On Baseball: World Series hero Roberts to help kick off Sea Dogs ticket sales

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Dave Roberts will be in town Nov. 1 when Portland begins selling tickets for 2015.

The Portland Sea Dogs continue to tweak their promotions, hoping to attract more fans. That includes the traditional start for the selling of next season's tickets on the first Saturday of November - Nov. 1 this year.

To spice up the festivities, the Sea Dogs will have former Red Sox outfielder and 2004 playoff star Dave Roberts on hand from 9 to 11 a.m.

The Sea Dogs announced Roberts' appearance with a press release titled 'Dave Roberts to kick-off 2015 ticket sales.'

Kick-off? Wrong sport.

How about 'Get a great jump on 2015 tickets ...'

Or 'Sea Dogs tickets are a steal ...'

Roberts, of course, is known for pinch-running in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series. Roberts stole second base and scored the tying run on Bill Mueller's single - a sequence that prompted Boston's comeback from a 3-0 series deficit in the ALCS against the Yankees on the way to a World Series title.

Roberts, now a San Diego Padres coach, will be at Hadlock Field to greet fans and sign autographs.

The Sea Dogs are also bringing back their 'Swing for Season Tickets' promotion. From 10 a.m. to noon, fans are invited to take five swings from home plate. A home run means a season ticket.

Tickets will be on sale at the box office only from 9 a.m. to noon. Phone and Internet orders will be taken after noon.

The Sea Dogs have not announced many of their promotions yet. They are out of town on July 4, so their popular Fourth of July fireworks show is July 3.

The season begins April 9 with a 6 p.m. game against Reading. The first fireworks game is May 22.

AFTER READING comes to town April 9-12, the New Britain Rock Cats will arrive at Hadlock with a different look. After 20 years as a Minnesota Twins affiliate, the Rock Cats are now affiliated with Colorado.

New Britain's franchise owners plan to move to Hartford by 2016 in a stadium that still needs to be built.

Twins officials reportedly welcomed the move but became uncertain of its possibility. In September, when contracts between some major league teams and their affiliates expired, the Twins announced they were leaving New Britain, moving their Double-A team to Chattanooga, Tennessee, of the Southern League.

Colorado's Double-A team is leaving the Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League to return to Connecticut. When Colorado was an expansion team in the early 1990s, along with the Florida Marlins, both organizations were awarded Double-A teams in the Eastern League - Colorado in New Haven (the Ravens), and Florida in Portland, beginning play in 1994.

Colorado eventually left New Haven and the Ravens were later bought and moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, becoming the Fisher Cats (affiliated with Toronto). The Marlins left Portland before the 2003 season, when the Sea Dogs affiliated with Boston.

MEANWHILE, HARTFORD still hopes to get the Rock Cats. The city approved a 9,000-seat stadium as part of a $350 million development in an area north of downtown. According to media reports, the plan calls for the city to lease the ballpark from developers, and then sub-lease it to the Rock Cats.

Construction is supposed to be completed April 2016 - right when the Eastern League season begins.

Not a lot of room for delays.