TODAY’S GAME
Diamondbacks at Reds, 7:10 p.m., FS Ohio, 700, 1410
Jay Bruce has been around Great American Ball Park long enough to remember a time when only bobblehead nights induced sellouts and the Reds might have counted the dogs in the stadium on Bark in the Park night to inflate the numbers.
The Reds right fielder doesn’t take big crowds for granted, though this is one year he could. With 21 home games remaining, the Reds are on pace to set a stadium attendance record of 2,558,982.
The old record of 2,355,259 has stood since GABP’s first season in 2003. The Reds have a chance to surpass 2,600,000 for the second time in franchise history and for the first time since 1976. They’re averaging 32,162 fans per game, ranking right in the middle of baseball in 15th place out of 30 teams.
“I’m fortunate to be able to play in front of all the fans,” Bruce said. “It hasn’t always been something that’s been a given here in Cincinnati. This was a town that was spoiled in the ’70s, and they were spoiled in the ’90s, and it’s been kind of dry since then. The organization has really made a turnaround, and I’m happy to be a part of it.”
The winning has attracted the fans, but the fans contribute to the winning. They go hand in hand. It’s no accident the Reds are 38-20 at home and 33-34 on the road.
“They help with the wins and losses,” Bruce said. “I think that really affects the energy level. I guess at the end of the day it doesn’t directly affect the energy, but it makes it a lot easier to come out and play every day when you have fans here every night. I think it speaks a lot to what we’ve done in the organization to really go in the right direction. That’s ownership, that’s Walt (Jocketty) and that’s obviously the players here doing the job. Bottom line, the fans want to see a good baseball team, and this is the fourth year now we’ve put a really nice team out here.”
The Reds drew 2,058,632 fans in Bruce’s first season in 2008 and 1,747,919 a year later. The attendance has climbed every year since to 2,060,550 in 2010, 2,213,498 in 2011 and 2,347,251 last season.
Monday’s crowd of 20,349 was the smallest since May 6. That had something to do with school starting last week or this week for many kids around Reds country. Last September, the Reds topped 30,000 only five times in 15 home games in September.
“You have to be in the race in August and September to keep people coming out to go over the top with the attendance record,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “If you’ve got a bad team, people start looking at Ohio State football or the Bengals or whatever team they like. That’s my goal every year: to keep people coming out through football.”
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