Why We Love The Lowell Spinners

By Al Milesky
Love of Sports Correspondent

Chances are you haven’t heard of the Lowell Spinners.

That is, unless you’re a Red Sox fan.

The Sox minor league Class-A affiliate has churned out major league stars like Hanley Ramirez, Jonathan Papelbon and Kevin Youkilis in the past decade, but the list of alumni isn’t its most distinguishing characteristic. Nor is the 5,000-seat stadium that was designed by the same facilities group that created Coors Field in Denver and Baltimore’s Camden Yards.

The City of Lowell’s about a half hour north of Boston, a city unto itself. It’s home to a UMass campus, a national park and accesses all of Massachusetts, as well as parts of New Hampshire and Maine.

But Lowell is not without problems. The city’s had drug and prostitution issues. For years, there’s been a disconnect between the community and its police officers.

However, a bright spot amidst this sometimes chaotic city are the Spinners, established in 1996. For eight straight years, starting in 2000, the Spinners have sold every single ticket to their stadium. While the talent is solid at times, that’s not what fosters the team’s consistent sellouts.

The lowest rung in the Red Sox organization has become one of the most popular teams throughout the minor leagues by devising creative promotions to attract fans. If you’re lucky, you can collect a Papelbon bobblehead at the door. Or better yet, a Stephen King or Peter Gammons bobblehead. Or better still, a Ted Williams WWII Aviator bobblehead on Veteran’s Night. The Jack Kerouac version was so popular one currently sits in Cooperstown.

But the Spinners’ promotional team is no one-trick pony. Where else could you see Papelbon milking a cow at home plate for a competition against rival Staten Island? Or participate in the Guinness Book of Records Largest Game of Duck, Duck, Goose?

The most brilliant idea may have been the establishment of Y.E.P, better known as the “Yankees Elimination Project.” The Spinners pledged to wipe the Yankees from little leagues in the Eastern Massachusetts area and replace them with the Spinners team name.

It started with a call to Jon Goode, Director of Promotions, from a local girl’s softball team asking to be called The Spinners instead of the Yankees. Goode recalled how no one wanted to don the pinstripes growing up, so he decided to take action.

Thanks to sponsors, the project’s been a success. Not only did 50 teams in New England switch over to Spinners uniforms in less than two months since the conception of the idea, but the promotion was parlayed into a clothing drive for New York. Yankees hats, tees and uniforms were shipped to the rival state, earning some karma points for an otherwise nose-turning exercise.

“We didn’t get a lot of negative feedback from the Yankees themselves, or the media, but we did get a lot of angry emails and phone calls from Yankee fans,” said Goode. “Looking back, I didn’t mind them. I admit it, I don’t like the Yankees!”

That’s the spirit.