Sat, Aug 06, 2005 page19

• Red Sox win popularity contest while on the road

  • NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
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  The Red Sox are baseball's biggest roadside attraction. On its tour through 12 cities, the self-styled posse of scruffy idiots is leading Major League Baseball in road attendance, a category the Yankees have won the last three seasons.

  The fundamental reason is easy: The Red Sox, an increasingly successful team, won the World Series last year for the first time in 86 years, building on a legendary, if vexed, history that has made them even more fetching in victory.

  Major League Baseball was unable to confirm if the Red Sox had ever before won the road crown, but their success this year gave them one more edge over the Yankees, whom they also lead in the American League East.

  "Red Sox Nation is alive and well, and indeed, national," said Larry Lucchino, the team's president and chief executive. "Unquestionably, the postseason drama and postseason success of 2003 and 2004 created a resurgence in Red Sox Nation."

  Through Wednesday's games, Boston's 56 road dates averaged 38,673 in attendance, more than the Yankees' 38,140 average in 51 games. The Yankees have the record for road attendance, 3.3 million, set last year.

  The allure of the Red Sox outside Fenway Park is not new. Since 2000, Boston has never attracted fewer than 2.4 million fans on the road, and its attractiveness peaked last season at nearly 2.9 million, about 500,000 fans more than it lured to Fenway Park, with its relatively small seating capacity.

  Fenway was built in 1912 and still cannot hold 36,000 fans despite recent modifications, like the installation of seats above the left-field wall. Fenway will grow again by about 1,200 seats next year and another 600 or so afterward. Meanwhile, the average capacity of the ballparks the Red Sox have played in this season is 45,912.

  At home, the Red Sox have a streak of 196 consecutive sellouts, and through 50 home dates this season they have drawn 1.76 million fans, up 4.3 percent from last year. In 1919, when the Red Sox last defended a World Series championship, their attendance soared by 67 percent -- to a mere 417,291.

  "The lure of Fenway is undeniably part of it," Lucchino said. "And there's our history and heritage, which should be elements on our balance sheet."

  The John Henry-led ownership group, which took over the team three years ago and includes The New York Times Co, is not entirely responsible for fans packing Fenway. Attendance has exceeded 2.1 million in every season since 1986, except for the strike-shortened 1994 season, but hit a franchise record of 2.83 million last season.

  At the current pace, attendance could reach 2.95 million this year.

  These are relatively good times for baseball attendance despite the ebbs and flows of the steroid scandal and other problems the sport has faced since the 1994 players' strike ended. As always, some teams are showing increased attendance, some are not.

  The most stirring turnstile tale this season is taking place in Washington, where the Nationals have paid attendance at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium of 1.75 million, nearly quadruple what the Expos drew at this point last year in Montreal, where the paid crowds were as small as 3,613.

  The leap of 1.28 million Washington fans is a stunning feat: The figure exceeds the 971,168 increase in total attendance in all of baseball, which is ahead by 2 percent to 49.6 million through Wednesday night.

  And while the Yankees trail the Red Sox on the road, they still lead the majors in home attendance, trailed by the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals. Even with a 56-49 record that is 10 games worse than last year's, the Yankees have a paid attendance of 2.65 million through Sunday, up nearly 1 percent through the same period in 2004.

  But if the Yankees do not jazz up their league-leading average of 49,173 fans a game, they will narrowly miss the 4 million mark reached only by Colorado and Toronto. Last year, the Yankees set a franchise attendance record in the Bronx of 3.77 million.

  The Yankees are on a remarkable 15-game home skein that began on June 24 against the Mets with a paid count of 55,297, and continued with Sunday's finale against the Angels, which attracted 53,653 to the Bronx. The streak has accounted for 15 of the team's 26 sellouts this year, up from 25 at this time last year.

  The Yankees have about 20,000 more seats to sell for each game than the Red Sox, so it is unlikely they can ever embark on a sellout streak like Boston's. Not every foe in road uniforms can average 55,045 fans a game, like the Red Sox have in the Bronx this season. But the Tampa Bay series in May averaged 44,404; series in June with the Pirates and the Tigers averaged 46,638 and 43,923, respectively.

  He added: "You're never too old to remember the last time something negative happened, and then, the brand can dissipate like that."

  Although the Mets are in last place in the National League East with a .500 record, they have reason to be cheerful. In 55 home games through Thursday afternoon's loss to the Brewers, attendance at Shea Stadium is up 20.5 percent, to 1.96 million.

  "We're satisfied," said Dave Howard, the executive vice president for business operations for the Mets. "But we're not done with the season. We should do better if the team stays in it. We're headed for a good year."

  The Pedro Martinez signing has had a salutary impact.
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