The Las Vegas 51s (formerly the Las Vegas Stars) play in the 10,000-seat Cashman Field stadium from April 5 to Sept. 3, 2007. The 51s are affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a AAA minor-league team (MiLB) in the Pacific Coast League, which is made up of four divisions (two Northern and two Southern) in two conferences (the American and the Pacific). The 51s play in the Southern Division of the Pacific Conference, along with the Fresno Grizzlies (San Francisco Giants), Sacramento River Cats (Oakland A's), and Tucson Sidewinders (Arizona Diamondbacks).
The Stars started playing in Las Vegas in 1983, when they moved from Spokane; they played till 2000 affiliated with the San Diego Padres. The team morphed into the 51s in 2001 and changed affiliations to the Dodgers. Currently, there are a total of 52 Major League Baseball players who once played on the Stars/51s.
(The AAA designation of the 51s is the highest in minor league baseball, the teams typically found in the largest metropolitan areas without Major League Baseball franchises. These teams usually hold 15 players of the 40-man roster not eligible to be on the major league club; such players are called up to the "big show" in emergencies, since they don’t have to clear waivers. Other AAA players learn the ropes on the farm team, with the possibility of being called up to the majors later in a season.)
Since 2001, the 51s have had four losing and two winning seasons; they made it to the playoffs once, in 2002, losing in the semi-finals.
The 51s play almost every day during the season, roughly a week at home and a week on the road. The games start at 7:05 every day except Sundays, when they start at 12:05. (For the complete schedule, go to http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/documents.)
Single-game tickets range from $8 (general admission) to $13 (field level). You can usually just show up at Cashman Field (on Las Vegas Blvd. just north of downtown) around game time and buy tickets; average attendance is less than 5,000, which means half the stadium doesn’t fill up. If you want to order tickets in advance, go to http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/tickets/, which links you to Ticketmaster.
There's almost always some promotion going on at the home games: fireworks, dollar beer nights, kids' carnivals, and lots of giveaways, such as L.A. Dodgers caps and 51s' T-shirts, fleece blankets, and bobbleheads.
If you don't want to take the boys to more than one game, but they get into the 51s while you're in Vegas, they can tune in to Fox Sports Radio at 1460 AM, which broadcasts all the games live.
To talk to someone in the 51s front office, call 702/798-7825; the email address is [email protected].
