BRADENTON -- There are roughly 30 home dates remaining, and the Bradenton Marauders have already attracted more fans than they did all of last year.
But Trevor Gooby isn’t ready to celebrate yet.
“It’s great, but it’s not our final goal,” said Gooby, director of Florida operations for the Pittsburgh Pirates, the parent club of the high Single-A Marauders. “It’s a step in the right direction.”
The Marauders are in the middle of their second summer of playing games at McKechnie Field, the downtown ballpark that has served as the Pirates’ spring home since 1969.
And while the team may not be a household name just yet, Gooby credits his staff for accomplishing one goal the franchise had heading into this summer -- get the word out to as many people as possible.
“I think the biggest things was to focus on the groups here in town, be it 10 people to 200 people,” Gooby said. “We wanted to get those people out as a business group or a civil group.”
The Marauders have drawn 56,718 fans in 40 home games this year, an average of 1,418 fans, which ranks eighth in the 12-team Florida State League. Two scheduled home games have to be moved to Port Charlotte while McKechnie Field’s roof underwent construction earlier this year.
Last year’s team drew 51,856 fans in 70 home dates. Only Dunedin drew less.
So why the improvement?
The Marauders have had a full year to market themselves. Last year, the team wasn’t approved by the FSL until November, giving the team less than five months to not only establish a fan base, but come up with colors, a name, a logo and a mascot.
“We really tried to be at a lot of different locations, promoting what we did,” Gooby said. “We wanted to make sure people learned what a good, inexpensive value we were for them. And I have spoken to 40 to 50 different groups, and that’s the thing I’ve heard from people.
“We’re continuing to educate people on what we do.”
The Marauders struggled on the field during the first half of this year’s FSL season, going 30-40 and never contending for the South Division title. But they entered Wednesday’s game at Palm Beach with a 7-5 record in the second half, putting them in third place, one game back of first.
The Marauders, who are 26-12 at home this year overall (the two dates in Port Charlotte counted as home games), won the division during the second half last year, resulting in their first playoff appearance.
“Winning definitely helps,” Gooby said. “It’s always great when people are winning...We have some young, exciting players that people want to come out and watch. And that definitely helps.”
What Gooby really wants to see, however, is 100,000 pass through McKechnie’s gates this summer.
“We have a chance to do that,” he said. “If the weather cooperates, and that’s always a concern with the Florida State League, we definitely have a chance.”
