Having grown up in one AAA town and moved to another, I was quite familiar with the Ottawa Lynx and their
noted attendance woes. As always, and as I would find out, there is more to the story than simple lack of support. In 2007, the team was purchased by interests in Eastern Pennsylvania, who announced plans to move it to Allentown for the 2008 season. Naïve to what this actually meant to the Ottawa baseball community, I planned a trip to see the last two games in Lynx history. Before our trip, I saw a newspaper photo of the Lynx in their road greys, which I thought looked great, and which I would try to buy if possible when visiting. Sure enough, in an effort to recoup any losses possible, the team store was selling the road uniforms during the last homestand in team history. As I recall, this was the most expensive jersey I'd purchased to date, and is likely still among the most expensive few. The U.S. dollar was worth $1.05 CAD that day and by the end of the month, the Canadian dollar would be worth more than its U.S. counterpart for the first time in 30 years.
Jim Rushford was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Brewers in 2000 from San Diego State University. As the Lynx affiliation was switched to Philadelphia for their final year in anticipation of moving the Phillies AAA to the Lehigh Valley, Jim had spent most of the previous three years playing in Scranton (there it is). Before his Red Baron days, Rushford made it to Milwaukee in 2002 where he'd make 84 plate appearances in his only major league action. After his age 33 season in Ottawa, Jim spent a very abbreviated 2008 season in the Mexican league before wrapping up with Tucson Toros of the independent Golden League.
The Lynx were born of the early 90s Canadian baseball mania culminating in back-to-back Toronto championships and the elite 1994 Montréal Expos team. As Miami and Denver added to the major league ranks in 1993, Charlotte became a AAA city along with Ottawa, who hosted the Expos top prospects in front of 9,764 per night at brand new
JetForm Park. 1995 saw the Governor's Cup head north for the first time since 1966 as the Lynx defeated the Norfolk Tides three games to one. While still drawing almost 7,000 per game, a combination of the luster wearing off and perennial subsequent losing teams began to depress attendance. As I understand it years later, the coup de grâce occurred when a
solid third of the parking lot on the entrance side of the ballpark was consumed to build a pair of hotels and a conference centre. Knowing me, and knowing Ottawa, I wouldn't consider this an excuse. After all, Ottawa pioneered the busway system and boasted a nearly 20% pre-pandemic public transit mode share. Unfortunately, the Tremblay busway station was located across a 400-series expressway (think Interstate in the U.S.). A long discussed pedestrian bridge would not materialize in time to make a bus to the ballgame a convenient enough option for enough of the potential fanbase. The Lynx lost to Syracuse on September 3, 2007, in front of 7,461. I will never forget how sad a scene it was and how badly I still feel about how I acted at the funeral. Ottawa would go on to host other levels of professional baseball at the same park, a topic I will cover in a future post.
Details:
- Manufacturer - Rawlings
- Size - 48
- Date Acquired - 9/2/2007
- Game Worn - Polyester
- Two Twill Script/Numbers
- Away Jersey for 2007 Season
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