GIVE me some peanuts and CrackerJack

The Los Angeles Dodgers may be bitters rivals of our Cincinnati Reds, but that doesn’t mean the Reds couldn’t learn a thing or two from the BlueBleeders from La-La Land. Like this idea, reported by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday: To get people to fill seats in the right-field pavilion at Dodger Stadium, the team is offering all-you-can-eat hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn, nachos and soda to fans who buy $20-$40 tickets to those seats (previously priced $6-$8). Depending on their eating habits, that could seem to be a good deal for fans. But you can bet the Dodgers aren’t losing on that deal – especially if fans opt for a beer or three. During the Dodgers’ first 18 home games, the WSJ reports, the pavilion was sold out eight times.

Now, I know the nutrition/obesity worrywarts among us are going to wring their hands over this (think of the message this sends to our children, tsk-tsk!), but very few of us center our diets on ballpark fare. And very few of us are going to eat all that much during the course of a game (ever wait in line at those concession stands?)

So this is the sort of creative, enterprising move the Reds – who have been filling around 16,000 of Great American Ball Park’s 42,059 seats in recent weeknight home games – could use even more than Dodgers, who have second-best attendance in the majors. It’s sort of the flipside of something I suggested during the post-strike season of 1995, when the Reds and other teams struggled terribly to regain fans: Offer free admission to the cheap-seat sections. It would have spurred fan interest, and the team at least would have picked up revenue from increased concessions sales.

To sweeten the deal, this year’s Reds could pick a lucky fan from Nosebleed Alley to pitch the eighth inning. That couldn’t hurt, either.