The Lowell Spinners hit one out of the park for recession-minded baseball fans.

Candice Richardson of Salem, NH, has a family that loves baseball and is a part of Red Sox Nation. Seldom do they miss a Sox game on TV. But when she wants to bring the kids to watch a baseball game in person, she and her husband don’t pack up the family for a trip to Fenway Park.

“With small children, buying tickets, food, and parking for a Red Sox game would literally cost a small fortune,” Richardson says. “Kids who are five and six do not get as much out of a Sox game. Not to mention the kids are so far from the action they would lose interest, and that, to me, is money wasted.”

The Lawrence school teacher and mother of three young children is glad to have a better alternative that’s much closer and more wallet-friendly: the Lowell Spinners. And even her five-year-old son Zackary hasn’t noticed the difference—he watches the Red Sox on TV and while at Spinners games, he has thought he was at Fenway and has asked where certain Red Sox players are. And he gets to enjoy kid-friendly, up-close entertainment—not so at Fenway.

“[The Spinners] are more than just a baseball game; they are entertainment for the kids,” Richardson says. “The stadium is small and all the seats are good. The kids feel like they are close to the action. It keeps them interested. The tickets are also reasonably priced.”

As wallets tighten and economic worries persist, families across the region have been forced to redefine vacations—taking trips closer to home and prioritizing entertainment spending. One activity giving families more bang for their bucks has been minor league baseball. Spinners games have sold out for the past 11 years, and the economic crisis has not slowed the team’s appeal. In fact, according to Spinners spokesman and public relations director Jon Boswell, ticket sales actually increased in 2009 over 2008.

“Minor League Baseball has always been labeled ‘recession proof’ for its affordability,” Boswell says. “In Lowell, we pride ourselves on not only providing affordable family entertainment, but the best affordable entertainment. For a family of four, they can not only come to ballgame, but park, buy four sodas, four hot dogs, four popcorns, and a souvenir for two kids for under $50. Add in the chance to see players like Jonathan Papelbon and Jacoby Ellsbury in their first professional baseball games, and you have a winning baseball product.”

The Spinners are about a lot more than baseball, Boswell adds. Referred to as “Spinnertainment,” the team’s non-baseball entertainment has become a signature of the franchise. They have had dogs catching Frisbees in the outfield between innings and Sumo wrestlers battling in front of the dugouts. When kids get restless, parents can take them to the park’s Swampland Kids Area to play carnival games and have caricatures done or faces painted. The team’s three mascots, Canaligatoe, Allie Gator, and Millie Gator (all named after Lowell’s famous canal system), constantly roam the premises to entertain families.

“Our goal is for you to come to our game and leave not knowing who won or lost,” Boswell says, even though some diehards might disagree with him.

The Spinners franchise was founded in 1996 after then-owner Clyde Smoll relocated the Elmira Pioneers from New York to Lowell. Also that year, as the team was striving to establish itself in its new Massachusetts home, a lifelong baseball fanatic named Drew Weber of New Jersey was looking to buy a minor league baseball team.

“I grew up as a Brooklyn Dodger fan, and I always hated the A’s,” Weber reminisces with a laugh. A much less pleasant memory for him was when his favorite childhood team moved to Los Angeles.

“My whole family was upset; every Brooklyn Dodgers fan was upset. It was the first time that something like that ever happened.”

Weber and his brother owned a successful men’s clothing import business in New York City, shipping clothes made in Eastern Europe to retailers all over the United States, for more than 20 years.

The whole time, Weber held on to the idea of one day owning a baseball team. In the 1990s, Weber and his brother sold their business, both agreeing it was the right time to do so. But Weber wasn’t anywhere near ready to retire, and with his new free time and lifelong love of baseball, he felt it was the right time to pursue his dream of baseball ownership. So he started searching for a minor league team to buy, a quest that was hindered by the fact that he didn’t want partners in ownership and he didn’t want to take over a team that was losing money.

Eventually, Weber found his perfect match in the Spinners. “I spent nine months looking for a team, and by sheer luck, I met up with a fellow who brought the team from Elmira to Lowell.”

Weber and Smoll became friendly and talked about the process of moving the team, a subject that fascinated Weber. They kept in touch, and Weber observed that process, not imagining that he’d eventually own the team. But just as Weber was about to throw in the towel on his baseball team ownership quest, he learned Smoll was looking to sell the Spinners. Weber immediately jumped at the opportunity, and the next day he and his family were in their car driving to Lowell.

One of the first projects Weber oversaw was the construction of the team’s new stadium, Edward LeLacheur Park near UMass Lowell. For its first two seasons, the team played at Lowell’s Alumni Field. LeLacheur Park was designed by HOK Sports Facilities Group, the company that designed Camden Yards in Baltimore and Coors Field in Colorado, as a major part of Lowell’s downtown revitalization. The new facility immediately drew a bigger audience.

“They were playing in a temporary facility,” Weber says. “And at the time, they hadn’t started building the new facility, so there was certainly a risk involved. But I know the passion of New England baseball fans, and I understood the business of minor league baseball, spent a lot of time learning it before I bought the team. The challenge to me was making sure I got the right people in place to run the team, and fortunately, I did.”

Lowell Spinners owner, Drew Weber

Weber said that although running a baseball team might seem like all fun from the outside, it has been a challenging enterprise, with its share of ups and downs. “What people forget is that it’s a business, and I don’t think there’s ever been a business that doesn’t have its ups and downs and problems,” he says. “And we’ve certainly had our share over the years. But I think every one of our staff has been with the Spinners for a minimum of six years, so they’re all very knowledgeable about running the team.”

Weber faced his greatest personal tragedy in 2006, when his wife Joann passed away after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. “I think with most people, you get through it with a lot of support from friends and family, and I’m blessed to have both.” The team has felt that loss as well, Weber says. “It was a terrible loss for me personally, and also she was an integral part of the business, an integral part of the team.”

One thing that has helped Weber and the team deal with the grief of losing Joann has been a charity Weber founded in her honor, the Joann Weber Charitable Fund. Originally the funding for it came from Weber personally, but the family and the franchise wanted to make it last, so they began collecting donations during the baseball seasons. There is a board that decides which charities receive money, and they don’t accept grant requests or meet with people. They make their selections through word of mouth and choose charities that are running well and benefiting the community. The board tends to favor charities devoted to children, since helping children was one of Joann’s greatest passions in life.

“I’ve gotten more out of it than the charities have,” Weber says. “What I’m going to say—it’s cliché, but totally true—is that we have an opportunity to make a difference for a lot of people. We try to do whatever we can to be an important part of the community, which we certainly have a responsibility to do. The fact that we have an ability to do that is my favorite part [of owning a baseball team]. I haven’t always been like that in my life, so for me it’s a relatively new experience and a wonderful experience.”

Charitable giving has been the highlight of owning a baseball team, Weber says, and the Spinners franchise has become well known for its community giving. Front office members volunteer their time for various causes, including the Lowell General Hospital Cancer Walk, the Special Olympics, and Big Brothers/Big Sisters. At each Spinners game, fans are allowed to make personal announcements over the public address system and on the scoreboard by donating $10 to Spinners Charities.

The team doesn’t release its sales numbers, but business has been steady, and high attendance statistics at the games have made the team one of the most successful minor league organizations in the country. “It’s a combination of so many things,” Weber says. “Certainly being a Red Sox franchise is one, certainly having a beautiful ballpark is one. We have family-friendly prices, a terrific staff that knows exactly what they’re doing, and the popularity of the game in New England is obviously incredible. You put it all together and it’s a great combination.”

And then, of course, there are the players, who have helped propel the team’s popularity over the wall. When Weber started out as the team’s owner, the team was suffering a losing record. Weber joked about how their top player would maybe be a 34th-round draft pick. But in the past several years the team has improved on the field, and now Weber jokes that the park probably sells fewer concessions because people are more glued to the game. When you take a look at the roster of players who have graced Edward LeLacheur Park, it comes as no surprise; the Spinners have launched the professional careers of several Red Sox players including Jonathan Papelbon, Clay Buchholz, Noah Lowry, and Ryan Westmoreland. Kevin Youkilis made his professional baseball debut playing for the Spinners in 2001, and minor league batting legend Freddy Sanchez played for the team as well.

Weber credits the team’s relationship with its parent franchise for its success on the field. The baseball aspect—finding and promoting players, hiring managers and coaches, etc—is taken care of by the Red Sox as part of the agreement. The Spinners franchise handles the entertainment and operations of the park.

Heading into its 13th season of operation, LeLacheur Park underwent a few off-season renovations, including the replacement of nearly the entire outfield wall. During a 2009 home game, Ryan Westmoreland broke his collarbone when he made a running catch and collided with the outfield wall. He hit the wall with such force that he put a hole in it, so the team decided the entire wall needed to be replaced. The team prides itself on the park, which Boswell says is more beautiful than it was the day it opened. Each year, the field is edged to ensure all the lips are clean, plus new clay is added and all the mounds are rebuilt. The park’s head groundskeeper, Jeff Paolino, was named the league’s Sports Turf Manager of the Year in 2009 for his work in keeping the field in top condition.

On the field, the team is getting a change of management. Gary DiSarcina, who managed the team when it won the Stedler Division title in 2008 and 2009, has been named the Red Sox minor league roving infield instructor. Replacing him will be Bruce Crabbe, who managed the team in 2006. Crabbe has an extensive resume in minor league baseball, serving as director of player development and scouting coach for the Colorado Silver Bullets, batting coach for the Texas Rangers’ system, manager of the Pulaski Rangers (now the Pulaski Mariners) in Virginia, coach of the Red Sox Class A Wilmington Blue Rocks, and infield coordinator in the Red Sox minor league.

“At this point, the challenge is to keep everything fresh,” Weber says. “We have a good thing, but we are certainly not taking it for granted. We have to continue to make sure the stadium is clean, that promotions are fresh, prices are right, concessions are good. There are a million things that really go into it. I can guarantee we will have a lot of fun stuff. That is something that people have come to expect from us. We enjoy it, and it makes our jobs easier.”

–By Bryan McGonigle, photographs by John Corneau/Lowell Spinners