All-Star FanFest comes to Comvention Center

Organizers are expecting 120,000 fans It covers an area equal to 39 baseball diamonds as it takes over the entire Philadelphia Convention Center. 315,000 square feet of green carpet cover the floor that approximately 120,000 visitors will walk across from July 5th-9th. The Pinnacle All-Star FanFest has arrived in Philly, and it promises to transport every baseball fan into a dream world where there is little doubt baseball still is America's pastime. The Fanfest is a recent addition to the All-Star tradition, originating only six years ago when Toronto hosted the game. Yet the ability of a city to hold the enormouse FanFest is now one of the key factors in securing a bid to host the All-Star game. The Convention Center, which opened in 1992, is a major reason Philladelphia will be hosting its first All-Star game since the 1976 Bi-Centennial year. It has been a long time for the fans of Philadelphia between Midsummerr Classics, but they are now being rewarded with everything the FanFest has to offer. "The FanFest is Major League Baseball's thank you to the fans." Errin Cecil-Smith of the Brownstein Group public relations firm said. "Most fans won't be able to go to the (All-Star) game, so this is an inexpensive way for the fans to get close to the game." Perhaps the FanFest is too inexpensive. Despite the ticket costs, revenue from concessions, and numerous corporate sponsors, the FanFest is expected to lose money. But earning a profit is not the incentive for the Fan Fest. The exhibit takes up one large room in the Convention Center, offering 40 attractions all centering around baseball. Fans are greeted by the sight of the world's largest baseball, measuring 12 feet in diameter, and huge pictures of major league stars hanging from the ceiling. The numerous attractions include everything from facing a Steve Carltton fastball in the popular video batting cages to baseball-card flipping contests to seeing how a basball uniform is made. Other exhibits returning this year will include FanFest baseball cards, where fans can have their own cards made, along with un-realistic stats. For more baseball fantasy, visitors will be able to play games from video-game giants Sega, Nintendo, and Sony. New this year is the video pitching cage. Fans will be able to pitch at a video screen, from witch compters will track the velocity and motion of the pitch to determine of the batter will get a hit. Real video images of hitter from Hank Aaron trying for hoem run number 715 to the Philly Phanatic will be available. FanFest will also provide hands-on instruction from major league coaches for hundreds of little-leaguers at the centerpiece of the exhibit, the Diamond. It is clear that FanFest truly caters to the younger crowd in many ways. Major Legaue Baseball is trying to create a family atmosphere to regain the young fans who have drifted away from baseball in recent years. But FanFest also keeps an eye on the history of baseball. For the fans more interested in the traditional aspects of the game, many heroes of years past, icluding Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson and Rollie Fingers, will be present throughout the fanfest signing autographs. Also included will be Negro League stars, who have their own exhibit which has proven to be one of the most popular attractionsin past FanFests. The Hall of Fame has brought its roving exhibit to the FanFest. But the centerpiece of the exhibit from Cooperstown will be the history of baseball in Philadelphia. Starting with pre-Civil War memorabilia from the 1860s, the exhibit will follow baseball's tradition in Philadelphia with articfacts from each decade from the 1860s to the present. "People don't realize that Philadelphia has 125 years of professional baseball history," Baseball Hall of Fame curator Tim Spencer said. "Philadelphia has always been one of the biggest centers of baseball in the country." For the following week, Philadelphia will not only be one of the centers of baseball in the country, it will be the center of the baseball universe.