Next year is this year.
Sound familiar?
The good times keep on rolling for Northeast Ohio sports fans with the top prospects in the Eastern League coming to Akron next week.
But landing the Eastern League All-Star Game took some real off-the-field work.
Back in October 2012, when Ken Babby purchased the then-Akron Aeros, he along with new team General Manager Jim Pfander drafted a five-year plan.
Aside from changing the team’s name and growing attendance at Canal Park, they set a goal to host the Eastern League All-Star Game in Year 5.
It is Year 4, and Akron will play host to its first minor-league All-Star Game ever on Wednesday.
All this didn’t happen without some hard work by both the club and its fans, Pfander explained.
Eastern League officials took notice of the excitement over the team’s image switch to the RubberDucks and, more importantly, the club’s ability to put butts in the seats to the tune of a 27 percent increase with many weekend games now selling out.
Pfander said the team’s previous ownership simply wasn’t interested in hosting the All-Star Game, as the club is responsible for shouldering much of the cost.
The annual rite of summer — where the best of the best in the league gathers at the midpoint of the season — used to rotate among the teams in the Eastern League, and Akron would pass on its chance to play host. The ballclubs now apply and bid for the right to host the game and festivities.
Pfander said they were not going to pass up the opportunity to host this year.
“The league knows something special is happening in Akron,” he said.
Hosting the players, coaches, league officials and, of course, the fans takes months of planning.
Pfander said the host team is responsible for not only planning the festivities, which will include a celebrity softball game and home run derby on Tuesday night, but also the travel arrangements for the players.
To help offset the expenses, the club is auctioning off one of two all-star jerseys made for each player.
The bases used during the game will also be auctioned off after the game.
Pfander, an Akron native who graduated from Archbishop Hoban High School, has worked for several minor-league clubs over the years.
“I’m so excited,” he said. “This is my 13th year in baseball and I finally get to bring [an All-Star Game] to Akron.”
The league sets the ticket price for the two days of baseball fun, so the price to attend the actual game — $18 for reserved seats — is a bit more pricey than a regular RubberDucks game.
But as RubberDucks spokesman Adam Liberman points out: Where else can you watch the best prospects in the minor league all gathered on the same field?
And the game could not come at a better time, Liberman said, with a great “sports buzz” in the air with the Lake Erie Monsters winning hockey’s Calder Cup, the Cavaliers winning the NBA championship and the Cleveland Indians firmly in first place in their division.
“What a great time to have this game,” he said.
With back-to-back sellout crowds approaching 8,000 expected over the two nights at Canal Park, Pfander said, there certainly should be a lot of activity in downtown Akron.
“This is a notch in the belt for the city of Akron.”
Craig Webb can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3547.