U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for May 24

WASHINGTON, May 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

SATURDAY, MAY 24: NIGHT BASEBALL

Profile America Saturday, May 24th. The call "play ball" is echoing across the country once again. So much attention is being paid to the controversy over performance enhancing drugs that it may be forgotten the first major league game played under the lights was on this date 73 years ago. The event then considered a novelty drew 20,000 fans to Crosley Field in Cincinnati to watch the Reds defeat the Phillies, 2 to 1. Now, most games on the schedule are played at night, so fans can watch their favorite teams in their off hours. When that first night game was played, just over 7 million fans attended major league games each year. Today, attendance is more than 10 times that figure with over 76 million people filling the seats at stadiums around the country annually. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

Profile America is produced by the Public Information Office of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments ready to air on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov/ (look under the "Newsroom" button). For further information, contact Rick Reed at +1-301-763-2812, fax at +1-301-457-3670, or e-mail at rreed(At)census.gov.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

CONTACT: Rick Reed of the U.S. Census Bureau, +1-301-763-2812

Web Site: http://www.census.gov/

2008-05-24 08:08:51 0369984 PRNEWSWIRE