The Portland Sea Dogs happen to think Hadlock Field is a beautiful place to play baseball, especially in the middle of summer.

And occasionally they like to show that off to the rest of the Eastern League.

“It’s something nice to do every 10 years,” Sea Dogs President Charlie Eshbach said.

The Sea Dogs officially announced the Eastern League All-Star Game is returning to Hadlock Field next year, after a 10-year absence. Team officials made the announcement Tuesday afternoon at Hadlock.

Officially called the All-Star Classic, presented by Sullivan Tire, the game will be held at 7 p.m. July 15.

Tickets for the game go on sale to the public Nov. 1. Sea Dogs season-ticket holders will get an earlier chance to buy them.

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Portland hosted the game once in 2005, played before a sold-out crowd of 6,975. The capacity at Hadlock is now 7,368.

As was the case in 2005, the Sea Dogs will be charging more for the 2015 All-Star Game than a regular-season game: $20 (box seats), $18 (reserved seats), $16 (general admission) and $10 (children 16-under and senior 62-over). Those are double the Sea Dogs’ normal ticket prices.

Minor league all-star games are not guaranteed sellouts. This month’s Eastern League All-Star Game in Altoona, Pennsylvania, drew 6,055, which was 1,155 short of capacity.

Sea Dogs General Manager Geoff Iacuessa is not concerned.

“The last time we sold out in March, before the season,” he said. “And I anticipate we’ll sell out in advance again.”

One reason for the optimism is that baseball is already a good draw at Hadlock (ranked fourth in the league), especially in the summer. Altoona ranks ninth in attendance out of 12 teams in the league.

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The other reason is Portland itself.

“Portland is one of those destination cities, especially in the middle of July,” Iacuessa said. The Sea Dogs kept track of who bought tickets to the 2005 game.

“Over 1,800 fans came from over three hours away.”

The game is usually televised and the 2005 game was on NESN. Nothing has been finalized for the 2015 game.

Other details about the game and festivities will be announced later.

“We’ll definitely have a home run derby. We’ll definitely have an opportunity for fans to meet players from both teams and get autographs,” Iacuessa said.

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The Sea Dogs will also sponsor a special evening for the players and their families on the eve of the game. In 2005, they were treated to a lobster bake on Peaks Island.

“We probably will do something different, but it will still involve lobster,” Iacuessa said. “You can’t have people come to Maine and not give them lobster.”

The party is one of the expenses the host team incurs, as well as round-trip travel, lodging and food for all the players and staff.

Thus the desire for a corporate sponsor such as Sullivan Tire.

“You never want to go into anything to lose money,” Iacuessa said. “We want to put on a great show. What we’d like to do is create a memorable experience for the players and fans.

“We still hear great things about 2005, and we want to put our stamp on this game.”


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