47,000 tickets sold on first day
On the day the Yankees came to Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Lackawanna County Stadium ticket line filled with so many calls, it was impossible at the end of the day to give an accurate count.
Attempts to reach Yankees personnel were frantic, but fruitless, and it hardly mattered.
A day after the Thursday affiliation announcement, though, there was finally a chance to ask for details.
First and foremost, the number.
How many tickets were reserved in the hours immediately following the announcement that the Yankees were taking over as the Red Barons Triple-A affiliate?
According to public relations director Mike Cummings, approximately 47,000 tickets were sold on Thursday, a number that counts only those seats reserved with deposits.
"I don't know what the number is today," Mr. Cummings said Friday. "It's probably close to that."
For a team used to big numbers, news of seats already filling up for next season only confirmed that its decision to leave Columbus after 28 years made sense.
"We've been in Columbus a long time, had a great relationship there," Yankees vice president of baseball operations Mark Newman said.
"It was tough to leave but, from a business perspective and from a baseball operations perspective, this was a great opportunity because of proximity to New York.
"We feel like Scranton is in some ways part of our Yankee territory, in kind of an extended way. We thought for a lot of reasons it was a good fit."
Local fans seem to agree.