Life After Barry Is a Strikeout At the Ballpark

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WSJ: Carlton: Life After Barry Is a Strikeout At the Ballpark
Published 4/28/2008 at BBTF's Baseball Primer Newsblog
WSJ: Carlton: Life After Barry Is a Strikeout At the Ballpark Folding kayak folding? Mr. Bonds was a major force behind another Giants-stadium oddity: kayaks. Kayakers used to float by the dozens in McCovey Cove, hoping to fish out a so-called “Splash Hit.” Of the 45 homers that have been blasted into the cove since the ballpark’s opening in 2000, 35 came off the bat of Mr. Bonds. This season, no homers have been hit into the cove, and the number of kayaks bobbing in the water fell to about 10 on opening day from 50 on opening day last year. During the second game of this ...

The waters of McCovey Cove are lonely these days
Published 4/29/2008 at Big League Stew
I'm not a regular reader of the Wall Street Journal, so Sunday's excellent story on Barry Bonds' impact on the AT&T Park economy escaped my attention until pointed out by a reader.  Almost everything, from the sale of rubber chickens to daily attendance, has fallen sharply. If you want to rent a kayak, the supply of available boats are up, if only because the supply of floating home run balls are way down. From the story: Mr. Bonds was a major force behind another Giants-stadium oddity: kayaks. Kayakers used to float by the ...

THT Live:Life After Barr
Published 4/29/2008 by Dave Studeman at THT Live
Life After Barr by Dave Studeman April 29, 2008 This is a couple of days late, but the Wall Street Journal ran an interesting Sunday piece about life at AT ...

The Hardball Times:BOB: Tiger Stadium and MLB Network
Published 5/1/2008 by Brian Borawski at THT Live
BOB: Tiger Stadium and MLB Network by Brian Borawski May 01, 2008 San Francisco misses Barry Bonds It appears that rubber chickens are big business, or at least they used to be. Beginning in 2004 when Barry Bonds shattered the single-season intentional walk record, AT Park began selling rubber chickens that fans would wave at opposing pitchers when they gave the home-run king a free pass. Now that Bonds is gone, vendors have rubber chickens to burn . One vendor stated that rubber chickens accounted for as much as 20 percent of his booth's sales when Bonds was in the ...