51s aim to turn down the heat

The 51s played Sunday night home games in July and August for their first 19 seasons before scheduling all day games on Sunday the past seven.

But in an attempt to alleviate the excessive heat that plagues players and fans in Southern Nevada each summer -- and to increase attendance -- Las Vegas has returned to Sunday night home games this year in July and August.

The decision paid dividends Sunday as an announced crowd of 2,833 attended Las Vegas' 5-4 win over Tacoma at Cashman Field, where it was 102 degrees at the 7:05 p.m. game time.

By comparison, 2,195 fans attended the last Sunday day game played at Cashman on June 28, when it was 103 degrees at the 12:05 p.m. start.

"The ones who are proponents of this think attendance will be better, so we'll see," said 51s team president Don Logan, who prefers Sunday day games. "I sat through (19) years of Sunday evening games, and it was the toughest night to sell group tickets and walk-up tickets. It was, far and away, the worst business night of the year."

Logan started scheduling late-summer Sunday day games in 2002 for several reasons: to give players a rare night off, to save money on hotel rooms for opposing teams and because he contends it's hotter for a night game than a day game.

"Perceptually, it isn't," he said.

But when a member of Logan's staff tracked the temperature on a pair of Sundays in July last year, he discovered that the hottest part of the day was from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. -- during which the teams take batting and infield practice, which the 51s skipped Sunday.

"The apex of the heat is when the guys are out doing their work and the first hour of the game," Logan said. "As a fan (at a day game), you're missing the worst heat."

On July 1 and July 15 of last year, for instance, the temperature was about 102 degrees at 12:05 p.m. but soared to 111 at 4 p.m. and to 115 by 7 p.m.

Despite those numbers, Logan decided to switch back to Sunday night games this season at the request of some staff members.

"I don't want it to be a totalitarian regime," said Logan, also general manager and co-owner of the 51s. "When we did our year-end (employee) critique last year, they said we need to play night games on Sunday when it's hot. For me, it's an experiment."

51s third baseman Kevin Howard said most of the players prefer to play night games. "Definitely. I didn't like day games in the heat at all," he said. "... I kind of like day games when it's not hot out, but when it's like it has been out here, it's not too fun out there."

Las Vegas manager Mike Basso is a proponent of Sunday night games. "Obviously, it's not as hot," he said. "And if you don't hit on Sunday, you can report (to the ballpark) a little later and get more of a day."

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354.