Page 12/The Battalion/Friday, February 22, 1985
. I inn ii i '-i • ■ j '' i
Ag baseball coach turns
salesman for '85 season
H
■- rrit
• *
Photo courtesy of A&M Sports Info.
One of the members of the Ordinary People sky diving group
practices trying to land his parachute on Olsen Field last
week. The group will bring in the game ball at A&M’s home
opening baseball game Saturday against Northeast Louisiana.
g« n g
stum
By MARCY BASILS
Sports Writer
It’s Saturday. There you are “veg-
in front of the television,
ffing hotdogs in your face while
guzzling down some sort of bad-for-
you drink. Now how much fun can
that be? Not much.
The time has come to alter your
weekend schedule. This weekend,
the Texas A&M baseball team opens
its 1985 season with a three-game se
ries against Northeast Louisiana at
Olsen Field.
Great, you say, what will I get out
of actually being there for the game
that I don’t get from watching tele
vision.
Plenty, bucko. And not just this
weekend.
The first 1,000 fans through the
gate for Saturday’s double-header
will receive A&M seat cushions just
for coming out to watch. Not only
that, but as a special opening game
attraction, Ordinary People, a pro
fessional group of skyctivers, will
“drop-in” to hand deliver the game
ball.
These two special events are the
first of many planned by the A&M
Athletic Department in its attempt to
promote baseball on campus.
At every home game this season,
fans will be given a card listing the
rosters of both teams. Also on this
card will be a number. Throughout
the game, numbers will be chosen
and fans holding the chosen num
bers win prizes donated by local
merchants.
Double Dave’s Pizza Works spon
sored the seat cushion give-away and
Mutual of Omaha sponsored the
skydivers.
Along with the give-aways and
skydivers, the Athletic Department
found something else that would
make Aggie baseball games more
fun — an organ.
“We put in an organ to add a little
spice to the game,” said A&M Base
ball Coach Mark Johnson. “We’ll
have sing alongs. People from the
crowd will be invited to come up and
lead the singing of ‘Take Me Out to
the Ballgame.’ We are also going to
have celebrities come in and sing the
national anthem.”
pa
11 S
tending baseball games is trying to
second guess the next play.
“Everyone has played baseball
and can relate to the game,” Johnson
TANK M« NAMAUA
by Jeff Miliar & Bill
said. “It’s a great second guessing
sport. People can get involved. The
game is slow enough that people can
keep up.
“The human drama between
pitcher and batter is played out ev
ery time. Someone’s going to win.
That’s exciting. It revs you up.”
While setting up the different
t jromotions, Johnson and his staff
Lept A&M students in mind.
"We want our program to reflect
the student body and Texas A&M,”
Johnson said. “The number one
support that we want to have is the
peers of the athletes out there on the
field.”
Over the past lew weeks, players
and coaches have gone out and
talked to dorms, sororities and fra
ternities trving to get people excited
about the upcoming season.
“Basically, you want to hook some
folks and get them to come out,” he
said. “We’ve got a pretty good pack
age, not only in promotions but in
the play, too. We ve tried to get the
word out.
“The bottom line is that baseball is
a collegiate sport on our campus. We
are representing the student body.
ofsffiS
These an
guys out i
College ball is beconu
thing. ESPN has picked
erage of college gat
should help out attend
Jems.
“Attendence figures
country are indicatingtl
the liooniiiig years fori
ball,” Johnson said. “T
out here and find thai
not lie an Aggie oraLo
they’re going to see s
who are going to be in t
baseball.”
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