Pokemon Go Craze Takes Over Minor Leagues

If you’ve seen any sort of social media over the last week, you know that “Pokemon Go!” is the latest craze to overtake the country. Kids and adults alike are spending hours poring over their homes, offices and neighborhoods trying to catch as many of the elusive creatures as possible. Essentially, if you see someone staring intently at their phone while ambling blindly, there’s a good chance they’re hunting for a Charmander, a Bulbasaur or a Squirtle.

Now, naturally, the minor leagues are trying to get in on the action. Nearly every team has either already held a Pokemon-based event, and a great deal of those who haven’t are planning one for the near future.

The Triple-A Columbus Clippers, for example, invited fans to come out Thursday afternoon to continue their quest to catch as many as possible. The only catch? There’s no game tonight. The Clippers are on the road at Toledo, but there will be no shortage of people in the stands and on the field at Huntington Park.

For $5, fans can get into the park and roam the concourse, stands and outfield grass in the hopes of finding the next piece of their Pokedex. The proceeds go toward Clippers charities, which include Buckeye Ranch, Miracle League baseball and the Ronald McDonald House, and fans will also receive a a voucher for a free bleacher, lawn or standing room only ticket to the Clippers’ game on July 21. There will also be a concession stand open for fans needing refreshments during their arduous quest.

The app was released just last week, so it’s been a quick turnaround for minor league promotions departments.

“I think we decided to do this on Tuesday, so we turned it around in a couple of days just with people from around the office playing it and people that we know,” said Emily Poynter, the Clippers’ assistant director of marketing. “We thought it’d be a good idea to raise some money for our Clippers charities.”

Poynter said that she, as well as several other staffers in the Columbus front office play the game, so coming up with an idea quickly and getting everybody else on board wasn’t a particularly tough sell. Because a great deal of minor league front office members are in their 20s and 30s, they have history with the early versions of the game, which came out in the mid-1990s as a trading-card game and a video game.

Some, however, aren’t part of the millennial generation and needed a bit of explaining.

“I’m a little older than most of our staff here,” said Tom Burtman, the Hagerstown Suns’ promotion and production manager. “When Pokemon was big, my son was young. So when it first came out, I had heard about it but myself personally didn’t join the craze. Everybody else here has jumped on board. I’ve downloaded the app and taken a look at it. I’ll say it’s weirded me out, but it looks like it’s fun and when I have some free time I’m definitely going to give it a try.”

The Suns are holding their Pokemon day on Sunday, July 24, and they have an advantage when it comes to luring in fans. Municipal Stadium, Nintendo decided, is a Pokemon gym, which means there are additional Pokemon on the premises and the game’s players can train and battle their Pokemon against those belonging to other players.

This is, of course, a boon for minor league teams. By jumping on the craze, they open their doors to a new demographic of fans who might not have otherwise come to a game. And when it comes to fans, you’ve gotta catch ’em all.

“It’s caught the national attention. We’re seeing what’s going on in our community as far as seeing people out walking around, moving around, it seems like everyone’s mentioning and talking about it,” Burtman said. “And what better place to do something, because Municipal Stadium is considered a gym in the Pokemon Go universe. So we have an opportunity here to lure some people in who wouldn’t maybe normally come to a baseball game and get them out for a game and see what we do and play the Pokemon Go game while they’re here.”

Jamie Stone, the Lakewood BlueClaws’ marketing and promotions manager, didn’t play the game before she and her colleagues came up with the idea for their night at the park, but she’s caught on quickly.

“I actually had people in the office who’d played for the couple of days before that, so I was asking them a whole bunch of questions,” she said. “It helped me by asking them questions, but (the game) is pretty easy.”

Of course, what would a minor league craze be without a custom jersey for the occasion? The Richmond Flying Squirrels will host their Pokemon Go night on Monday, July 18, with a little bit of a twist. Fans can, of course, hunt for Pokemon on the field, but there will also be a raffle after the game. The winner will receive a customized Squirrels jersey with ‘Pokemaster” on the back. Tickets for that game are $5 for anybody who shows the Pokemon Go app on their phone.

The Lakewood BlueClaws are hosting their Pokemon Go night on July 21, and they’re pulling out all the stops. Besides inviting fans to play the game at the FirstEnergy Stadium (which is also a gym), they’re incorporating the game into nearly every aspect of the evening. From on-field promotions to unique opportunities to the concession stands, everything BlueClaws will become Pokemon-tinged.

“That’s what my goal is here for all of our promotional nights, is to make the entire night about it so the minute you walk through the gate you know that that’s the theme of the night,” Stone said. “I try to, as the marketing manager, make sure that every aspect of every department is completely involved.”

Some of the night’s planned highlights include: Snorlax-themed sumo match, Ratatta chasing Cheese (a normal participant in Lakewood’s nightly Pork Roll, Egg and Cheese race), Kangaskhan sack race and a Name That Pokemon guessing game. Fans will also have a chance to take a picture at the stadium’s photobooth that will be that will then transformed into a personalized Pokemon card.

And for those fans older than 21 who want to enjoy an adult beverage in between catching, training and battling their Pokemon, the Claws have you covered there, too. There’s the Charmeleon (which is made from grenadine, scotch, Fireball cinnamon, whiskey and ginger ale), the Jiggly Puff (whipped vodka, blue curacao and raspberry lemonade garnished with strawberries) and the Pikachu (orange juice, Red Bull, vodka, grenadine, garnished with cherries).

And although their night isn’t until next week, Stone said the BlueClaws have already seen some traffic thanks to the Pokemon craze.

“It was pretty funny, because the other day I went to leave work and there were two kids in the parking lot, and I said ‘Oh, did you guys catch any?’ and they kind of looked at me funny and said ‘Oh, not yet,” she said. “And they looked at me and said ‘Are you the gym leader?’ and I said ‘No, no, I just work here.”

Pokemon Go is taking over the country, and the minor leagues are happy to join in the fun.