Leave it to Dayton

The Dayton Dragons have a great opportunity for a completely different exhibition game.

Nearly 100 players in the Cincinnati Reds' minor league system played at some point for the Class A Dayton Dragons, and many of them will return to Fifth Third Field on Saturday, April 4, for a unique organizational Futures game to be played against the parent Reds.

The game will be played in the afternoon, but no time has been set as yet.

Just a guess, but the game could be played at 4am and they would still draw about 8,000+ to the ballpark.

Dragons President Bob Murphy said the idea of a Futures game grew out of an end-of-season meeting with the Reds discussing how the Reds could better market themselves in the Dayton area and beyond.

Murphy said it would also be good for the Dragons' organization.

"I want to bring really cool events to the city of Dayton," Murphy said. "This will be great for our loyal fans. It will be a big deal. We're going to have special uniforms and commemorative gifts. Nothing like this has been done before."

The Reds like the idea so much, they're going to hold a similar game the day before, on April 3, at their new Class AA site in North Carolina. A major difference will be, none of the players will have come up through the Carolina team.

Another reason this can happen is the later start to the Major League season, which doesn't start in March, 2009.