Backyard Baseball in Lansing

Like every general manager in baseball, Tyler Parsons of the Class A Lansing Lugnuts wants to create an exciting product.

Unlike major league general managers, though, Parsons has no roster control to maximize his on-field product.

Instead, the 31-year-old general manager of Toronto Blue Jays’ Class-A affiliate has to be creative to attract fans – especially younger and diverse fans – to Cooley Law School Stadium in Lansing, Mich.

“In the offseason, as a staff, we brainstorm ideas,” Parsons said.

Half-priced tickets or concessions are usual hits. Guest appearances are popular, too. But if there’s one thing that really attracts people, it’s giveaways.

Parsons wanted to have a big giveaway that could attract Millennials.

Parsons remembered his childhood, playing the popular computer video game Backyard Baseball, a video game that used fictional children characters from all backgrounds.

For example, Kenny Kawaguchi, who used a wheelchair, was an ace pitcher; Pete Wheeler, a lightning quick runner, had freckles and orange hair; Dante Robinson was an African-American character with solid overall skills.

One character gained near fabled status among Millennials and anyone who played the game. It was the game’s star player, Pablo Sánchez. “The Secret Weapon”, as he was known, could hit like Rod Carew, field like Roberto Clemente and pitch like Pedro Martínez.

He was a fictional Latino star for kids before Dora the Explorer. In the game, Pablo Sánchez spoke only Spanish, unless you clicked on his picture while holding down the shift key. Parsons said there was a “mythological feel” about him.

“When people think of Backyard Baseball, they think of Pablo Sánchez,” Parsons said. “People consider him the greatest digital athlete of all time.”

A Perfect Giveaway

Parsons and his staff did some more digging on Pablo Sánchez and discovered his birthday was listed as August 18. The game was released in 1997, making Aug. 18, 2018, his unofficial 21^st birthday. As scheduling fate would have it, the Lugnuts had a home game scheduled that day against the Fort Wayne Tincaps.

Commemorating that day was a no-brainer for Parsons and his staff.

“We were going to do the damn thing,” Parsons said with a laugh. “We ran with it.”

As the Lugnuts began to announce their promotional schedule across social media, Parsons’ excitement began to rise. When they tweeted out a “Backyard Baseball Night” coupled with a Pablo Sánchez bobblehead giveaway, the Lugnuts immediately saw the popularity.

“We teased it, and that initial tweet had more impressions than we’ve ever had,” Parsons said. “We knew we had a winner.”

But, they aren’t just giving away a one-of-a-kind bobblehead. The Lugnuts are becoming the “Mighty Wombats” for the day, one of the team names available in the video game. They’ll wear Mighty Wombats jerseys.

In addition, the Lugnuts will have an equipment drive to donate baseball gear to local baseball teams, a wiffle ball field in the front plaza of the stadium, drink specials to honor Pablo Sánchez’ “21st birthday” and free admission to fans who share names with characters from the video game.

The excitement has carried over as the game approaches. As people have snatched up tickets for the Aug. 18 game, Parsons noticed one thing: there’s a countrywide buzz for this Class-A minor league game.

“It has a national appeal,” Parsons said. “We’ve seen an uptick in tickets, and I’ve seen some zip codes that aren’t the normal ones we’re used to seeing.”

There was so much of a buzz, that the Lugnuts created a special bobblehead package. For $50, fans can guarantee themselves a Pablo Sánchez bobblehead, along with a Lugnuts baseball and two box seat “flex” tickets.

Building off success

Now that the Lugnuts have successfully hit the Millennial demographic, there’s one demographic Parsons and the Lugnuts really want to have success with: Lansing’s Latino community. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Latinos made up 12.5 percent of Lansing’s 110,000 population.

“We don’t have enough diversity [at the ballpark],” Parsons said. “We need to do a better job to include and not stay at the status quo.”

And they hope 2019 is the year Latinos in the Lansing area flock to Cooley Law School Stadium to catch a Lugnuts game.

The Lugnuts are introducing bilingual ticket box offices in 2019 and they are joining MiLB’s marketing promotion of “Copa de la Diversión.”

Copa de la Diversión was launched this year by MiLB as a marketing effort to embrace the “culture and values that resonate most with participating teams’ local U.S. Hispanic/Latino communities.”

“We believe in [Copa de la Diversión],” Parsons said. “We want fans to feel comfortable coming to our ballpark. Lansing is very diverse.”

The marketing effort will return in 2019 with the number of teams expected to grow from the current 33.

The Lugnuts have had many future MLB players make a stop in Central Michigan, including Latino players like Carlos Beltrán, Carlos Zambrano and Yan Gomes. Top prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. played with the Lugnuts in 2017.

Parsons hopes Latino players can help build a relationship with Lansing’s Latino community.

“Baseball is an international language,” Parsons said. “It’s important to make a connection with them.”

Featured Image: Stadium Journey