INDIANAPOLIS — There may be no better harbinger of spring than baseball returning to Victory Field in downtown Indianapolis.

While the Indianapolis Indians may be off playing in Memphis this week, they’ll be back in the Circle City Tuesday, April 25.

In the meantime, CBS4 caught up with the team to see how the ball club helps invigorate the downtown area on gameday. 

Think of the triple play of stimulation to your senses when you walk into a ballpark. The sights, sounds and smells come at you quicker than a four-seam fastball. All that activity not only provides a whole lot of fun for fans but also employment opportunities.

At peak efficiency, Indiana brass said it takes roughly 250 to 300 employees to really make Victory Field sing on game day. When you consider just how many games are played at the park each season, that’s a whole lot of work! Perhaps even more impressive is the Indians’ attendance goals set each season. 

Indianapolis Indians President & General Manager Randy Lewandowski said the more fans that show up, the better it is for the downtown area.

“Our goal is to do 550 or 600-thousand fans every year. And that’s really what we want to do is drive people downtown and make Victory Field the best community gathering place that we can,” Lewandowski said. “When you head downtown it helps stimulate the local economy. You’re likely going to grab dinner or drinks in the city after or before the game.

“Our job as the Indianapolis Indians is to provide that rite of passage for spring leading into summer. We got an early glimpse of that here with some great weather early in April, but really it’s our opportunity to bring the southwest part of downtown alive — to bring a lot of folks downtown from April, all the way through September.”

Now that we’ve collectively shifted into a post-pandemic mindset, Indians management said they’re bringing back player autograph sessions starting in May. Speaking of May, their Indy 500 night roars into the park April 29, and youth clinic with players will roll out on the field May 31.

“Promotions is really what helps drive us and what separates us I think from a lot of the other teams in town. Because we need to build it around the experience and the memories of Victory Field. The baseball again is important, it’s why we’re here, but to build that memory and experience for kiddos and their families is really what helps drive us,” Lewandowski said. “What we try to do is try to generate excitement with promotions. The baseball’s important, but we also know it’s about Marvel nights, it’s about Friday-night fireworks, Tuesday dollar menu, it’s also those annual and daily and weekly promotions that we want to put out there for our fans.”

If you’re trying to ball on a budget, there are four half-priced ticket nights coming up, and every Tuesday home game is dollar menu night.