The 160 teams affiliated with Minor League Baseball (excluding the Mexican League) averaged 3,921 fans per game during the ’12 regular season, down 1.8% from a year ago. The top-drawing Triple-A level Int’l and Pacific Coast Leagues both saw average attendance drop this year. Only seven Triple-A clubs saw an attendance increase this season. Only three leagues -- the Single-A Carolina, Rookie Level Pioneer and Appalachian Leagues -- saw average attendance increase. The Short Season Single-A New York-Penn League saw the sharpest drop in average attendance, down 6.2%.

The Int’l League Lehigh Valley IronPigs led all of MiLB in attendance for the third straight year with 9,153 fans per game. That figure is down 1% from the club’s figure last season. The Single-A Midwest League Dayton Dragons continued their U.S.-record sellout streak this season, extending the mark to 913 games. The Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos, who relocated after last season from Zebulon, N.C., after playing as the Single-A Carolina Mudcats, led all Southern League teams this season with 4,826 fans per game. The Blue Wahoos figure was a big  increase over the city’s predecessor -- the Pensacola Pelicans -- who played in several independent leagues from ‘02-10, averaging about 1,500 per game at Pelican Park on the campus of the Univ. of West Florida. The Short-Season Single-A Northwest League Yakima Bears finished with an average of 1,629 fans this season. The club will move from Washington state to Hillsboro, Ore., next season (THE DAILY).