LAKEWOOD – Fans who attend Jersey Shore BlueClaws home games at the ShoreTown Ballpark in Lakewood can leave their money home.
The facility, like other major event venues, will be a cashless and fully digital venue beginning this season. This includes transactions involving tickets, food and beverage, merchandise, parking, boardwalk games and all others as part of either a Jersey Shore game or event.
“From the outset of the pandemic (it cost Jersey Shore its 2020 season), this is something that we have been thinking about, but we first wanted to make sure the best plans and protocols were in place to make this a smooth transition for our fans,” said president-general manager Joe Ricciutti, whose team will play its home regular-season opener at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday, April 11, against the Greensboro (N.C.) Grasshoppers, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ affiliate in the South Atlantic League, a High-A circuit. “We have spoken with numerous peers in the industry and all of our vendors and partners expect this to be a seamless process that makes things even easier for fans as they come to our games.”
The decision to go cashless follows 29 of the 30 major league baseball teams and stadiums, including that of the Philadelphia Phillies, the BlueClaws’ parent club.
“Two-thirds of our food and beverage transactions are already made with credit and debit cards,” Ricciutti said. “Moving to a cashless system will make transactions times faster and fans will be able to get back to doing what they came to the ballpark to do – enjoy a baseball game and take advantage of the boardwalk games, mini golf and everything else we offer.”
Fans can access their tickets at any time on their mobile device by logging into their TicketReturn account, which existing customers already have and new customers create as part of the purchase flow. From there, they can have their tickets scanned at the gates or transfer tickets to either a family member, friend or colleague.
“TicketReturn is one of the premier ticket vendors in the industry and its mobile platform makes accessing and transferring tickets a very simple process for fans,” Ricciutti said.
Inside the ballpark, credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay will be the only form of payment for food and beverage transactions, Claws Cove transactions and at The Boardwalk and the Manasquan Bank Mini Golf Course. Fans will have access to a Reverse ATM inside the ballpark through which they can convert cash into a debit card. The debit card can be used inside and outside the ballpark.
Parking will also be cashless and fans can pay using either a credit card or a debit card as they arrive.
Numerous fan promotions are at bat throughout the regular season.
April 11 is billed as Opening Night at the Jersey Shore. The team is scheduled to play 132 regular-season games, including 66 at ShoreTown, which again figures to be a fun house for of all ages. The calendar includes 11 fireworks nights, beginning April 11 and every Friday beginning June 2 and July 4.
“These nights represent the best fan experiences from across the BlueClaws’ season,” Ricciutti said. “We know these games are going to sell out. We don’t want anyone to miss out.”
Among the new beverage options for fans is the Heavy Reel Brewing Taphouse behind Section 109. The area will include Heavy Reel brewing selections that will rotate throughout the season. The promotion is built off the success of Reel Claw, a BlueClaws-branded IPA launched last year.
Two of Jersey Shore’s 14 sellouts were Marvel Super Hero Nights and this year the team will host three – May 19 with Black Panther, June 24 with Spider-Man and Aug. 5 with Captain Marvel. As part of Minor League Baseball’s partnership with Marvel, Jersey Shore will wear a special Marvel-designed cap with special merchandise also available. The BlueClaws will host Summer Concert Series games June 10 (The Snakes), July 8 (Asbury Fever) and Aug. 19 (Splintered Sunlight).
A large Jumbo Adirondack Chair will be in right field. Everyone is encouraged to take pictures and share, using the hashtag #blueclaws to be entered to win special prizes from Focus Camera, the promotion’s presenter. It’s the second season of the Blue Wave Bar, a second-level full service restaurant open to fans at each game. The menu includes some items, including seafood, that aren’t available anywhere else in the ballpark. Kids will continue to run the bases after every game.
Daily promotions include Thirsty Thursday with $2 Coors Light cans and Sunday FunDays with Kids Eat Free where members of the BlueClaws Kids Club eat free.
The BlueClaws’ latest Player Development Contract with the Phillies began in 2021 and runs through 2030.
Jersey Shore’s first-year manager is Greg Brodzinski, the club’s 16th manager in history. Brodzinski, 31, spent last year as the bench coach with Triple A Lehigh Valley, the Phillies’ farm club which competes in the International League. He was the Phillies’ bullpen catcher and catching coach in 2020 and 2021.
Jersey Shore began play in 2001 as the Lakewood BlueClaws. Since its inception, a total of 8,118,695 fans have purchased tickets to the club’s home regular-season games. A total of 256,141 fans plunked down their money last season.
“We’re very proud to reach 14 sellouts last year, finish third among all South Atlantic League teams in attendance and finish 14th among all 120 minor league baseball teams in group sales,” Ricciutti said. “We feel we have something to offer every family, every business, youth sports team, non-profit organization and other groups and we look forward to welcoming them back to ShoreTown.”
Jersey Shore’s pitching coach is Phil Cundari, who spent the previous three years in the Toronto Blue Jays’ minor-league system. The club’s batting coach is former BlueClaws player Brock Stassi, who was with the team for 59 games in 2021 when he hit three home runs and drove in 30 runs. He made his big-league debut with the Phillies on April 3, 2017.
The team’s bench coach is Chris Adamson, who was scheduled to manage the club in 2020. He managed the team in 2021. The team’s pitching development coach is Brady Lail, who pitched for the New York Yankees, the Chicago White Sox and the Seattle Mariners. The team’s athletic trainer is Meaghan Flaherty, who has been with the Phillies since 2020 and spent last season as the assistant athletic trainer with Lehigh Valley. The team’s strength and conditioning coach is Mark Jesse, Jr., who joined the Phillies’ system last season.
Two Jersey Shore players, No. 5 Hao Yu Lee and No. 28 Tommy McCollum, are ranked among MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 Phillies prospects.
A total of 119 former BlueClaws, including former Phillies stars Cole Hamels and Ryan Howard, have earned berths on major league rosters.
Ten former BlueClaws – Detroit’s Nick Maton and Matt Vierling, the Chicago White Sox’s Jake Diekman, Houston’s Hector Neris, Oakland’s Trevor May, Seattle’s J.P. Crawford, the Los Angeles Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe, Atlanta’s Travis d’Arnaud, the New York Mets’ Carlos Carrasco, Milwaukee’s Hoby Milner and the Chicago Cubs’ Mark Leiter Jr. – were on major league regular-season rosters at the start of the 2023 campaign. The latter pitched for Toms River High School North and the Phillies.
“We want our fans to say after visiting the ballpark, ‘That was fun. Let’s do it again,’ ” Ricciutti said. “They entrust us with three to four hours of their most precious commodity, which is time. If we do that (the team employs 300 persons when it plays home games), we did our jobs and that makes us incredibly proud.”
Blueclaws.com contributed to this report.
