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What is your point John because my point is that crime isn't just a Gary problem? It's a problem wherever the location.

I think my point is generally that we stay on topic instead of divert off wherever unrelated or semi-connected information takes us, as in alleging that shootings happen "all the time" in other NWI communities. That is sort of like wondering why people in New Orleans complained about Hurricane Katrina. After all, other places get big storms too.

Gary needs to address its crime and we all agree about that. We as a country need to address crime. Perhaps more baseball is the answer. Maybe painting big yellow smiley faces on our water towers will work.

But the fact is that the RailCats have to deal with an image problem, as was the original point of this.
Pat Salvi will probably pay attention to this event and my guess is he will have some impact on its solution.
I would not guess the city itself has the people or willpower to do much about it.
I will keep going to games and will try to coax my acquaintances to do the same. There is no better night out than a warm summer evening at the Steel Yard. We all agree on that.

I just don't agree that the city is trying to do much about it as was suggested. And Hammond's crime statistics are anecdotal. The ball park is not in Hammond, or Merrillville.

And I will generally relent to you on the crime data for Merrillville. A lot of crime goes through there and stops at the motels for the night.
Darned few shootouts in the parking lots, though.

First word of this was around 5 p.m. and the bulk of the investigation was completed before dark. I can't see how or why the cops would ask that the P.A. system be turned down so they could "think."

Still another of life's tragic events that puzzle us.

The crowds will continue to get smaller anyhow, especially on Fridays, now that the high school season is under way.
So it will be very difficult to determine whether this has an effect on the games for now.
Next season, another season, new issues.

I can say that Thursday crowd was affected almost entirely by the rainy weather they had all day. At noon, it was pouring and discussion we were having was when or if they would make up the game.

Same was true for Wednesday's hockey promotion.

Lucky for me I never much cared what Vinny had to say.
On topic, the 6,000 at the park on Saturday would seem to defy the notion that off-field incidents are having a negative effect on attendance.

Anybody care to guess on which of these two events are likely to be more memorable for the casual fan ....

a. Jason manipulating the dizzy bat spin
or
b. Steve Haake bashing a three-run homer.

(Yeah, I agree.)