Spring weather draws large crowds at ballparks across the Majors

Long-awaited spring weather around the country led to one of the best-attended April weekends in history, Major League Baseball announced today.

Major League ballparks attracted a total of 1,524,508 fans this past weekend across its 45 dates, averaging 33,878 per game. The total marks the earliest April dates in history that a weekend featuring no home openers drew more than 1.5 million fans. In addition, it marked the sixth time overall that MLB drew a total of at least 1.5 million fans during any April weekend that did not feature a home opener. The other weekends include April 22-24, 1994; April 27-29, 2001; April 20-22, 2007; April 25-27, 2008; and April 27-29, 2012.

On Saturday, Baseball had one of its best-attended April dates in history, drawing a total of 545,318 fans over its 15 games played. According to Elias, the only larger April date with no home openers or split doubleheaders was April 23, 1994, when 552,358 fans attended 14 games.

Over the first two full weekends of the 2014 season, MLB has totaled 2,916,525 fans at ballparks for its 89 dates, which is the second-largest total in history for the first two full weekends of a season. In 2005, Baseball drew 2,978,303 fans across 89 dates in the first two full weekends of the season.

"Our great fans have proven time and again that they have remarkable passion and support for our National Pastime," said Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig. "On and off the field, Major League Baseball has enjoyed a terrific start to the 2014 season, and I look forward to continued enthusiasm and excitement throughout our game this summer."