Syracuse Chiefs unveil new uniforms, promotions schedule

SYRACUSE — The Syracuse Chiefs will wear new uniforms during the 2016 baseball season.

The minor-league pro baseball team will also offer many of the same promotions to which fans have become accustomed in recent seasons.

Both announcements were part of the team’s open house held March 5 at NBT Bank Stadium.

“We are switching to red, white, and blue [colored uniforms], which is a traditional color of the Syracuse Chiefs,” Jason Smorol, general manager of the Syracuse Chiefs, said in his remarks during the informal announcement during the event.

A group of area teenagers modeled examples of the uniform for home games and road games, the alternative uniform with the calligraphy “S” that the team first used in 1964, and the batting-practice uniform.

The Chiefs will open the season hosting Lehigh Valley on April 7 at 2:05 p.m. at NBT Bank Stadium.

Smorol used the open-house event to announce the team’s opening-day guarantee.

“If it is not 53 degrees, everybody that buys a ticket for that game and comes to opening day will get a free ticket for any other game in April or May,” said Smorol.

He also noted the Chiefs will use their time and temperature clock for the official temperature for the guarantee.

The open house also represented the first chance for fans to buy individual game tickets for opening day and the team’s other 71 home games.

Promotions
Besides the opening-day temperature guarantee, the Chiefs also used the event to release their promotions schedule for the 2016 season.

Smorol noted the organization can’t control the weather or the team’s on-field play, but it can control its customer service, including the greeting at the parking lot, the ticket window, fan amenities, and promotions.

“Those are things that are within our control and we have been ramping those up dramatically in the past couple seasons and this year is no different,” said Smorol.

The returning $1.00 Thursday, Fireworks Friday, and Super Saturday promotions highlight this year’s schedule.

“Dollar Thursday is still the greatest deal in the history of baseball,” said Smorol.

This year’s schedule calls for 12 Dollar Thursdays, beginning with the season opener on April 7, according to the team’s news release issued the same day as the open house.

Fans can get hot dogs and soda for $1, along with alcoholic beverages for $2 during every Thursday home game.

The Chiefs will also have a magnet-schedule giveaway on opening day as well.

The team on April 8 will acknowledge the 100th birthday of Don Waful, who served as team president for 35 years.

As the season unfolds, the schedule also includes “Fireworks Fridays,” and “Super Saturdays,” which are “full of giveaways,” and together comprise the “bulk” of this year’s 18 postgame fireworks show, the team said.

An extra fireworks show will take place postgame on Sunday, July 3, as part of an Independence Day weekend celebration.

Every Saturday is a “Super Saturday” that either involves fireworks or a giveaway, such as adult jerseys on May 20 and June 18; full size bats on Reopening Day on June 25; and Bryce Harper bobble head on Onondaga County Volunteer Fire Association night, which is scheduled for July 16.

Bryce Harper plays right field for the Washington Nationals, the major-league parent club of the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs.

The Chiefs will do the “best that we can do” to give the best dollar value, said Smorol.

 “They need to come here and say that was a great time, that was worth my five dollars, or my 10 dollars, or my 12 dollars, or if you buy a ton of stuff, 100 dollars,” said Smorol, which was greeted with light laughter from the assembled crowd in the Hank Sauer Room of Legends.

The full promotional schedule is available at the team’s website (syracusechiefs.com).