PRO BASEBALL MINOR LEAGUE STYLE--

The Altoona Curve baseball team and facility are like a miniature version of the big leagues—except it is done with affordable class. Parking is free. So are the programs. A delicious hot dog on a fresh bun is a fuzz over 2 dollars and a 16 oz beer is 3 bucks.

And the fans love it. They can afford to take their family to a game.

Their classy stadium, built in 1999, seats 7200 and for seven years they have averaged a home game attendance of 5343 appreciative fans. That’s almost 75% ticket sales, every game, win or lose.

The Curve is a class double A farm team of the Pittsburgh Pirates just 90 miles west on US 22. So, the local fans get a double dose of baseball enjoyment. Long a bastion of Pirate popularity, area fans now watch the young players as they mature toward the big leagues.

Five players on today’s Pirate starting team are products of the Curve program.

When you head for your lots-of-leg-room seat, an usher will ceremoniously dust it before you sit down. Class by the train load.

Baseballs are a treasured souvenir at big league ball games. At a Curve game most every stray baseball will be retrieved on the field and someone, usually a player, will speed to the bleachers and deliver this treasure to a very happy fan.

The scoreboard is alive with visual technology. Costumed characters cavort through the seats and usually preside over some kids-included silliness on the field between innings, much to the fans delight.

And, I think the baseball is better than the big leagues. Up there you have legions of millionaire players usually ho-humming us with offensive performance that manages to do something exciting less than one time out of four.

Down here, these youngsters are playing their hearts out in pursuit of their dreams.