Change Comes to the Minor Leagues

The sign over the entry gate says "Welcome to Baseballtown"
in script that looks like it was squeezed from a mustard dispenser.

It’s been 599 days since my last minor league baseball game. That’s because the 2020 season was cancelled, plus there were two off-seasons, and the start of the 2021 season was delayed a month. Today I am at Reading’s First Energy Field, one of the oldest stadiums in the minor leagues, waiting for the first pitch. For teams that didn’t make it to the league championships in 2019, like tonight’s home team, the Fightin’ Phils, it’s more than 600 days since they’ve taken the field. 

Diamond in the rough, awaiting bases, chalk lines
and other finishing touches for tonight's game.

The stands are filled to a safely distanced capacity, fans clustered in pods of up to 8 seats, all excited to be back for one of America’s uniquely unifying experiences: small-scale, close-up baseball in their home town. They are here to see their team made up of the stars of tomorrow, the occasional big league player on the mend, and a few veterans who are hoping to get one more shot at the major leagues. 

The small crowd began to queue up early for the opening of the stadium gates at 5:00 p.m. Maybe they were a little bit too close for the comfort of some, but the line was spaced out as it wrapped around the outside of the stadium and there were plenty of face masks. It was a technical sellout, with an official attendance of 2,620 in the 10,000-seat stands.

The entry gate leads through a gauntlet of food and drink vendors
into the Tompkins VISTBank Plaza, where The Uptown Band covered rock classics
on the T-Mobile stage. At right, a restroom of their own with a nifty retro sign.

Tonight’s giveaway is a fleece blanket commemorating 70 years of baseball at the stadium. The gift was intended for opening night in 2020, the season that never happened. Baseball teams around the country are bringing out last year’s bobble head figures, t-shirts and other promotional items that they weren’t able to distribute after the season was abruptly called off. Because of the reduced attendance this season, the Phils have enough blankets to offer the freebie over two nights during opening week. 

The Fightin’ Phils are playing the Erie Seawolves, the double-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, in a six-game series that runs from Tuesday through Sunday. That’s how it will be all season long across the land as teams reduce both the distance and the number of times they will travel. There are bound to be some quirks in the pandemic-shortened schedule. For example, with ten 6-game home stands and ten 6-game road trips, the Phils won’t face their in-state rivals from Altoona.

While the pandemic has brought many adjustments, the minor league landscape has been changed at all levels in bigger and more permanent ways. By coincidence, the pandemic shutdown came at a crucial time when the agreement between the major and minor leagues expired. Plans had already been in the works for a new relationship, where Major League Baseball would take more control over the minor leagues in a more streamlined structure focusing on development of young players.

In short, all the previous league names have been discarded and 43 teams have been dropped from affiliated status with major league teams. Gone are the International League, the Pacific Coast League, the Texas League, the Florida State League and others. The Fightin’ Phils and Seawolves, who used to compete in the Eastern League, are now in the 12-team AA Northeast. Instead of 160 minor league teams, from Classes AAA to AA, Advance A, A, Rookie and Short-Season, there are now 120 teams, 4 per major league team, in AAA, AA, High A and Low A. Each class is divided into two or three regional divisions and further subdivisions.

Pins from the team store dating the stadium to 1950,
a cap emblem for the Reading Hot Dogs, and a badge from the Eastern League,
which almost made it to 100 years. Also in the store, at right,
the Fightin' Phils' beloved Crazy Hot Dog Vendor mascot.

Stay tuned for more about these and other changes. The Fightin' Phils got off to a big start with a leadoff home run from the shortstop, Arquimedes Gamboa. However, two costly errors put the Seawolves ahead, and a couple of three-run homers put the game out of reach. Final: Erie 12, Reading 4.

Next: How did the AAA Buffalo Bisons wind up playing the Red Sox from Worcester in Trenton, N.J.?