The hype and the hoopla of minor league baseball’s Opening Day has passed. Now, the hard work begins for the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels under second-year owner John Martin.
The Mighty Mussels, a low-Class A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, are in the middle of their second homestand of the season. Business operations and the game-day operations work separately, with the Twins handling everything on the field, and Martin’s employees handling everything off it.
Operating the business side of minor league baseball comes with two challenges in Southwest Florida, said Martin, who is also a farmer in Illinois. The first is getting fans in the stands and the second is dealing with the weather, which Martin learned more about during his first season.
“We did trial and error on different promotional pieces, whether it was concerts or celebrity appearances,” said Martin. “Some worked better than others. What I would say on that is we need to be very careful understanding the weather patterns in Southwest Florida. We play 7 o’clock almost every evening. Anybody who is familiar with Southwest Florida [knows] that in July, August and September, there is a high chance of rain on many of those nights. When we invest in individual events, we do that knowing they have a chance to be rained out. It doesn’t mean we aren’t going to do them, it means we have to be strategic of how we set them up.”
Most games will have a promotional theme. Friday is Princess & Pirates Night with costumed princesses and pirates on hand and a costume contest. Friday games also feature postgame fireworks.
On Saturday, it’s Grateful Dead Night with a pre- and post-game concert by Unlimited Devotion, a Grateful Dead tribute band. It’s also a Bark in the Park night with leashed dogs admitted for free and a Guaranteed Win Night, meaning if the Mussels lose, fans get a free ticket for the next day’s game.
On Sunday, gates will open at 9 a.m. for the Southwest Florida Sports Card Show before and during the noon start time for the game. Former Miami Dolphins wide receiver Mark Duper is slated to be on hand signing autographs.
“The idea of this is we have a very unique platform out at Hammond Stadium,” Martin said. “Most Fridays and Saturdays, we’re going to have more than 2,000 people at the ballpark.”
Mother Nature dealt the Mighty Mussels 12 rainouts last season. The rain put a damper on attendance as the team drew 86,987 fans last season over 55 games, an average of 1,582 fans per game and a 10% increase from the 2021 season. Although the average ranked second in the league to Clearwater’s 2,412 (and 151,983 total), it wasn’t what Martin wanted.
“Unfortunately, the rainouts occurred on Fridays, Saturdays and July 3,” Martin said, referring to the biggest draw of the season with Independence Day post-game fireworks. “The most brutal shot was the July 3 game. We had the biggest presale online that we have had for a game in five years. It was perfectly sunny and wonderful until 5:58 p.m. The gates opened at 6 o’clock. Then there was a deluge. We had 2,000 people in their cars in the parking lot.
“If I had my way, I think a Wednesday would be better than a Friday or Saturday for a rainout.”
Mighty Mussels tickets for most games range from $13 to $15.
“You don’t have to take a second mortgage to come to a game at Hammond Stadium,” Martin said.
Islands Night, a celebration of Sanibel and Captiva, will take on a greater meaning May 3, as it will fall more than seven months after Hurricane Ian devastated the area. Sanibel artist Rachel Pierce designed a special uniform players will wear that night and be auctioned for charity.
“It has a lighthouse on both the front and the back,” Martin said. “It is probably the coolest specialty jersey I’ve seen in my life. There’s going to be a huge contingent coming from the islands. We’re going to be wearing those jerseys and raising some money.”
