Lake Erie Crushers

I’m a season ticket holder for the Lake Erie Crushers. Sounds special, right? Well, it is, in a way. I’m part of a small group of Cleveland-area folks who decided, sight unseen, to become fans of a brand new Frontier League baseball expansion team. As my friend and co-worker Robert might ask, “What would compel you to do such a thing?”

It’s like this. I like baseball . . . probably not so much the sport as the experience of going to a game. I like the ballpark atmosphere. Each year I attend ten or so Indians‘ games. And about two years ago I spent a summer seeing most of Ohio’s minor league teams like the Akron Aeros, Toledo Mudhens, Dayton Dragons and Lake County Captains. So, as I repeatedly drove past Pro Freight Stadium in Avon, Ohio (just about 20 minutes west of Cleveland) on my way to visit relatives, I was intrigued.

I looked into it. The Crushers are an independent, professional minor league team meaning, essentially, their players are not working their way up in the Major League system. The family-friendly stadium (with a grassy knoll and an inflatable jumping course) holds around 5,000. Pricing packages were very reasonable. Ninety-nine dollars per person bought 12 home games. That meant I could afford to get in on the ground floor of a team that no one really knew yet . . . To me, that seemed like fun and I thought I’d give it a try.