Why It's Called
Minor League Baseball
Posted
April 19, 2005
Friday, April 15,
2005 marked the first time I set foot in Hammons Field, the home of Springfield’s
brand new Double-A Cardinals. I knew I’d wind up there sooner or later,
I just wasn’t sure when. My girlfriend Ashlee’s aunt called at
around 5:00 on Friday to offer us two tickets she didn’t intend to use,
and two hours later we would be at Hammons Field. I was able to put aside
my fear of seeing just how bad the Tulsa Drillers were to attend my first
minor league game. Hammons Field actually proved to be very nice. Except for
the reduced size, it almost resembles a real, major league ballpark.
Our seats turned out to be very good. We wound up sitting in the ninth row
behind the visiting dugout, which was occupied by the much-maligned Tulsa
Drillers. The game itself wasn’t too exciting; the Drillers won 5-4
in a contest that included very little in the way of action. There weren’t
any home runs or spectacular plays. There was, however, Cardinals pitcher
Oscar Alvarez throwing a ball three feet to the right of the shortstop while
attempting to catch a base runner in a rundown. In fact, one could argue Alvarez’s
only redeeming quality is his birthday, which happens to be the same as mine.
Maybe the most noticeable thing in the game was one particular food service
worker. This gentleman, who possessed a sparse mustache and a slight resemblance
to the fellow with a nail in his head in Happy Gilmore, continually marched
up and down Section L offering frozen lemonade, which he deemed “the
coldest treat in the house.” The most distinctive thing about him, though,
wasn’t his appearance, but the manner in which he handled his product.
After receiving the money from a customer he would hand them their frozen
lemonade and then hand them their plastic spoon. The only problem is that
he would always be holding the scooping portion of the spoon firmly in his
bare hand, extending the handle to the customer. I don’t know about
the other fans, but I prefer my vendors to keep their oversized, buffalo hands
from directly fondling anything I’m going to eat or any utensil I might
use to eat it. And it’s not like this vendor did it once by accident;
he conducted every transaction this way. Once he started to hand a child a
spoon the conventional way, only to retract it and try to fix “a bend”
in the scooping part of the spoon with his bare hand. The child looked horrified
to say the least.
On the subject of
the Cardinals, I think it’s great that we residents of Springfield,
Missouri now have a minor league baseball team. I think it’s even better
that they’re the Cardinals Double-A affiliate. I also think that the
talent level I witnessed the Springfield Cardinals display appears to be quite
low.
It’s common knowledge that the Cardinals don’t exactly have the
deepest farm system in baseball. In fact, they very well could have the weakest.
Most of the organization’s top prospects wind up being dealt for major
league puzzle-pieces down the stretch run or in the off-season. I’m
certainly not criticizing this approach; Walt Jocketty has gotten the better
of almost every deal he’s ever made. All I’m saying is that the
Springfield Cardinals are pretty bad.
I seriously failed to witness any real major league talent in my inaugural
visit to Hammons Field. Who here really has a chance? Certainly not second
baseman Matt DeMarco, who couldn’t more closely resemble an elf if he
wore pointed shoes and carried gifts. Not fan favorite Papo Bolivar, who clearly
eats a lot of hot dogs and strikes out all the time. Definitely not pitcher
Oscar Alvarez, who despite a decent showing against the anemic Tulsa Drillers
offense, has lackluster stuff. The only semi-recognizable name on the Springfield
roster is that of outfielder Reid Gorecki, who is mildly fast and has posted
not-too-bad minor league statistics in the past. What are his chances of being
successful in the major leagues? None. At all. Former first-rounder Shaun
Boyd failed to make an appearance Friday, but that didn’t bother me.
He’s not any good anyway.
All I’m saying is that this team will be much more interesting once
Rick Ankiel makes the trek to Springfield. They’d be even more interesting
if they had any real prospects, which hopefully they will in the future. Come
to think of it, they’d be even more interesting if Rick Ankiel was to
decide to pitch again. He surely could’ve struck out 15 or 18 Tulsa
Drillers; even Oscar Alvarez’s awful self fanned seven. At any rate,
I certainly do intend to catch a few more Springfield Cardinals game throughout
the season, even if my attendance will result in additional mocking.
