Cal notes: 66ers fully embrace 'Pokemonia'

SAN BERNARDINO, California -- Adam Franey takes his job everywhere he goes. As the Inland Empire 66ers' director of promotions, he's ready to find ideas driving to work, walking down the street, even when he goes shopping.

That dedication worked to his advantage when he and promotions coordinator Aris Theofanopoulos were at a local Target to pick up some Silly String for Bernie, the 66ers' mascot, during the first homestand of the month.

"Aris and I were walking through Target, and he was like '[Pokemon Go] dropped,'" Franey recalled. "We both immediately downloaded it. And as we did that, there was a guy in a full business suit walking through Target, trying to catch a Pokemon."

At that point, Franey and Theofanopoulos knew they had the framework for a promotion -- or four -- at San Manuel Stadium, leading the 66ers to become one of several Minor League clubs across the country to quickly capitalize on the Pokemon Go craze, or "Pokemonia." Inland Empire enacted Pokemon Go Sundays for all of their remaining Sunday home games with the first taking place this past weekend.

For the uninitiated, a quick explanation: First popular as a card game and then a video game in the 1990s, Pokemon can now be experienced as an "augmented reality" smart-phone app called Pokemon Go. Players create an avatar, or "trainer," which is given a Pokemon, or "pocket monster," and together they roam looking for other Pokemon to best in battle and capture.

With Pokemon Go, GPS and mapping technologies allow players to discover virtual Pokemon as users move through the real world. The app directs users to "Gyms," or real-life social gathering spots in which players can locate and capture Pokemon. Many of these Gyms include "PokeStops," where a trainer's injured Pokemon can recharge.

"We rushed back [to the ballpark] and saw we had a Gym, and we were like 'Perfect!'" Franey said. "We saw these other spinning things, the PokeStops, and we were like, 'This is probably pretty cool. People are going to come.' We knew that something could be had with that."

They were right. For the promotion, the 66ers offered $5 tickets to Pokemon Go users, a limited-edition "Gym Badge" pin each Sunday and the opportunity to walk around the field postgame to try to capture Pokemon, which the 66ers draw to the field by purchasing "lures" in the app.

On the first Sunday, the PA system also played Pokemon theme music as the gates opened, and the club gave away three sets of prizes: the Gym leader at the end of the third inning received a team-signed ball, the leader at the end of the sixth got a ball signed by former big leaguer Brad Fullmer and the leader at the end of the ninth walked away with four tickets and a preferred parking pass to an Angels game.

"I just wanted to come for the pin, to be honest," Ruben Zuniga IV said.

Zuniga, 20, was drawn to San Manuel Stadium for the first time, coming from nearby Norco with his wife, Stefany, and their baby daughter, Emily. In addition to the pin, he came away with both signed baseballs.

"I was born into Pokemon -- that was my thing as a kid -- and I never really grew out of it," Zuniga said. "Since Pokemon Go got released in North America, I've been playing since Day 1. So I'm pretty hyped up."

An anonymous dark horse with the username "LordYSidro" swooped in during the bottom of the ninth to claim the ticket package.

A few California squads are among the many other Minor League teams to catch Pokemonia. The Quakes offered ticket discounts to users and dropped lures during last Thursday's game, the Mavericks themed their Tuesday morning game and the Storm are hosting a themed night this Sunday -- they'll distribute a map of seven PokeStops around the Diamond, which is a Gym. That map is also available on the team's Facebook page.

"It's just incredible how quickly this has caught on and become something so huge," Lake Elsinore digital media and marketing coordinator Tyler Zickel said.

And considering its broad appeal, it doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

"If a guy in a business suit is walking around Target trying to catch a Pikachu," Franey said, "he's probably going to come to a [theme night at a] ballpark and hang out, have a beer, get some food."

In brief

Second-half swoon: After the San Jose Giants finished second in the Cal League North's first half -- seven games behind Visalia -- they've started the second half 9-16, suffering through an eight-game losing streak through Monday. The Giants, 66ers and Visalia Rawhide share the worst mark in the league during the second half.

Rolling Rios: Dodgers prospect Edwin Rios was promoted to Rancho Cucamonga from Class A Great Lakes on June 5, and between then and Sunday, he led all of Class A Advanced ball with 13 homers. In fact, he's swatted so well he's surged into a tie for sixth on the circuit's leaderboard. None of the eight other players with 13 or more dingers had played fewer than 66 games -- almost twice as many as Rios had played.

Put some gas in the pickup truck: The Nuts are hosting Country Night at John Thurman Field for Saturday's game against the Blaze. Helping Modesto mark the occasion will be '80s wrestling great The Honky Tonk Man, who will be available for photos and autographs before and during the game.