World Junior crowds double organizers’ expectations

Organizers were hoping for 20,000 fans to fill up the seats at the World Junior Baseball Championship.

Fifty-thousand never entered their wildest dreams.

Though the official attendance count won’t be known for a few days, the event’s local co-ordinator Warren Philp said that’s how many may have made the trek to Port Arthur Stadium and Baseball Central to take in the action at the 10-day event.

"Thunder Bay’s responded in a big way," Philp said during a rain delay of Sunday’s gold-medal match between Australia and Chinese-Taipei.

"I just think people had to come and see it for the first time, and then they got hooked. It was as simple as that. And if they didn’t come themselves, then their neighbour told them about it or the guy at work told them about it. Somebody told them about and then they had to be part of it. And the media coverage was fantastic throughout the tournament. We were the story in town."

Team Canada games, the obvious marquee draw of the event, attracted thousands of fans each night they played, but most games had at least 1,000 people in the crowd, and some of the U.S. games had 2,000 or more.

Sunday’s final, between Chinese-Taipei and Australia packed the stadium, which officials added about 500 extra seats to mid-week in response to increased demand.

Thunder Bay’s Al Martin said he came out to see the future of the game.

"I’ve been a baseball player all my life and I enjoy the game and watching these young athletes out here, there’s a future for them in big-time baseball and you can say that you watched them come up," he said, patiently waiting out a two-hour rain delay during Sunday’s final.

Thunder Bay, notoriously known as a hockey town, proved it can be baseball worthy when the circumstances are right.

"If you put out a good product in Thunder Bay, the people will back you up 100 per cent. And that’s exactly what they did. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit," Martin said.

Windsor, Ont.’s Danny Martin, Al’s cousin, said he was convinced to come out to one game and liked what he saw so he came back.

"I like watching good players and the kids are very good," he said.

Jay Jones went to most of the games at Port Arthur Stadium and said it was money well spent.

"It’s world class baseball. You’ve got the finest athletes in the world coming out and battling it out," he said, impressed with the support in the stands the tournament got.

It wasn’t just the fans who liked what they saw.

International Baseball Federation executive Ian Young said the city did a fabulous job hosting the event, from the sizeable crowds and great games, to the smooth operations behind the scenes.

It’s definitely put Thunder Bay on the IBAF’s radar, Young said.

"I think they’ve definitely proved that they can handle events like this now and in the future, if they want to host them," Young said. "They’ve done a great job, so if they want to approach us to host another one, I think people will listen, definitely."