By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Sure, there will be hundreds of softball games played and five division winners crowned at Rumpke Park when the 51st annual Cincinnati Metro Softball Championships end Monday.

But it will be more than just another summer of softball coming to a close. The 12-day party that goes on in the stands before, during and after the games will also end.

It's that fair-like atmosphere that has made the Met such a popular diversion for softball players and their families and friends the last half century.

Tournament director Danney Saylor said the paid attendance - $2 a ticket - this year has averaged between 1,600 and 1,800 on weekdays, and more than 2,000 on weekends. That doesn't include umpires, more than 500 V.I.P. passes issued to managers, senior citizens and children under 16, who get in free.

"The bulk of the fans are players when they're not playing," said Saylor, who has been the director since 1985. "And then players' wives, and their buddies. Then, if the players win, they stay and watch the other games to scout. And if they lose, well, then they stay (to party)."

And like any good summer party, the action at Rumpke picks up when the sun goes down.

Twenty-one-year Ashley Miller of Cincinnati sat by herself Thursday evening watching a 6:30 p.m. game on the park's upper-level viewing deck.

"It depends on the time," she said. "Later on, the crowd will get huge, and it will be a little party place."

Sure enough, two hours later, as daylight gave way to Rumpke's light towers, fans packed the upper-level railing, and the beer line swelled to three-deep at times.

Big crowds are what Ochs brothers Larry and Terry of Cleves bank on with their Beerlycorn stand that sells roasted corn-on-the-cob, chicken and hamburgers.

"Corn is the most popular," said Terry, 41, who operates the stand as part of his summer vacation. "Typically, Monday through Friday we'll sell 30 dozen a night."

That goes up to 60 dozen per weekend, along with 40 cases of bottled beer and 20 half-barrels of draft beer.

Rumpke also operates a concession stand, where Saylor estimates 700 and 800 half-barrels of beer are sold per week.

It's not all about the partying, though. For some, the Met offers a chance to reunite with out-of-towners or friends from years past.

Martin Kraus of North Bend is 81 years old, and while he's never played in the Met, he has attended every year.

"My son's team is playing tonight, so I came to get a seat," he said. "I just like the atmosphere out here. I know the people."

Saylor says that even the large crowds of this year's tournament pale in comparison to the heyday in the late 1980s and early 90s when the park hosted more than 7,000 fans for a Major Division championship game.

That was back when bat technology hadn't become so advanced that home runs flew out of the park every inning.

"Now you've got 6-foot, 200-pound guys with technology, ripping the ball past the highway," Saylor said. "It becomes boring, even to the fans."

But the vast majority of the fans and players aren't there to watch the majors anyway unless it's a big game. They're there to get away for a few hours.