Back to Another Time

Jackie Robinson, in his Montreal Royals uniform, passing his legacy to two children
at the Orange Avenue entrance to the ballpark in Daytona Beach that bears his name.

When news began to surface that baseball was going to reduce the minor leagues to 120 teams from 160, one of the teams on the endangered list was the Daytona Tortugas, a member of the 12-team Florida State League. There was a lot of shuffling, with teams switching from one class to another, from one league to another, and entire leagues being demoted, promoted or eliminated.

The dust settled, and Daytona survived, as well as 9 other Florida teams, and remained as the Cincinnati Reds’ Low-A team, along with the Dayton Dragons in High-A, Chattanooga Lookouts in AA and Louisville Bats in AAA.

It was good news for baseball fans around Daytona Beach and good news for me. My home in Central Florida is about a half-hour away, making it an easy way for me to get a baseball fix. Sometimes, like today, the Jupiter Hammerheads are in town and I get to see future Miami Marlins at work.

It was Bark in the Park today at "The Jack." Lulu joined in on the fun.

The best news is that minor league baseball will continue at Jackie Robinson Ballpark, where he made his professional debut on March 17, 1944, in an exhibition game between his team, the minor league Montreal Royals, and the Brooklyn Dodgers. It was the first time a black player joined white players in a game.

The stadium, which opened June 4, 1914, is one of the oldest still being used by a professional baseball team. Sitting in its wooden grandstand is like taking a trip to a time gone by. It was known as City Island Ballpark until it was renamed in 1989 to honor the barrier-breaking Hall of Famer.

Today the ballpark is home to the Jackie Robinson Museum, with interactive, outdoor displays around the stadium. The story it tells takes you back to that time when history took an important turn.

Practice stealing bases or sliding home like Jackie Robinson beside the Halifax River
and learn about the life and times of the great ballplayer and his wife, Rachel.

The journey was not easy for the Robinsons.
Their story is told in words and pictures around the ballpark.

This was my fifth baseball game in six days, and I have another game the day after tomorrow. I was hoping for a peek into the future of baseball at today’s game. The Low-A Southeast teams in Florida are experimenting with Hawk Eye automated strike zone technology, but Daytona is not a spring training site and doesn’t have the technology installed. Umpires still call balls and strikes the old-fashioned way at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. There weren’t very many complaints, not even from the Tortugas, who struggled to match the Hammerheads’ big, 3-run fifth inning. Final: Hammerheads 3, Tortugas 1.

The pre-game national anthem. It's time to play ball.

A Big Welcome Back to the Majors

The lively home run sculpture that used to celebrate home runs inside the park
is now a fixture near the third base entrance.

I have found the best place to park when I go to see the Miami Marlins. It's at the second house on a road across 7th Street from the stadium. It's easy to get to from the expressway, it's close to where police officers stop traffic to let you cross the road, and it has a secret back exit that helps you avoid the snarled traffic after the game.

The folks that own the house have a big yard and bigger hearts. We've shared some good memories in our brief exchanges of car keys and cash over the years. It was a sad day when I told them on September 9, 2019, that I wouldn't be a regular customer in 2020, because it was time for me to tighten my belt and cut back on my baseball trips.

Little did I realize that it would be 20 months before I would see them again. But today, as I rounded the corner to their street, we were all smiles when they recognized me behind the wheel, even though I was driving a completely different rented car. It was good to be back.

My big sister, Gale, at the new team shop near the third base exit.
She was the Marlins' honorary bat girl nine years ago this month.

I’ve been to several minor league and spring training games since then, but tonight is my first Marlins game, and first major league game, in 623 days. There have been a several changes at the stadium, including a change from Marlins Park to loanDepot Park in the team’s first naming rights deal.

The Marlins players themselves have a new look this weekend wearing bold red jerseys in a tribute to the Havana Sugar Kings, a triple-A team that played in the International League from 1956 to 1960. The Sugar Kings won the minor league championship in 1959, a year of political turmoil between Cuba and the U.S., but they were forced to leave Cuba, and played as the Jersey City Jerseys in 1961. The franchise was sold after a year to become the Jacksonville Suns. 

The Havana Sugar Kings tribute cap with "MM" for Miami Marlins. At right,
all fans received a bobble head figure of Jorge Alfaro, the Marlins catcher, as El Oso.

The Mets moved the team to Portsmouth, Va., in 1969, and they continue to play today as the Norfolk Tides for the Baltimore Orioles. Meanwhile, Triple-A baseball returned to Jacksonville this year when the Marlins promoted the Jumbo Shrimp from double-A.

Walkoff celebration, after Garrett Cooper's home run.

Tonight’s game was a pitchers’ duel between Pablo Lopez and a platoon of Mets relievers. Lopez threw seven scoreless innings and the Mets kept the Marlins from scoring until the bottom of the seventh. The game was tied 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth with 2 out when Garrett Cooper, on a full count pitch, homered to center field for a big walkoff win. Final: Miami 3, New York Mets 1.

Wild Night at 'The Joe'

The Natinal Anthem at Joseph R.Riley, Jr., Park. In the center,
between the trees you can just make out a patch of the Ashley River.

Tonight was my first "100 percent capacity" event since the big pandemic shutdown in March 2020. The Charleston Riverdogs announced this week that all seats at Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Park are now available for purchase. The game with the Down East Wood Ducks wasn't a sellout, but there were a lot of fans and they were boisterous. Thirsty Thursday with $1 beers all night probably contributed to the size and liveliness of the crowd.

The stadium was opened in 1997 and is named for Charleston's longest-serving mayor who was also a big booster for baseball in the city. "The Joe," as it is known, is also home to the Citadel's baseball team. It's on a marshy bend on the Ashley River, and it's easy to reach where I-26 empties into the city's streets.

Sunset across the marsh outside the ballpark.

When I arrived there were lines at every turn. Lines of cars going into the parking.lots. Lines of fans at the ticket windows. I and other advance ticket holders were directed to quicker entry at the Marsh Gate where we waited in a short line for security check. Inside the ballpark, there were lines every which way. There were lines to order food, lines to pickup orders, and one big, long line for ID checks and wrist bands.

I was hungry, but I couldn't get near the food until the sixth inning when the line was short at a kiosk that had boiled peanuts (the park was sold out of regular peanuts), funnel cake fries and one last corn dog. I took the delicious corn dog and a cup of the boiled peanuts back to my seat and missed only a half an inning.

Almost all these people are standing in one line or another in the food court.

It was good to see things back to "normal." A lot of the stadium precautions are still in place, like cashless concession stands, but there is no mask enforcement for fans. Employees still have masks and the team recommends masks for fans who haven't been vaccinated. There will be a vaccination booth outside the ballpark on Friday for anyone who wants a shot.

Charlie T. Riverdog works the crowd. The "T" stands for "The."

The usual minor league antics between innings, like the musical chairs/bouncy horse race, were out on the field again. Many teams have been limiting the shenanigans to the stands or making them virtual. And it was nice just to be around people again. The section where I was sitting managed to get on the big screen during the YMCA dance. Lucky me, I was one of the receivers in the t-shirt toss.

Meanwhile, out on the field, there was a good Low-A baseball game between the Riverdogs and the visiting Down East Wood Ducks. The Tampa Bay Rays returned this year as the team's major league affiliate, following about 15 seasons with the New York Yankees. The Wood Ducks have been with the Texas Rangers since 2017, but were moved from A-Advanced to Low-A this year. 

On opposite walls, tributes to past players from The Citadel and the Yankees.

The Wood Ducks jumped out to an early lead, but things got exciting in bottom of the eighth. With two out and two runners on, Diego Infante, a pinch hitter, fought back from an 0-2 count to 2-2, and then hit a home run to tie the game. The Wood Ducks scored two runs in the 10th inning with some aggressive base running and wise at bats to retake and keep the lead. Final: Wood Ducks 6, Riverdogs 4.

All is calm after a big night at The Joe.

'Funn Is Back'

High up in the stands at The Diamond in Richmond.

I swear to you that my early draft of this post had “The Fun Is Back” as a title, but then I arrived at the stadium in Richmond and saw this souvenir magnet schedule emblazoned with the team’s own twisted version of the phrase. I was told the extra “n” is for the extra fun fans will have when they come to a ballgame here. 

Tonight’s matchup is the Richmond Flying Squirrels vs. the Bowie Bay Sox. The first thing I think of when I hear “flying squirrel” is our cartoon friend from Rocky and Bullwinkle. That would be enough to make me smile, but the San Francisco Giants' AA baseball team in Richmond steps it up a notch with a fierce superhero mascot named Nutzy, complete with cape. He’s come to save the day, like Mighty Mouse, that other tough cartoon rodent we remember. Nutzy has a female friend named Nutasha. Hmmm.

Adam Duvall, a former Flying Squirrel, now in the big leagues.
A Funn Fact about other former Squirrels.
A distancing label in the grandstand. There's that squirrel again.

The award-winning logo came from the design team at Brandiose. They’ve had great success with logos for other minor league teams as well, including the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, and multiple alternate team identities that frequently involve a local favorite food, like the Philly Cheesesteaks.

This kind of fun (or funn) permeates the world of minor league baseball, and it keeps me going on my quest to visit as many of stadiums as I can. I arrived tonight a few minutes before the Squirrely Gates opened, just in time to hear the team’s anthem, “Hail to the Flying Squirrels,” as the ticket takers let us in.

The half-sign on the far right says, "Welcome to the Squirrelly Gates."

“Whoa-oh-oh, boys and girls.
Let’s all cheer our Flying Squirrels.
Whoa-oh-oh, make some noise.
We are Richmond, hear our voice.”

The sheer size of the stadium is striking. With a capacity of 9,560, it’s one of the largest in the minor leagues, and it's especially large for a AA team. It's big partly because it was home to the Atlanta Braves' AAA team before they moved to Lawrenceville, Ga., about a decade ago. They left behind a big white elephant of a stadium. It’s the old-fashioned kind, where the concessions are crammed in beneath the stands. You can’t see what’s happening on the field while you wait in line for your delicious BBQ nachos.

The sparse early crowd before the game. More than 3,000 fans showed up, and they made noise. The very top rows are covered so they won't count as vacant seats.

But back in your seats, the lofty scale of the structure is impressive too. The small crowd of 3,000-plus sounded like 30,000 thanks in part to the acoustics of a giant concrete overhang that stretches from one end of the seating bowl to the other. They call the place Funnville (two “n’s” again), but it’s official name is simply majestic: The Diamond. Even its address, 3001 North Arthur Ashe Boulevard, speaks of sports royalty. 

Boo was one of many dogs, many big dogs, in the stands.
Wednesday was Barktoberfest night,
a promotional combination of pets, beer and baseball.

Many major league teams were able to eliminate their long-distance relationships with affiliates when Major League Baseball took over the minor leagues and reduced the number of teams from 160 to 120. The Flying Squirrels and the San Francisco Giants are probably the furthest apart of any other major league club and minor league affiliate. The Bowie Bay Sox and the Baltimore Orioles, on the other hand, are about as close as you can get. All of the Orioles' teams are nearby, the furthest being the Norfolk Tides, about 250 miles away from Camden Yards.

It was a good game, but not quite good enough for the Flying Squirrels fans. Final: Bowie 2, Richmond 1.

On the Road Again

The Shorebirds play in Salisbury, Md., at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium, named
for the man who built a chicken empire. Inside, the press box is named
for his son Frank, who made their brand a household word.

I’m heading for Florida, but on the way there’s baseball. My first stop is in Salisbury, Md., to see the Delmarva Shorebirds, Low A Minor League team of the Baltimore Orioles facing the Carolina Mudcats (Milwaukee Brewers) based in Zebulon, N.C. The Shorebirds play in Arthur W. Perdue Stadium, named for the father of Franklin P. Perdue, the man we all know as Frank from his chicken commercials. Arthur’s name is engraved on the outside of the ballpark, and inside is the Franklin P. Perdue Press Box. 

I didn’t know that the Perdues were from Salisbury, but sure enough, you can see the corporate headquarters on the other side of the highway as you leave the stadium. I was astonished to find out that Frank’s middle name is Parsons, from his mother Pearl Parsons Perdue. It’s not likely that I’m even remotely related. My family is from Pennsylvania and I’ve pretty much accounted for all my kin for generations backwards and forwards. 

It’s funny though, because my mother’s family all came from Maryland’s Eastern Shore and southern Delaware. There were plenty of memories today on my trip down the length of Delaware. I stopped by the house in Wilmington where my mother lived (me too when I was a baby), the church down the street where she and Dad were married, and my other childhood homes. I also visited the graves of my grandparents as well as those of some other relatives. The ride south is always familiar. We made the trip many times from Wilmington to visit Mom’s Uncle Allan in the little village of Middleford near Seaford. 

A seemingly solid outfield wall hides a boardwalk that lets fans walk all the way around
the field. At right, what sorcery! The scoreboard is visible behind the see-through ads. 

So it was an extra special treat for me to come to Salisbury for tonight’s baseball game. We saw another of baseball’s experimental rule changes, a limit on pickoff attempts, that is being tested in all 30 Low A class teams this season. Last week I saw the larger bases being used in AAA games. You can read more about the larger bases by clicking here. Two weeks ago I watched some fancy footwork from the AA infielders, who have to have both feet in the dirt as each pitch is delivered. The infielder rule is an attempt to restrict defensive shifts, and to give batters a better chance of getting base hits. Infielders can still shift, at least for now, they just can’t be in the grass until after the pitch is delivered. 

In tonight’s game, the pitchers are limited to two pickoff attempts per plate appearance. They can make a third attempt, but if the runner gets back to first safely, a balk is called and runners advance a base. In fact, I only counted two pickoff attempts the entire game, and it seemed like the rule made the runners more aggressive. 

The crabby dog. A big hot dog with crab dip and macaroni & cheese. 

I’ve now been to Orioles’ ballparks in Baltimore, Norfolk, Bowie and Salisbury, with just one left, Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium, home of the Aberdeen Ironbirds. On opening day in Reading, I finished off the tour of Phillies ballparks, the rest being in Philadelphia, Allentown, Lakewood and Clearwater. 

Lots to see in the Eastern Shore Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
That's a White Sox jersey from Harold Baines in the center cabinet.
And is that an Orioles No. 8 jersey on the right wall?

If you have a chance to see a ball game in Salisbury, make sure to arrive early so you can spend some time in the Eastern Shore Baseball Hall of Fame Museum. It’s a substantial collection of memorabilia and a chronicle of the many professional players who came from and played on the Delmarva Peninsula. It's free, but you can chip if you'd like to add your support.

 

Jimmie Foxx and Don Zimmer are among the many legends found in the museum.
Norma Truitt Murray? Oh, no. Truitt was my mother's name before she was married.

It was a good game. Tonight, the visiting Mudcats brought a relief pitcher named Lemons, who put on a good show, but the Shorebirds made lemonade. Final: Delmarva 7, Carolina 4.

Root, Root, Root for the Home Teams

Evening clouds at PNC Field in Moosic, Pa.
One or two drops fell before the first pitch, but there was no real threat of rain.

A lot of times, I find myself at a baseball game where I don’t really care who wins. In most of these instances, I come down on the side of the home team. Other times one of the teams might be a rival of a team I like, and I quietly root for them to lose.

Tonight my two good baseball friends Marge and Charlie and I are back at PNC Field to see our AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders play the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. I’ll be cheering for the Railriders, but next month I’ll be rooting for the Iron Pigs when the two teams meet again at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown. My loyalties are divided because I live exactly halfway between the two ballparks. I think of them both as my AAA home teams. Thanks to them, and to Marge and Charlie who first brought me to a Railriders game, I’ve come to love minor league baseball.

New names on the starting lineup for the Railriders and a familiar one at 2nd base from years past at Marlins Park in Miami. At right, me and Champ the noodle-headed Railriders mascot.

I go to a lot of baseball games. I go to baseball games when I’m on the road to a destination. I go on trips just to see baseball games. I once drove from Miami to Rhode Island for an engagement party and saw five baseball games in five states along the way. Once when I offered to pick up Charlie and Marge at Newark airport, I took in a Lakewood Blue Claws game before their arrival. The game was running long, but lucky for me, the flight was delayed and I was able to stay through to the end. (The team is now called the Jersey Shore Blue Claws.) 

I once flew into a hurricane disaster area, and was able to see a baseball game on the night the emergency curfew was lifted. That game in Houston completed my tour of all the major league ballparks, a journey that began 30 years before when I was on a vacation trip to the San Francisco Bay area. Along the way teams relocated, they adopted new names, cities built new stadiums, and new teams were born. One of those expansion teams, the Florida Marlins, captured my imagination because Major League Baseball had arrived in South Florida, where I grew up without a home team of my own. 

I was living in New York City at the time, so the best way for me to see my new home team was to follow them on the road. I saw the Marlins play in New York, in Philadelphia, in Pittsburgh, and in Boston. When I moved to Albuquerque, I drove 450 miles to see them in Denver. On one trip to Baltimore, it occurred to me that I’d been to a number of the major league ballparks and that I could probably visit all 30 if I set my mind to it.

Souvenir pins from the parent teams of the Iron Pigs and the Railriders.

From that point on, whenever I was on a business or personal trip, I would make sure I designated at least one night for a baseball game. For a conference in San Diego, I took a flight to Phoenix for a game, drove to San Diego for the conference (and a game), and took one free evening to drive to Los Angeles to see the Angels, then drove back to Phoenix for the flight home.

Before long I was making that trip to hurricane-ravaged Houston to complete my journey through the majors. Since then, I’ve managed to keep up-to-date as new ballparks are built, but I need a trip to Texas for a game in the new Rangers ballpark.

Meanwhile, I’m now working on the minor league ballparks. Major League Baseball has made it easier for me this year by narrowing the field from 160 teams to 120. I’ve been to about 30 so far. The journey continues.

Friday fireworks from beyond left field.

The game was long, 3 hours and 51 minutes, after a slow start from the pitchers. Aggressive base running and solid hits made the game worth every minute, and the late-night fireworks after the game were worth the wait. Marge, Charlie and I even made it to the scoreboard during the 7th inning stretch. Final: Railriders 6, Iron Pigs 4. 

Go, Thunder! Go, Bisons! Go, Thunder Bisons!

Rainbows in the outfield prevailed over the threatening clouds.

My ticket for tonight’s AAA baseball game in Trenton, N.J., says, “Thunder vs. Worcester Red Sox” at Arm & Hammer Park. The online scoreboard indicates the game is being played at Trenton Thunder Park. I followed signs that directed me to Mercer County Waterfront Park. And I’m standing in front of a statue of Samuel J. Plumeri, Sr. (Mr. Trenton), under a sign that says Samuel J. Plumeri, Sr. Field. Confused? You won’t be after you see how baseball’s two big challenges in 2021 — pandemic restrictions and a major overhaul of the minor leagues — are behind the unlikely matchup in this unlikely place. 

Samuel J. Palmeri was instrumental
in bringing minor league baseball to Newark.
Below, four generations of batdogs.

When the Toronto Blue Jays decided to play home games in Buffalo this year, so that they and their opponents won’t have to travel in and out of Canada, their AAA affiliate, the Bisons, became a team without a home. Meanwhile, Trenton’s Arm & Hammer Park became a home without a team after baseball eliminated 43 farm teams in order to introduce a more streamlined minor league system. 

A rare agreement was forged, and the Bisons will play their home games here in Trenton Thunder uniforms. When they go on the road, they’ll once again become the Buffalo Bisons. It’s a reprieve for Trenton’s baseball fans, who thought their Class AA team was going to be relegated to rookie league status for 2021. Instead, they’ll be able to root for a Thunder team against other AAA teams from the northeast. 

Arm & Hammer Park is mere steps from the Delaware River. A chain link fence
keeps fans from falling in, but not foul balls. The stadium has a rockin' address.

For me, it means visiting another minor league ballpark, one that I thought had been pushed aside, and one that's just a day trip away from where I live. Technically, the Trenton Thunder are the defending champions of the AA Eastern League. I actually saw them clinch the title on Sept. 13, 2019, in Bowie, Md. It was the last minor league game I saw before the pandemic shutdown. Now here I am to watch them defend their title, except that there won’t be a minor league post-season this year, the Eastern League no longer exists, the Thunder aren’t playing in AA baseball, they aren’t the same players that won the championship, and they're really the Buffalo Bisons. 

There's no escaping the New York Yankees' history at Arm & Hammer Park.

The Trenton Thunder was one of the teams hardest hit in last year’s minor league shuffle. They were dropped as the New York Yankees’ AA team and then pushed out of the minors altogether when no other major league team invited them to affiliate. However, the team will be part of a new MLB Draft League, a showcase for draft-eligible collegiate prospects. 

Joining Trenton are five other teams in and around Pennsylvania, all of them former minor league teams. Maryland’s Frederick Keys come from the Carolina League. The other four teams played in the New York-Penn League: the Mahoning Valley Scrappers in Niles, Ohio, the West Virginia Black Bears in Granville, and from Pennsylvania, the State College Spikes and the Williamsport Crosscutters. The teams will play a short season starting in late May and ending in August. Still to be determined is where Trenton’s draft team will play, now that their home field is otherwise occupied. 

Something to watch for in AAA baseball this season are the larger bases at first, second and third. It's an experiment to see if an 18-inch square base is easier for a player to touch and hold than the current 15-inch base. The surface has also been changed so that it won't be so slippery, especially when there is rain. It might also mean that batters are able to beat the play at first more often. There's also hope that it will reduce injuries to infielders and runners. The bigger base is one of several rules adjustments that Major League Baseball is testing at different levels of minor league ball. To me, the new bases looked enormous, but maybe that was because I knew ahead of time that they would be bigger.

This week’s 6-game series is the first appearance of the Worcester Red Sox, who have moved to a new home in Massachusetts from Pawtucket, R.I. Last year was supposed to be the farewell season at historic McCoy Stadium, but there were no minor league games anywhere in 2020.

Rain and clouds threatened this evening, but the weather didn’t stop the game from going forward. An early inning double rainbow in left field guaranteed that only a few sprinkles would fall. The WooSox were not so kind. They scored 5 runs on 7 hits in the first two innings, and the Thunder weren’t able to catch up. Final: Worcester Red Sox 8, Trenton Thunder 6.

Trenton makes, the world takes. A list of the major leaguers who played in Trenton.
Open the picture and zoom in to see if you recognize anyone.
Below, a pin celebrating the reigning and forever champions.

Coming up: Root, root, root for the home team.