The batter hits a frozen rope between second and short. The crowd cautiously begins to clap. After several innings of monotony, a rally has begun. I think for a moment. Should I get excited? It’s “Indy” ball. I think the first baseman tried to sell me insurance last week. A lot of ballparks in Independent Baseball fall into that post-1992 era of stadiums. Campbell’s Field has the same great site lines and amenities that...
Why are mascots important to minor league baseball? In the current economy, you would think a budget-friendly version of our national pastime could stand on its own. Let’s face it though. There’s a lot of competition for our entertainment time and dollars. With rosters full of “Who are you?” and “Didn’t you used to be?” there are more empty ballparks and folded franchises than we care to admit to. Mascots give your team brand...
Why are mascots important to minor league baseball? In the current economy, you would think a budget-friendly version of our national pastime could stand on its own. Let’s face it though. There’s a lot of competition for our entertainment time and dollars. With rosters full of “Who are you?” and “Didn’t you used to be?” there are more empty ballparks and folded franchises than we care to admit to. Mascots give your team brand...
When the independent North American League started last season, I remember thinking that it seemed a bit ambitious. While the idea of merging leagues isn’t totally nuts*, a massive organization that stretched as far north as Canada, as far south as Texas, and as far west as California (with a special outlier way the hell out in Hawaii) was wild and crazy and just as likely to fail as it was to succeed. *After...
Well Mr. Burns has done it The power plant had won it With Roger Clemens clucking all the while Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness made us smile While Wade Boggs lay unconscious on the barroom tile We’re talkin’ softball From Maine to San Diego Talkin’ softball Mattingly and Canseco Ken Griffey‘s grotesquely swollen jaw Steve Sax and his run in with the law We’re talkin’ Homer Ozzie and the Straw It’s been 20 years since...
Hey folks, I have a big announcement: My job is sending me to Afghanistan for a year in late January / early February. After being unemployed for most of 2011, I decided to take a job working for a military contractor out of MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. The job was contingent on my ability to go to Afghanistan for a year. So after I take my physicals, get my shots, do my...
It’s Awards Week here at Bus Leagues, that annual event in which we unveil the seasons that our voters determined to be the best in Minor League and Independent baseball. This year, we have nine awards to give out: Player of the Year, Starting Pitcher of the Year, and Relief Pitcher of the Year for Full-Season Minor League Baseball, Short-Season Minor League Baseball, and Independent Baseball. The voters for the third annual Bus Leagues...
In yesterday’s post about the funky Atlantic League playoff race, I mentioned that while I had contacted Executive Director Joe Klein for some opposing perspective on what I viewed as a crazy way of resolving the dilemma that Irene wrought, he had not yet responded. This morning, after a second email, he did get back to me, and we spoke for a few minutes this afternoon about the league’s decision to negate Bridgeport’s 1...
The playoff procedure for the Atlantic League is fairly straightforward: the teams that win the first half and the second half in each division play one another, with the winners advancing to the League Championship Series. If things get wild and crazy and one team happens to win both halves in its division, the team in that division with the next best overall record makes the playoffs as a wild card. If things get...
I love Butch Hobson. More than that, really: I love watching Butch Hobson get ejected. For a guy who turns 60 in less than a month, he is capable of summoning up and dispensing an impressive amount of rage in a very short period of time. Last night, Hobson’s Lancaster Barnstormers were in Somerset to take on the Patriots. I don’t know any other details, and I don’t care. All I know is that...
2012 05 14 Scranton Wilks Barre/ Empire State Yankees vs Pawtucket Red Sox
