Fittingly for such a stat-intensive sport, the
proof is in the numbers. Back in 1949, Minor League Baseball drew a record
39 million fans, but that figure was spread among nearly 450 teams in the
U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Cuba. In 2004, the first of four straight years
of record attendance numbers, 39.9 million fans headed out to Minor League
Baseball games, with only 175 teams accounting for the draw. That figure
didn’t include the attendance at three independent pro leagues, where
some teams draw hundreds of thousands of fans a season. (Another sign of
interest in minor-league ball: There are currently nine independent
professional leagues.)
“Minor League Baseball is very proud that it has set all-time records four consecutive seasons, but the continuing success story of the industry is much longer-running,” says Pat O’Conner, president of Minor League Baseball. “Eight of our top ten seasons in attendance have occurred in the last ten years, and fan support has grown steadily for two decades.”
There are a lot of reasons why increasing numbers of fans are supporting their local hardball squads, and admittedly some of them — hot tubs, all-you-can-eat buffets, free massages, million-dollar video scoreboards — don’t reflect baseball’s golden era. But they can all be summed up in an adage from Major League Baseball innovator and Hall of Fame inductee Bill Veeck: “We can’t always guarantee the ball game is going to be good, but we can guarantee the fan will have fun.”
If you’ve never checked out minor-league action
before, there are a couple of things you’ll want to know before you
rush to the nearest stadium. First, not all minor-league baseball is the
same; second, trying to track its history over the last century will produce
enough info for a college thesis, and it won’t affect where you decide
to watch the grand game this season.
Broadly speaking, there are two types of minor leagues. Minor League Baseball, formerly the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, is the organization that serves as the official “farm system” of Major League Baseball. It’s subdivided into leagues based on player experience, starting with Rookie and moving up to Advanced Rookie, Single-A, Double-A, and Triple-A. (We won’t go into the subdivisions involving shortened seasons or advanced classifications.) Rookie league games are little more than practice sessions for newcomers: Attendance isn’t kept, and sometimes fans aren’t even admitted. Players on Triple-A teams typically are either headed up to the bigs, or they have just come down from there (with a good chance they’ll return).
Independent leagues, the other type of minor-league play, aren’t affiliated with Major League Baseball. While players working their way to the majors from an independent league isn’t unheard of — J. D. Drew, Kevin Millar, Rey Ordonez, and Jeff Zimmerman pulled it off — it’s probably not where you’ll see the next Alex Rodriguez or Johan Santana.
It’d be a mistake to assume that a Triple-A game experience will automatically be better than a clash between Single-A teams, or that an independent league outing can’t match up with what you’d get if the teams were Minor League Baseball franchises. Remember, every one of these players — whether they’re slogging it out at nearly a mile above sea level in Casper, Wyoming, or in the industrial city of Newark — is nurturing a dream of making it to the big show, however slim their chances might be.
Fierce competition — regardless of skill level — has always been a part of the minor leagues. What makes the game so appealing today as opposed to 30 years ago are all the extras owners have added to make the event more of a close-knit, hometown affair, not just a peephole into an incubator for future MLB players.
Exhibit one? Stadiums. The 1992 arrival of Oriole Park at Camden Yards — with its incorporation of an existing structure (a warehouse), a roomy concourse, plenty of open spaces, and a layout that placed fans close to the action — was a bellwether for new ballparks and spelled the end to cookie-cutter facilities designed to accommodate multiple sports. The intimate feel of the design was a hit in the majors, and scaled-down versions soon spread throughout the minors. With many parks showing their age, the trend couldn’t have come at a better time. And while this new breed of stadium can’t really be called “classic,” the ambiance is undeniably nostalgic.
Some of the standouts of this new generation of ballparks include Triple-A fields Isotopes Park (Albuquerque) and the Dell Diamond (Round Rock, Texas); Double-A stomping grounds Prince George’s Stadium (Bowie, Maryland) and Hammons Field (Springfield, Missouri); Single-A venues Keyspan Park (Brooklyn) and Banner Island Ballpark (Stockton, California); and GCS Ballpark (Sauget, Illinois), where the Gateway Grizzlies of the independent Frontier League hold court.
But just because a stadium wasn’t built in the last 15 years doesn’t mean it’s not up to snuff. Renovated ballparks like FirstEnergy Stadium in Reading, Pennsylvania, and McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, have the same amenities as newer parks.
And if you haven’t been to a baseball game for a while, some of these amenities might come as a surprise. Swimming pools? You’ll find them at FirstEnergy Stadium and the Dell Diamond, which also features a hot tub, a sand volleyball court, and an artificial rock-climbing wall for folks not interested in the action on the field. Luxury suites and high-definition video scoreboards found only at major-league fields two decades ago, are becoming the norm, as are expansive play areas for kids.
Humphrey Bogart once said that “a hot dog at the ballpark is better than steak at the Ritz” — a statement that undoubtedly reflected his love of the game more than the tastiness of the frank. But ballpark food has improved considerably in recent years, and just as at MLB parks, the minors try to bring a local flair to the concessions. At the Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi and the Dell Diamond in Round Rock, for instance, fans flock to the Nolan Ryan Grill for the Tender Aged Beef, locally sourced from Texas cattle. Visitors to Dunn Tire Park in Buffalo can enjoy favorites like “beef on weck” (roast beef on kummelweck) or fried bologna and onions on an egg roll. AutoZone Park in Memphis serves up its version of a ballpark classic: BBQ Nachos, made with pulled pork.
If those dishes sound a little too conventional, there are more “adventurous” concoctions to be found. GCS Ballpark is famed for dreaming up a new food item each season, and one result of its relentless quest is what’s audaciously billed as “Baseball’s Best Burger”: a bacon cheese-burger with a glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut as a bun. Not weird enough for you? Then stop in at Fifth Third Ballpark in Comstock Park, Michigan, for a little Deep Fried Pepsi, which debuted last season. (We would describe it for you, but we’ve just eaten.) But you needn’t stock up on Pepcid if you plan on rooting for the home team: Healthy alternatives like grilled chicken and turkey wraps, fruit salads, veggie sandwiches, and frozen yogurt are frequently found on concession menus.
Improved stadiums, good food, thoughtful amenities, and low ticket prices are more than enough to draw serious baseball fans. But minor-league teams are competing against new sports entertainment options as well as each other. Filling the bleachers takes some creativity, so owners are always cooking up new promotions, giveaways, and in-stadium shenanigans.
Those looking for the new and bizarre have lots of choices across the country, but the teams under the umbrella of consulting and management firm Goldklang Group manage to set the bar higher every year. That’s mostly due to President Mike Veeck, with a sly nod to the company’s “Director of Fun” Bill Murray. (Yes, that Bill Murray — he co-owns several minor-league teams.)
“The magic of minor-league baseball is that it makes you remember the game the way you saw it when you were a child,” says Murray. “I didn’t get into minor-league baseball to make money, and didn’t believe it was possible to do so until I met Mike Veeck. He’s a genius, and he knows that good business is all about fun. That fun should be a driving force behind most any decision.”
Veeck is the son of baseball legend Bill Veeck — the man who once sent a 3-foot 7-inch pinch hitter into a major-league game and who gave the go-ahead for the infamous Disco Demolition Night that resulted in a riot at a 1979 Chicago White Sox game — so baseball and fun (and sometimes controversy) run in the family. As president of the Goldklang Group, which owns and/or manages six minor-league teams, some of Veeck’s favorite promos have included Nobody Night (no fans were allowed into the park until the game became official after the fifth inning, setting an all-time low attendance record of zero); Silent Night (fans remained completely silent from the first pitch through the fifth inning, with “librarians” standing in for concessions workers); and Billy Donovan Night. (Just as the University of Florida coach opted out of a signed contract with the Orlando Magic, fans could “opt out” of the game and negotiate with a lawyer for the “release from their ticket purchase.”)
Strange as it might sound to some adults, mascots are
also a big draw, probably because so many minor-league clubs have such bizarre
names. While adults might not get a charge out of a giant crayfish (“Conrad
the Crawdad,” of the Hickory Crawdads), a walking catfish (“Muddy
the Mudcat,” for the Carolina Mudcats), or a low-rent Loch Ness Monster
(“Champ the Lake Monster,” icon of the Vermont Lake Monsters),
kids eat it up. Here again, Mike Veeck had to have a little fun: The St.
Paul Saints mascot is a real pig — the 2007 edition was named
“Garrison Squeallor” — that brings balls to the ump at the
start of each inning. (This is the same team that offers fans free massages
courtesy of Sister Rosalind Gefre, a Catholic nun who also runs a massage
school.)
Take a trip to a minor-league game, and you’ll meet some eager fans — and probably a few fanatics to boot. Minor-league fans are legendary for the ways they root, root, root for the home team, and arguably the most famous one of all can be found in Charleston, West Virginia.
Situated right behind home plate in the first row, Rod “Toast Man” Blackstone is a fixture at nearly every home game the West Virginia Power plays at Appalachian Power Park. Toast Man is known for his creative and good-natured heckling of opposing players when they’re on deck or at the plate. But the move for which he’s renowned is tossing freshly prepared toast to nearby fans whenever an opposing player strikes out. Stadium builders even included a plug for his toaster right next to his front-row seat.
“I really like to do my research and find statistical or personal tidbits that help me get inside the heads of visiting players,” says Blackstone. “You never know when it might lead to a toasty strikeout.”
Still not tempted to give the minor-league scene a try? Perhaps the chance to know the outcome of this year’s tightly contested presidential election months in advance will get you in the stands.
In 2004, Veeck and the Goldklang Group hosted “Bobblections” at seven minor-league parks, with fans getting to pick a George Bush or John Kerry bobblehead to reflect their voting preference. The winner? George Bush carried four stadiums to Kerry’s three. CNN even had a broadcast of the “balloting” from Hammond Stadium, home to the Fort Myers Miracle. This year, the “voting” will take place at Hammond Stadium and the other five parks where the Goldklang Group’s teams play.
Will the results tell us who’ll be the next commander-in-chief? Maybe not — but it’ll still be fun.
Lynn Seldon is a freelance writer and lifelong baseball fan. He lives in Oak Island, North Carolina.