Quincy Gems Would Have Been Better to Miss the Playoffs This Year

The Quincy Gems are wrapping up their current season in West Virginia as they try to win the Prospect League Championship. Are they wrapping up the season or their existence? In many ways the Quincy Gems would have been better off to have finished 2nd in their division rather than winning the Western Division Championship.  

The Gems put together a fine team this year and going to the ballpark was a pleasant experience, an experience I hope we all get to enjoy again next year. Running a baseball team is costly and the Gems have tried very hard to keep their expenses down but what is happening this week has really got to be hitting their expenses below the belt.

By entering into the Prospect League Championship, which is a best of three playoff, the team needed to make a trip to West Virginia by bus, feed the players three times a day, and house them as well in a hotel. The plan was to do so for three days (Sunday, Monday and tonight if they have to play a 3rd game) but now that has been extended at least one more day because of a rainout last night. So now it is four days and the expenses I'm sure are beginning to mount just to play perhaps only one game. Yikes!

With a board that has expressed disappointment with the Gems lack of profit making in the past, I can't believe that they are going to allow this trip to go financially unnoticed. What the board needs to be aware of is that there are thousands of Quincy Gems fans out there who hated to see the season come to an end, and who can't wait for the 2014 season to start. Any talk of it not happening would not settle well with them.

I know several of the board members who will review the 2013 season and I am sure they will have plenty to say about the cost of the club's operation and they should. Unfortunately, in the many games that I attended this summer, they were nowhere to be seen and I venture to guess some never even made it to one game this year. It's easy to see the numbers on a piece of paper but perhaps coming out to the ballpark once in a while and making a recommendation based on what they see at the ballpark might make for a better judgement on the future of this franchise.

The Quincy Gems have given fans and parents a great opportunity to make some wonderful memories by bringing their kids to the ballpark. Seeing a mom and dad with their kids at the ballpark is all part of Quincy's positive quality of life. A summer without those opportunities is a summer we just can not allow to happen.