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MLB Franchise Notes: D-backs Continuing To See Large Number Of Visiting Fans

In Phoenix, Dan Bickley wrote the D-backs' attendance issue is "crowd support and the law of unintended consequences." The problem "returned to Chase Field on Tuesday, when the Dodgers and their fair-weather fans arrived for another pivotal series." While bipartisan crowds are a "Valley staple, their presence seems egregious when the home team is in a playoff chase." The D-backs' "struggle with attendance and crowd engagement" because Chase Field is "too big and too sterile." Their litany of ballpark issues "have alienated citizens who might otherwise be moved by all the water-cooler excitement." However, that does not "fully explain why the Valley remains so ambivalent" when the D-backs are in the playoff race (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 8/30). 

TIME FOR CHANGE? In Boston, Matt Stout notes Fenway Park's scoreboard in left field "includes two white vertical lines that spell the initials" of late former team Owner Tom Yawkey and his wife, Jean, "using Morse code." But even as Owner John Henry "has said he’s 'haunted' by Yawkey’s racist legacy," going so far to say that the Red Sox should take the lead in renaming nearby Yawkey Way, the team suggested it is not "considering changing the scoreboard" (BOSTON HERALD, 8/31).

NATIONAL HERITAGE: In DC, Dan Steinberg noted Baseball HOFer Tim Raines "wore an Expos jersey on the field as the Nationals honored him this week." It was an "incredibly weird sight: a big-league team honoring a guy who never wore its uniform, as he stood there in a different set of threads." There is a "fierce segment of Washingtonians put off by any nod to Montreal." Steinberg: "What I didn’t realize is that a fierce segment of Montreal fans feels exactly the same way!" TSN Radio 690 Montreal host Matthew Ross said, "We just find it strange. People don’t really care. They just want their team back, and that’s the end of the story" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 8/30).

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