Minor league baseball teams have not been exempt from the economy’s downtown, leaving many front offices scrambling for ways to increase revenue.

At Florida’s Roger Dean Stadium, home of the Jupiter Hammerheads and the Palm Beach Cardinals of the Florida State League, officials have bought an old standby to the ballpark for the first time.

Opening night of 2009 featured the ballpark’s first Thirsty Thursday, offering fans a 16-ounce beer or soda for $2.

“Many, many other minor league teams are doing it,” stadium general manager Joe Pinto said. “It’s a great way to bring a crowd, as long as we can keep it controlled – which I know we will. It’ll introduce some people to the stadium who haven’t been here for a ballgame.”

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The end of the regular season normally brings minor leaguers a few months of relaxation. That doesn’t apply to Florida farmhands Jay Buente and Jarrett Santos. They’re still attending to business.

Last year while at Greensboro, Buente and Santos joined former teammate Avi Rasowsky in the formation of Eyewash – a clothing company which takes its name from a slang baseball players use to describe an article of clothing or an accessory that aids a player’s look more than his performance.

“Under Armor and Nike, they sell stuff just because of their name,” said Santos, who started the season with Buente in Jupiter before reaching Class AAA Albuquerque. “It doesn’t matter what the product is. People buy it because of the name on it. So why not call them out on it and make our own product?”

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If oversized heads prone to bobbing up and down suddenly become a swing issue in November’s presidential campaign, Barack Obama has a huge advantage.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee swept all six states in the Goldklang Group’s recently completed bobblection and claimed the overall vote 55.1% to 44.9%

“This year went even better than four years ago,” Charleston assistant general manager Jim Pfander said. “If we were able to project the 2004 election down to the state, then I guess Barack Obama is going to run away with this election.”

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