Columnist Dean Juipe: Wins might solve what ails the 51s

Dean Juipe

Friday, May 11, 2001 | 10:24 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

Sitting in the stands at Cashman Field, oblivious to the XFL folding and the satisfaction I would later feel at that offensive league's demise, I looked around at my 800 or so colleagues Thursday afternoon and wondered why I had lost interest in minor-league baseball.

For someone who had once driven from Ann Arbor to Toledo simply to see the Mud Hens, and who once knew the Pacific Coast League batting and pitching leaders by heart, it was a legitimate inquiry.

So, what had changed?

Was it old age?

Different priorities?

Unfamiliarity with the players who currently make up the Las Vegas 51s?

Or was it the team's half-baked nickname or even its monotonous print ads?

No one answer jumped out, although as the game progressed toward a 5-3 victory over the visiting Tucson Sidewinders this much became apparent: The simple act of winning, especially repetitive winning, might not only pique my interest in the 51s, it might very well solve the team's lingering attendance problem.

With only one winning season -- and barely, at that -- in the past four and with the 51s off to a dismal 13-21 start this season, there hasn't been much to cheer for at this gracefully aging ball park.

As a result of the team's now annual failures, its front office has hauled out a bag of tricks in an effort to keep the turnstiles from rusting. Yet, without exception, whether it's a "party zone" that includes a pool or additional seats that veer out on to what once was the field or a ridiculous mascot or hokey puns during pregame announcements, everything the 51s are trying seems patently juvenile.

Nothing replaces winning to stir the senses, and the 51s -- just as the Stars before them -- have not been winning.

This is a problem that, in theory, was to have been corrected when Las Vegas switched its major-league affiliation from the San Diego Padres to the Los Angeles Dodgers last fall. But -- unbeknownst to the 51s? -- it turns out the Dodgers, right now at least, have a relatively barren farm system, so much so that Baseball America recently ranked them No. 28 (of 30) in terms of talent and front-office accountability.

A move designed to up the triple-A team's presence and viability within the community hasn't so much backfired as it has stalled. Aside from the nice blue and white uniforms that are modeled after the Dodgers', not much seems to have changed for the better between this season and last.

Maybe the 51s should complete the wacky course they're on and go ahead and install an alien spacecraft in center field, as they've discussed doing (albeit outside the field of play). Because if their win-loss record doesn't improve, enticing customers is going to become increasingly difficult no matter how many fireworks nights are scheduled.

There are minor-league baseball fans in this city, as proven by the guys with scorebooks and radio headsets sitting in the crowd. But there are fewer than there once were, and it can be laid at the feet of too many losing seasons.

The solution to not only my own recent lack of interest but the apathy displayed by Las Vegas in general is obvious: Win some games.