All-star game ticket information and logo
COMSTOCK PARK, MI - The West Michigan Whitecaps today released ticket pricing and on-sale dates for the 50th Midwest League All-Star Game, which will be played at Fifth Third Ballpark on Tuesday, June 17, 2014. In addition, the Whitecaps unveiled the All-Star logo.
Individual and group tickets for the All-Star game will go on sale Tuesday, March 4, 2014. Premium box seats will be $16.00, box seats are $14.00, reserved seats are $12.50 and lawn seating is $8.00.
Season tickets (which include an option for All-Star tickets), luxury suites and private decks for the All-Star Classic are available now and can be reserved by calling the Whitecaps ticket department at (616) 784-4131.
The All-Star game is traditionally not only a showcase of the league's talented baseball prospects but also a showcase of the host city to the hundreds of league executives, baseball fans and players who will descend on the city for the two-day event. The event is an opportunity for the Whitecaps to show off Fifth Third Ballpark as well as West Michigan, with plans for baseball players and executives to visit the lakeshore, downtown Grand Rapids and other local attractions.
Whitecaps executives chose a beer theme for the logo because of the recent explosion in popularity of the local craft brew scene.
The logo showcases Grand Rapids' title of Beer City USA. It features a beer label shape that appears as a mug filled with gold beer and white froth. A bottle cap adorns the top of the logo. The text "50th Midwest League All-Star Classic 2014 / West Michigan" appears in a classic navy, light blue and grey color scheme that is borrowed from the Whitecaps logo. The gold background is significant both for the beer reference and as the "golden" 50th anniversary of the league's showcase game. The gold shimmers as a metallic color when printed on apparel.
Grand Rapids has won the Beer City USA designation for two straight years in a national online voting competition. Located just a few miles north of the city limits, Fifth Third Ballpark is home to the Michigan Brewers Guild's Winter Beer Fest each February, a popular outdoor festival that showcases 74 craft breweries with more than 620 beers on site.
Fifth Third Ballpark offers craft beers from six area craft breweries at Whitecaps games, including Founders Brewing Company, The Mitten Brewing Company, both located in Grand Rapids; Perrin Brewery in Comstock Park; New Holland Brewing Company in Holland; Bell's Brewery in Kalamazoo and Mt. Pleasant Brewing Company in Mt. Pleasant.
The 2014 game will be the third All-Star game that the Whitecaps have hosted in the team's 20-year history. The Whitecaps first hosted in 1995 and again in 2003.
Many of Major League's best players have participated in past MWL All-Star Games, including Miguel Cabrera (Kane County, 2001), Prince Fielder (Beloit, 2003), Clayton Kershaw (Great Lakes, 2007), Mike Trout (Cedar Rapids, 2010) and Wil Meyers (Burlington, 2010). All-time MLB greats Goose Gossage, Vida Blue, Carlton Fisk, Albert Pujols and Joe Mauer have also played in the game. Four current Detroit Tigers have represented the Whitecaps in past Midwest League All-Star Games: Ramon Santiago (2000), Don Kelly (2002), Hernan Perez (2011) and Bruce Rondon (2011).