Promotions keep Flyers fans coming back for more

Batting cages, a playground, a Velcro wall and Bat Girl.

Those are some of the working pieces of a Schaumburg Flyers game at Alexian Field, not elements from a wild dream or an overactive imagination.

The Flyers opened their 2009 home schedule Friday to 5,288 patrons, who were treated to a very fan-friendly environment.

For instance, in the bottom of the sixth inning a fan was stuck to a Velcro wall beyond the right-field fence, and if he caught a home run while there he would have won a Volkswagen.

Unfortunately, luck was not on his side.

There's an area just beyond the concourse down the third-base line that has batting cages, a speed gun where you can see how fast you throw, a bounce house to jump in and a playground.

Kelly Byrne of Mundelein, who has been to several games over the years, said she thought the area had expanded.

"My son loves baseball and he's in T-ball this year. We always come here. We love it," Byrne said. "It's easy to get to. The parking is close. The kids love it."

It's definitely the atmosphere that keeps Byrne coming back.

"My son loves to try to catch fly balls," she said. "He's down at the fence right now."

There's even Bat Girl, who retrieves the bats after each at-bat dressed up as the comic book heroine.

Jay Meyer of Hoffman Estates was also at the game with his family.

"We heard some advertisements on the radio and my wife got some tickets," Meyer said. "We saw they had kids play stuff now and it sounded like a fun idea to come out to on opening night."

And there was a post-game fireworks show for everyone's enjoyment.

While the extras at the stadium are nice, the game is what it is really all about, and on Friday, it was pretty darn good for the home team. Dustin Glant pitched a complete game, and the Flyers beat Joliet 6-2.