Who's on First?

Take a look at the peculiar defensive shift used by the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs in their game Saturday with the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Railriders. Five Iron Pigs, wearing their gunmetal gray road uniforms, stand guard from first base to third, and two outfielders take their positions at left center and right center. 

Here is the situation: The score is tied in the bottom of the tenth inning, with the bases loaded and nobody out. The pitcher can’t seem to find the strike zone, but he’s faced only two Railrider batters and he can’t be yanked. 

Any fly ball, caught or not, will likely score the winning run. What do you do if you’re the Iron Pigs’ manager? You bring in the right fielder to strengthen the infield defense. A force out at the plate is just about your only hope.

Would it work? We'll never know. On a 3-1 count, the batter swung at a wild pitch that got away from the catcher, and the runner on third waltzed home for the win. Final: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 6, Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs 5. 

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Baseball Fun on the Hudson

The stadium is in Dutchess County, named for the Duchess of York,
way back when people spelled duchess with a “t.” She went on to become
Queen of England when her husband became King James II.

If the New York Yankees were looking for fun when they invited the Hudson Valley Renegades to be their High-A minor league team, they came to the right place. It’s a special night at Dutchess Stadium, with a giveaway bobble head celebrating Rick Zolzer, who skillfully directs game-night hijinks as the public address announcer. He got national attention 25 years ago, when an umpire who was having a bad night ejected him from the game.

Dutchess Stadium is nestled in the hills where the Taconic and Marlboro mini mountains come together and where I-84 crosses from Newburgh, N.Y., to the east side of the Hudson River. It’s just a short ride to the ballpark from the Metro-North train station at Beacon.

Caps for the Hudson Valley Renegades and two of their alter-egos,
Los Fenomenos Enmascarados and the Hudson Valley Veterans.

The Renegades played in the low-level New York-Penn short season league beginning in 1994 after the team moved from Erie, Pa. They became an affiliate of the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1996, an association that continued until last year’s reorganization of the minor leagues.

In a kind of one-for-one swap, the Yankees adopted the Renegades as their High-A minor league team for the 2021 season, while the Rays took the Yankees’ place in Charleston, S.C., with the River Dogs. For the Renegades, it was a big promotion to full-season minor league baseball, with a big-time major league affiliate just down the river. The River Dogs also wound up with a major league team that’s a little closer to home.

Both teams offer an exceptional baseball experience, where it’s easy to have a good time. When you buy a ticket to Dutchess Stadium you get two shows for the price of one. First, there’s a baseball game. The comes the show between innings from Zolzer’s booth at the top of the seats behind home plate.

An outburst of Cotton-Eyed Joe in the middle of the seventh inning.

As an example, the Renegades staff and camera crew did a quick roundup of youngsters in the seventh-inning stretch for what Zolzer called, “a group of random kids sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame.’” A traditional stadium-wide sing-along of “Take Me Out” followed. Then came a quartet of “Cotton-Eyed Joe” dancers that turned into a huge circle, like a flash mob, when a group of revelers poured down from their party suite to join in the dance.

Between innings, “Zolz” and the fans are celebrating his ejection with a game of “Let’s Make a Deal.” He asks for an item, like a stress ball, a clean diaper, a tube of hand cream, or $1.52 in dimes, nickels and pennies. The first fan to reach the announcer’s booth with the item wins a prize. My favorite item was “a speeding ticket.” The winner was a guy who was caught going 35 mph over the limit.

My favorite among the inductees in Professional Baseball Scouts Hall of fame.

Zolzer has been behind the microphone for the Renegades since the beginning, which would make him a kind of star even without his infamous ejection. I would say he’s more famous than most of the inductees in the Professional Baseball Scouts Hall of Fame, whose plaques are mounted on the wall outside the entrance to the stadium. Zolzer is more than a game-time celebrity. Several years ago he was promoted to Vice President in the front office.

Read the story on the side of the box. Rick Zolzer's head doesn't bobble
as he climbs out of his booth, but his arm waves "bye-bye."

The story of the ejection is recounted on the box holding the souvenir bobble arm figurine that was given to the first 1,000 fans. There might be other versions of what went down that long ago night. Do a little internet research and I’ll let you make the call.

The bobble promotion was supposed to be part of a 25-year celebration of the ejection in August 1995, but there was no baseball in the minor leagues last year. The rescheduled 2021 version of Zolzer night was threatened by rainstorms and by an accident on I-85 that tied up traffic around the stadium for miles. The game started a half-hour late after the skies cleared, and all the bobble heads were gone after fans overcame delays of as much as an hour to get to the game.

Party in a paper bowl from Sweet and Boozy Ice Cream.

 
I have to say a word about Sweet and Boozy Ice Cream and their outrageous concoctions. As far as I can tell, you can only get these treats at the original faraway location in Katy, Texas, west of Houston, and on game days at Dutchess Stadium. I chose a big cup of cotton candy ice cream flecked with tiny chocolate bits and topped with whipped cream and peanut m&m’s.

Next time I might try one of their wine-infused flavors or maybe a sensational sundae like Zolz’s Oh, My Oreos. It’s one thing to be tempted by the description of a sundae that is loaded with cookies and an actual ice cream sandwich. It’s quite another, and quite intimidating, to see one glide by your seat in the hands of another fan.

Tarps stayed on the pitcher's mound and home plate until the coast was clear.

Rain and traffic couldn’t stop the fun at Dutchess Stadium, but the visiting Jersey Shore Blue Claws threw a wet blanket over the fun on the field. A lead-off single, a walk and a home run put the Phillies High-A team ahead early in the game. The Renegades scrapped their way back and went ahead in the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Blue Claws scored three runs in the top of the sixth to regain the lead. The Renegades tied it up at 6 runs apiece in the seventh, but Jersey Shore scored one run in the top of the ninth, then put down the home team in order for the win. Final: Jersey Shore Blue Claws 7, Hudson Valley Renegades 6.

Little Park With a Lot of History

Valley Strong Ballpark is a blend of old and new in Visalia, Calif.

Of the 10 oldest minor league ballparks in the United States, I can say I’ve been in half of them. There’s another stadium that’s tied for 10th, but it’s in Vancouver, B.C., so let’s just stay with the U.S. for now. Besides, the Vancouver Canadians are playing their home games in Oregon this year, so of the 10 oldest minor league ballparks “currently being used,” I can safely say I’ve been in half of them.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let’s turn our attention to No. 7 on the list, Valley Strong Ballpark, also known as Recreation Park, in Visalia, Calif.

The home field of the Visalia Rawhide is kind of a movie star. Visalia is mentioned in Moneyball because of the team’s long association with the Oakland A’s, and in Bull Durham, as a likely landing spot for Kevin Costner’s catcher, who is nearing the end of his playing career.

It’s the smallest of all the affiliated minor league stadiums with a seating capacity of 1,888. There’s room for another 500 or so fans in standing room and in the grassy area known as The Pasture.

The Pasture wraps around the right field foul pole.

The stadium was built in 1946 and had a major renovation that was completed around 2009 when the team adopted the Rawhide name. It’s been the same team in the same ballpark the whole time, but with about a dozen different names and major league affiliations. The Rawhide is currently the Low-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Visalia Oaks was the team’s name for the most years up until the change to Rawhide. You can still get caps featuring Chatter the Squirrel, the team’s old mascot, as well as other throwback items.

In fact, the team is paying tribute to the past this week, playing as the Oaks in throwback jerseys. A lot of new players have been added to the roster recently, so for their at-bats, the scoreboard shows a picture of Chatter next to their stats.

They’ve made the best use out of all their space at Valley Strong Ballpark. The bullpens are tucked into the left and right corners. The grassy Pasture wraps around the corner of the field, starting at right center almost all the way to where the infield dirt starts. The right field entrance leads onto a concourse with the team store and a food and beverage stand, ending at the doorway to the Hall of Fame Club with stairs that lead to premium box seats next to the visitors’ dugout.

View from the Hall of Fame Club

The Hall of Fame Club is for season subscribers, but tonight there’s an Alzheimer’s Awareness package for $20 that includes a box seat close to the field, access to the air-conditioned Hall of Fame Club and a purple Visalia t-shirt. This is an especially good deal with the temperature over 100° and with the sun still high in the sky for a 6 p.m. first pitch.

The tiny grandstand behind home plate barely reaches as far as first and third base, although there are additional seats extending toward left field and two party tents the rest of the way. The crowd tonight is small, but that’s probably because it’s Wednesday, or because it’s hot, or both. The announced attendance is 980, but I don’t think everyone showed up.

The sense of history is strong in Visalia. As one of the oldest members of the California League, the team pays tribute once a year to the Mudville 9, a team that played in Stockton, Calif., and might be the inspiration for “Casey at the Bat.” The Rawhide honor their own as well, with hall of fame plaques on the wall below the club of the same name, including Kirby Puckett, the beloved Minnesota Twins National Hall of Famer, whose retired number 28 is mounted on the left field fence.

Kirby Puckett's plaque is on the wall of fame at Valley Strong Park.
28, his number and mine, is on display in left field.

I bought a 2019 California League championship pin, which is the last of its kind since Major League Baseball reorganized the minor leagues and ditched the historic league names.

The clerk at the store noticed the other pins on my loaded lanyard and asked me how many stadiums I’ve been to.

“81,” I said. I think it’s actually 82. Even under her covid mask, I could see her jaw drop.

“What’s your favorite?” she asked.

“Right now? This one,” I told her. And I meant it. This is a great ballpark.

Visalia Rawhide celebrate an exciting victory at Valley Strong Park. 

The game was good too. The visiting Inland Empire 66ers (Los Angeles Angels) started things off with a 2-run homer in the 1st inning and held the lead for most of the game. The Rawhide, or Oaks, tied it up and took a two-run lead in the bottom of the 8th with some home run heroics of their own. The 66ers answered in the 9th with another home run to tie the score. In the bottom of the ninth, Visalia loaded the bases with a double, an intentional walk and a single. Then the “good eyes” of Ronny Simon drew the walk-off walk and a win for Visalia. Final: Visalia Oaks 7, Inland Empire 66ers 6.

Big Changes at a Big Ballpark

Chukchansi Park in Fresno, Calif., is another one of those great big, beautiful ballparks built in the 21st century, with wide, open concourses behind rows of seats that are close to the action on the field. Food and drink concessions are easy to get to and you don’t have to miss any of the game while you wait in line. 

Many of these ballparks follow the model of Baltimore’s Oriole Park at Camden Yards and Chukchansi Park was even designed by the same company. The stadium is well-suited for other uses, like music concerts, high school football and soccer. There are almost 11,000 seats for baseball, but plenty of open seating and standing room for thousands of additional fans. An exhibition soccer match in 2012 between two teams from Mexico’s Primera Division drew a crowd of more than 16,000.

Plenty of room for my friends Joyce and Malcolm and me.
Did the 104° temperature keep the fans away.

The ballpark opened in 2002 for the Grizzlies, the AAA team that arrived in Fresno a few years earlier when the major league Arizona Diamondbacks pushed the minor league team in Phoenix into Tucson, which in turn forced the Tucson team to find their new home in California.

From 1998 to 2014, the Grizzlies were the AAA team of the San Francisco Giants, then for six seasons they were an affiliate of the Houston Astros. In 2019, the team adopted bold new uniforms featuring a fierce bear that looks like it jumped right off the California Republic state flag.

Buy the big souvenir fountain soda and get $4 refills all season.

They also became the AAA team of the Washington Nationals, whose contract with the Syracuse Chiefs had come to an end. That made a long trip for any movement of players from the farm team to the big leagues, but in the musical chairs of minor league baseball, one or two teams have often been left in similar circumstances.

After the 2020 season, Major League Baseball attempted to mitigate the long-distance problem in its takeover and reorganization of the minor leagues. In the process, it meant there would be some losers among the minor league teams, and Fresno was one of those hardest hit.

My Trenton Thunder jersey, a symbol of solidarity with the Grizzlies.
Both teams were hit hard in the minor league shakeup.

The Minnesota Twins had decided to adopt the independent St. Paul Saints as their AAA team. This opened up Rochester for the Nationals to pick up as a team closer to their big league home. Two other AAA teams were pushed aside when the Miami Marlins promoted the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp from AA, and when the Houston Astros invited the independent Sugar Land Skeeters to be their AAA team. The San Antonio Missions and the Wichita Wind Surge were both demoted to AA to make way for those additions.

But, for Fresno, a move to AA was not an option. There are no other AA teams nearby for them to play, in fact, there are no AA teams west of the Pecos. To make matters worse, the A-Advanced California League was converted to the Low-A West league in the new configuration. That meant Fresno would have to join those teams in Low-A or be left out of affiliated minor league baseball altogether.

Anatomy of a mitt on display at Chukchansi Park. Other displays
looked inside baseballs and showed how bats are made.

It took some effort for the Grizzlies to work out a new arrangement with the city of Fresno that would keep the minor league team at Chukchansi Park. Filling all those seats will be a challenge now that the team is showcasing players that are three levels further away from making it to the big leagues.

The Grizzlies, now affiliated with the Colorado Rockies, are holding their own on the playing field with a good lead in the standings for a likely spot in 2021’s scaled-down minor league postseason. The two top teams in each league from AA down will compete in a best-of-five series for their league’s championship. Fresno’s week-long series with the second-place San Jose Giants could be a preview for the Low-A West championship in September.

A real hand-operated scoreboard in the outfield.

In the first game of the series, the Giants took an early lead with a 3-run homer in the first inning and a 2-run shot in the third. The Grizzlies came within one run in the middle innings and were trailing 7-6 after eight. A single in the ninth with one out and a triple tied the score at 7 apiece. The Giants’ Casey Schmitt had trouble with Warming Bernabel’s grounder to third allowing the winning run to score. It looked a lot like an error, but it was ruled a fielder’s choice. Final: Fresno Grizzlies 8, San Jose Giants 7.

Gee, Wally, Do You Think We Might Win?

The shady, park-like landscaping inside the Modesto Nuts' ballpark.

John Thurman Field, home to the Modesto Nuts, is tucked between a quiet city park and a golf course, close to downtown, but not too close, and easy to reach from the 99 freeway, but just far enough away from its noisy traffic.

The main entrance gate doesn’t take you inside a building like at most stadiums. Instead you find yourself in an open plaza that wraps around the metal grandstands to another plaza area on the first base side of the field. A covered picnic pavilion looks out onto left field with a large canopy that extends out into the plaza. 

Wisteria pergolas near the stadium entrance.

Several trees and wisteria pergolas provide additional shade between a few low-profile structures that hold offices, restrooms and the team store. The food and drink concession stand is tucked under the framework of the grandstand and there’s room for additional food trucks, like the shaved ice trailer that’s a fan favorite. The grandstand includes a mix of bleachers and seat back chairs, built on aluminum risers that rumble like thunder when the scoreboard prompts the fans to stomp their feet and make some noise.

Most of the spectators take seats on the first base side of the stands so the sun is to their back as it lowers in the west. Large fabric sheets hanging above the top row cast shade over the upper levels of the bleachers, which extend out towards right field and the bullpen for the Nuts’ pitchers. The visitors’ bullpen is over in the left field corner.

Good seats behind home plate at John Thurman Field.

Thurman Field opened in 1955, making it one of the older stadiums in the minor leagues. The ballpark was named for the Modesto state assemblyman in 1983 and was given a big upgrade for the 1997 season to bring it up to minor league standards.

For most of its early years, the team was known as the Modesto Reds, switching to the Colts during a three-year affiliation with the Houston Colt .45s. For 30 seasons beginning in 1975, they were the Modesto A’s as the minor league team of the Oakland Athletics.

In 2005, they became the minor league team of the Colorado Rockies and adopted Nuts as their name, because several kinds of nuts are grown in the region. With last year’s reorganization of the minor leagues, the Nuts became the Low-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.

Early fans got a Wally the Walnut bobble head. I bought a Wally baseball cap.

Three kinds of local nuts are represented by the mascots Wally the Walnut, Al the Almond and Shelley the Pistachio. At Saturday’s game against the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, early-arriving fans received a bobble head figure of Wally, but all three life-size mascots were on hand throughout the game.

The public address announcer kept things lively, with an unusual mix of music that seemed to include a lot of television show theme songs. I wish I had been paying closer attention, because I think the songs, and especially the tv themes, had some connection with the batters’ names as they walked up to the plate. I made the connection when Eddys Leonard came up to bat for the Quakes while the title song from “Leave It to Beaver” played.

John Thurman Field at the end of the evening.

Leonard spoiled the evening for the Nuts, who were down 5-0 until a big 7th inning put them back in the ball game. Trent Tingelstad’s 2-run homer in the bottom of the 8th put Modesto ahead, but Leonard answered with a two-run shot in the 9th to put the Quakes back in the lead for good. Final: Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 8, Modesto Nuts 6.

It's a Small World in the Minor Leagues

I’m clear across the country in California to watch a couple of brothers from Scranton, Pa., facing off in a AAA West baseball matchup. A few nights ago in Reno, I noticed Jake McCarthy in the lineup for the Aces. It made me think of Joe McCarthy, who I saw playing for the Durham Bulls years ago in the playoffs against his hometown Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders. I didn’t put two and two together. 

Tonight in Sacramento, Joe McCarthy shows up in the starting lineup for the River Cats. I didn’t know he had been traded from the Rays farm system to the Giants. I looked up his stats page and it said his brother is Jake McCarthy. I didn’t know Joe had a brother in baseball. Sure enough, Jake is in the lineup tonight for the Reno Aces.

In the lineup for Reno, Jake McCarthy from Scranton. For Sacramento it's brother Joe.

When Joe was announced in the lineup over the PA, a group in the section next to me cheered. “He won us this hat,” showing me a AAA championship cap from 2019. I’ll have to do a little research on Joe’s post-season heroics, but I think it had something to do with multiple home runs. Too bad I don’t have my Railriders gear on tonight. Who knew I’d need it?

It's a delayed celebration for the defending AAA champions.
Joe McCarthy makes the cut on the back of the cup. 

What a big, beautiful stadium. Sutter Health Park was renamed after the 2019 season, so this is its inaugural season with the new name. The park opened in 2000 as Raley Field when the Vancouver Canadians were sold and moved to Sacramento. The team has had great success with 12 division championships, five Pacific Coast League championships and three AAA championships, including the last one in 2019.

Joining the River Cats' celebration is Sacramento's own Arik Armstead,
defensive end for the San Francisco 49ers.

We’ll see how it goes for the defending champs in this year’s postseason play. All 30 AAA team will each play five games at home against one opponent and five games on the road against another. The team with the best record after 10 games will be the champion. Needless to say, there are some tiebreaker scenarios.

The stadium is superbly located across the river in West Sacramento, just down the street from the California State Capitol building. In daylight, the gilded Tower Bridge rises above what looks like a well-tended grove in the lawn beyond right field. At night, the towers of the bridge are still visible in the dark, but the star of the show becomes the well-lit Ziggurat, a stepped pyramid office building beyond center field.

The scoreboard, the Ziggurat building and fireworks light up the night after the game.

It’s hard to believe the temperature at first pitch was 98°, because Old Glory and the California Republic flags were gently waving in center field in the late innings thanks to a cool breeze. What else can I say? The food is fantastic, I’ve got a great wi-fi connection as I write this on my laptop at my seat, and I’ve got the McCarthy boys from Scranton in a brother vs. brother duel under the lights in Sacramento.

Scranton's McCarthy brothers. Joe, left, and Jake.

Jake struck out twice, tripled in the ninth and scored on Nick Heath’s line drive into right field. The edge for the night goes to big brother Joe. He went 2 for 4, knocked in a run, and scored a run. So it went for team vs. team. Final: Sacramento River Cats 7, Reno Aces 4.

Joy in Mudville

Warmups before the game at Banner Island Ballpark.
Stockton Arena dominates beyond left field.

Banner Island Ballpark has a lot going for it. It’s right on the north side of the San Joaquin River in a spruced up downtown neighborhood, next to Stockton Arena. Legend says that baseball was played on this very spot in the late 1800s near the muddy river banks when Banner Island was still an island in the middle of the river. They called it Mudville and it might have been the inspiration for Casey at the Bat, everyone’s favorite baseball poem by Ernest Lawrence Thayer.

Whether or not the story is true, an earlier version of the Stockton Ports called themselves the Mudville Nine. Banner Island Ballpark is not the official name of the stadium, but everyone calls it that. The island is no longer an island either, but the area has retained its name in honor of Charles Weber, who flew his star-spangled banner there whenever there was good news for the Union forces in the Civil War.

The San Joaquin River flows behind right field, inviting home run splashdowns.

This particular baseball team has been in Stockton off and on since 1941 with a few name changes and various major league affiliations through the years. They took on the name Ports in honor of the Stockton’s inland seaport on the San Joaquin River that empties into San Francisco Bay 80 miles away. You have to wonder if any home run balls over the right field fence make it all the way to the Pacific and beyond.

Pulled pork sandwich, with two sides, hold the asparagus.

When I ordered a pulled sandwich dinner with baked beans and creamed corn on the side, I noticed the food cart also had asparagus on the menu. “3 for $3” the sign said. I didn’t ask “Three what?” for $3, because my plate was full, but I have to say I was intrigued by the idea of snacking on asparagus at a baseball game.

Five O'clock Dock and Running Gus caps.

The team store features two caps with asparagus. One shows a stalk of asparagus running with a baseball bat. He’s known as Running Gus and is featured on Kids’ Club paraphernalia. The other has a burly, unshaven man wielding to a stalk of asparagus like he means to take care of some unfinished business with it. His name is Five O’clock Dock, and he represents the blue-collar workers who are ready to cut loose after a hard day’s work at the seaport.

Free Caballos cap.

All of these asparagus shenanigans are a gimmick based on Stockton’s claim as “Asparagus Capital of the World.” Both of the baseball caps are fun and I might have bought one or the other except that the promotional giveaway is a colorful baseball cap with the stallion logo of the Ports’ Copa la Diversion alter ego, Los Caballos de Stockton.

Lineups, standings and .schedule all in one place.

This night’s game was a matchup between the two last-place teams in the North and South divisions of the Low-A West. Somebody had to win and it was the visiting Visalia Rawhide that rose to the challenge. Final: Visalia Rawhide 8, Stockton Ports 3.