Moving – in less than 24 hours – from the Minnesota Twins Champions Club at Target Field in Minneapolis(see the July 19 post) to “infield reserved” behind home plate as the American Association (independent league) Saint Paul Saints take on the Grand Prairie Airhogs at Midway Stadium is a quantum leap. That’s the journey BBRT chose to make – leaving Target Field at about 11 p.m. on July 17th and entering Midway Stadium at about 12:30 p.m. on July 18th.
From a fan perspective, both experiences have a lot to offer. This post will focus on the Saint Paul’s Saints – for more on the BBRT’s time in the Twins Championship Club, again, see the previous post.
One of the Saints’ primary owners – Mike Veeck (part owner of a half dozen teams) – is all about baseball, business and FUN– and attending a Saints game is ample proof of the Veeck family’s belief that baseball and fun make for good business.
What it’s all about!
Note: Mike’s grandfather Bill Veeck, Sr., was President of the Chicago Cubs and his father Bill Veeck gained fame as one of baseball’s great “mavericks” as owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns and Chicago White Sox (twice). To learn more about the Veeck family approach to the game Google (darn, I vowed never to use that verb) Lary Doby, Eddie Gaedel or Disco Demolition and to understand Mike Veeck’s approach to life and business read his book “Fun is Good.”
On July 18th, the fun began as I crossed the packed parking lot, where – as is always the case before Saints games – the tailgating was in full swing more than an hour before game time. It wasn’t a parking lot, it was a partying lot. Cold beer, grilled burgers and brats, lawn games, loud music and an array of baseball apparel are the order of the day. To add to the fun on this day, free hot dogs were being handed out to any and all comers.
Once in the park, the fun really began (after I picked up my free score card, of course).
No between innings lulls – not Lardashian and Hamphries at right center.
In the stands, fan interacted with the over-sized pink pig mascot Mudonna (who does a great bump-and-grind), as well as with a host of “ushertainers” like Gert the Flirt, Mr. Vegas and the Nerd. We also witnessed the twenty-year Saints’ tradition of baseballs delivered to home plate by pigs (piglets at this time of year, but guaranteed to play a “larger” role over the course of the season). This year the umpires accepted horsehides from a pair of pig mascots named Kim Lardashian and Kris Hamphries. (Past Saints pigs have included such “celebrities” as Hammy Davis Junior, Kevin Bacon and the often maligned Bud Squealig. A few years ago I suggested Amy Swinehouse, but never made the cut.) There were also between-inning events ranging from a Piano Race to a Pizza Eating Contest to a players “Booty Call” where fans had to identify a player from a photo of his (uniformed) booty displayed on the centerfield scoreboard video screen. In short, in addition to the action on the field, there was a lot going on off the field – no between inning lulls (which is true of most minor league experiences, even more true of independent league operations and a hallmark of Mike Veeck’s approach to the game-day experience.)
Another note: A Saints game at Midway Stadium may be the only place where knowing the Wayne Newton recorded Danka Schoen can win you a prize or where a ballplayer sliding into home can win White Castle hamburgers (“sliders”) for the entire crowd.)
If fun is good – so is food – and there is plenty inside the ball park for those who didn’t fill up in the parking lot. There are all the traditional items – hot dogs, brats, peanuts, cracker jacks, cold beer, ice cream – as well as such offerings as walleye sandwiches, gyros (my choice this day), chicken kabobs and more. And, it’s major league quality at minor league prices. And what tastes better than a cold beer and a bratwurst – in the sun – at the ball park.
The fans at Midway Stadium (and most minor league parks) are a real family. It’s like the pub on cheers. In Midway “everybody knows your name” – the beer vendors call out to their customers by name and preference” “Hey Marty, ready for another Pale Bud?” And, if you a new, you’ll soon find yourselves surrounded by friends ready to talk baseball – or, I’ve observed at Saints games, politics.
What you won’t see here are ties or the wave – both banned. BBRT: The wave should be banned everywhere.
Then there’s the game itself. For Wednesday’s game, the morning started out overcast, but the sun (apparently the weatherman agreed that fun is good and fun in the sun even better) came out at game time. Then, as if on cue, it began to cloud up again as we moved close to the final inning of the 2 hour and 21 minute contest.
Good seats – at a great price.
For my $13 I got a great seat, right behind home plate about 15 rows back. There are, however, really no bad seats in a park that holds about 10,000 (there were 6,034 on this Wednesday afternoon.) We were treated to a pretty good ball game (the independent American Association is most often compared to “A” ball.) It included a couple of well-turned double plays, two nice diving catches, a nifty pick-off, and a power display by the home team (3 doubles, a triple and a home run among 13 hits for the Saints, while the Airhogs had only 5 singles and a double.)
The Airhogs took a 2-lead in the top of the second inning, which went walk, walk, pick-off of the runner at second, single, run-scoring sacrifice fly, run-scoring single, strikeout. It was a little like watching the White Sox of the late 1950s – a power-short team that worked to manufacture runs and victories (In 1959, the White Sox won the AL Pennant despite finishing last in the league in homers, sixth [out of eight teams] in batting average and seventh in slugging percentage – but third in On Base Percentage and first, by a wide margin, in stolen bases.)
The Saints took another route to home plate, turning two doubles, two singles and a triple into 3 runs in the fourth; adding a solo homer by clean-up hitter Ole Sheldon in the fifth; and then using a single, well-executed sacrifice bunt and a another single for a run in the eighth (an inning that ended on a 8-2-4 play as the hitter tried to advance on the play at the plate). All in all, a satisfying 5-2 Saints win, with plenty of interesting baseball.
Ronnie Morales and his submarine delivery …
One highlight for BBRT was the opportunity to view, from my behind-home plate vantage point, the “submariner” pitching style of Airhogs’ reliever Ronnie Morales. I’m dating my self here, but it reminded me of the Kansas City Royals 1980s closer Dan Quisenberry.
So that was my game day experience at Midway Stadium – BBRT, by the way, strongly supports a new Saints ball park in downtown Saint Paul, but that’s for another post. I’d like muse a bit more on what you might see at an independent league game,
BBRT has written in earlier posts about how minor league baseball (particularly AAA) often offers the opportunity to see former and future major leaguers on their way up or down – or between ups and downs. While that opportunity may not arise as often in independent league baseball, the Saints are proof you can still see players from, or destined for, the big leagues at these contests. Over the years, the Saints roster has boasted such former major leaguers as:
Jack Morris … who went 5-1, 2.61 for the Saints in 1996, at age 41 – following a major league career that included 254 wins, 5 All Star selections and an World Series MVP award.
Darryl Strawberry … the troubled outfielder who joined the Saints after a major league suspension (a former NL Rookie of Year and 8-time All Star with 297 major league homers). Strawberry, rebuilding his image and career, played 29 games as a Saint, hitting .429 with 18 homers and 39 RBI. One July 4, 1996, George Steinbrenner celebrated his 66th birthday by bringing Strawberry back to the Yankees for the 1996 pennant-winning stretch drive. “The Straw” went on to play for Yankees until 1999 (on pennant winners in 1996, 98 and 99) and finished his career with 335 homers, 1,000 RBI and 221 stolen bases.
J.D. Drew … the Florida State college star drafted second overall by the Phillies in 1997 came to the Saints after contentious negotiating between the Phillies and J.D.’s agent Scott Boras (enough said). Boras uncovered a loophole in MLB’s draft rules that enabled Drew to sign with the Saints and be available for future drafts. Drew played 44 games with the 1997 Saints, hitting .341 with 18 homers. He was drafted fifth by the Cardinals in 1998 and went on to a 14-year MLB career (retiring quietly before the 2012 season) with a .278 average and 242 home runs.
Ray Ordonez … the slick-fielding 22-year-old Cuban signed with the Saints in 1993, hitting .286 and dazzling in the field. In October of that year, he translated his opportunity with Saint Paul into a contract with the NY Mets organization, eventually going on to a nine-year major league career highlighted by three Gold Gloves.
Those are the Saints’ “big league” highlights, but they have featured other players with major league pedigrees including (but no limited to): Leon“Bull” Durham; Matt Nokes; and Minnie Minoso.
While you are likely to see some former and future major leaguers in minor league and independent league ball parks, you are also likely to see some promotions that will never make their way to the majors (and you are most likely to see these promotions in a Veeck-directed operation.) Here are just a few examples (my favorites) from the Saints to give you a flavor of what you might be missing if you limit yourself to the major leagues.
I talked in my previous post about the Twins Championship club’s valet parking. Well, Saint Paul’s Saints have featured “Ballet Parking” – where patrons’ cars were parked by ballerinas, complete with toes-hoes and tutus – not coming to a major league park near you soon.
The Saints have also feature hair cuts above the dugout; in-park therapeutic massage by a Catholic nun (Sister Rosalind); Mime-O-Vision (with a group of mimes acting out the instant replays; a free car wash for the dirtiest car in the lot (watch for your vehicle on the scoreboard screen); and a host of unique give-aways skewering such individuals as Mike Vick; Representative Andy Weiner; Randy Moss; and Senator Larry Craig. (Look these up, we’re working to be PC here.) My personal favorite was the 2002 give-away mocking major league baseball’s labor strife with a seat cushion featuring the face of MLB Commissioner Bud Selig on one side and Players Union Executive Donald Fehr on the other. You could voice your views by sitting on one face or the other – or maybe flipping the cushion between innings.
BBRT’s point is once again: Baseball is like life – only better – no matter what ball park you are in. So, go to a game – any game, anywhere – and, in the spirit of the Veeck baseball family, have fun! See you at the ball park.
