room about how they felt about the situation.” But Ehrenreich said that he has “only read about the team’s frustration in newspapers,” adding that no players “have sought him out.” Ehrenreich: “To them, I say show up and do your job. It’s their job to play baseball and not worry about the business end of it” (ILLINOIS DAILY HERALD, 7/14).