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Minor League/Japanese Wackiness


ChesterCopperpot

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  • 7 months later...

For those in the greater western MD/northwest VA/WV area, DiBiase is appearing at the Frederick Keys game.

Making the drive from the other part of MD to try and schmooze for an interview for the mid-South magazine

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  • 2 weeks later...

We did indeed go to Seinfeld Night at the Cyclones game... easily the wackiest game I've ever been to, with an equally ludicrous scoreline (Cykes got whomped 18-2 by Aberdeen). Incredibly we almost had as many first pitches as runs with SEVENTEEN different people throwing a ceremonial pitch before the game got rolling. We bailed out in the 8th inning, which meant we got to see the post game fireworks from atop the Wonder Wheel a few blocks away. All in all, a fabulous night at the ballpark and Coney Island.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Cross-posting from the movie forum because it applies here:

 

The Battered Bastards of Baseball - Netflix-original documentary on the mid-70s minor league baseball team, the Portland Mavericks.  The Mavs were founded and owned by Bing Russell, of Bonanza fame and father of Kurt Russell.  Bing was a lifelong baseball fan who spent much of his childhood hanging out with the likes of Lefty Gomez, Joe Dimaggio and Lou Gehrig of the Yankees.  After the 1972 season, the AAA Portland Beavers left Oregon for greener pastures elsewhere.  A void was created and Bing created the Mavericks to fill it.  The Mavericks would play in the short-season A Northwest League (home to my beloved Spokane Indians).  Unlike every other team on the planet, they would be independent with no affiliation to any major league team.  As a result, they grabbed players from wherever they could, including open tryouts.  Their guys were older and (mostly) had no illusions about making a career out of it.  So they were there to have fun.  And they did.  And their fans loved them for it.  They were very successful, winning 4 division titles in 5 seasons while facing blowback from the major leagues.  They do this against a backdrop of intrigue (major league teams sending higher-level players down for the playoffs against Portland to keep them from winning a championship) and controversy, all while having a blast.  The whole movie is a good time and features interviews with several of the key figures (Bing Russell died in 2003, unfortunately), including Kurt Russell and Todd Field (director of 5-time Academy Award nominee, In the Bedroom).  Field was the batboy for the Mavs.  Anyway, this is great, and anybody who likes a good story in general, or sports specifically, should watch it.  9/10.

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They are redoing Disco Demolition Night but using Bieber records (and i think miley) ata minor league park tonight

Because the first one went so well . . . .to make it a real night to remember, might as well make it ten cent beer night as well. . .LOL

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On 7/18/2014 at 3:04 PM, Tabe said:

Cross-posting from the movie forum because it applies here:

 

The Battered Bastards of Baseball - Netflix-original documentary on the mid-70s minor league baseball team, the Portland Mavericks.  The Mavs were founded and owned by Bing Russell, of Bonanza fame and father of Kurt Russell.  Bing was a lifelong baseball fan who spent much of his childhood hanging out with the likes of Lefty Gomez, Joe Dimaggio and Lou Gehrig of the Yankees.  After the 1972 season, the AAA Portland Beavers left Oregon for greener pastures elsewhere.  A void was created and Bing created the Mavericks to fill it.  The Mavericks would play in the short-season A Northwest League (home to my beloved Spokane Indians).  Unlike every other team on the planet, they would be independent with no affiliation to any major league team.  As a result, they grabbed players from wherever they could, including open tryouts.  Their guys were older and (mostly) had no illusions about making a career out of it.  So they were there to have fun.  And they did.  And their fans loved them for it.  They were very successful, winning 4 division titles in 5 seasons while facing blowback from the major leagues.  They do this against a backdrop of intrigue (major league teams sending higher-level players down for the playoffs against Portland to keep them from winning a championship) and controversy, all while having a blast.  The whole movie is a good time and features interviews with several of the key figures (Bing Russell died in 2003, unfortunately), including Kurt Russell and Todd Field (director of 5-time Academy Award nominee, In the Bedroom).  Field was the batboy for the Mavs.  Anyway, this is great, and anybody who likes a good story in general, or sports specifically, should watch it.  9/10.

Seconded. This is a great doc with a real stick-it-to-the-man vibe in the persona of Bing Russell, and lots of great 70s footage. I fully expect Ebbets Field Flannels to produce some Mavericks stuff now if they haven't already.

Apropos of nothing, I'm in the middle of re-reading Ball Four by Jim Bouton (who pitched for the Mavericks) and it turns out that "Battered Bastards of Baseball" is a direct quote from his book.

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Ebbets has already announced that they'll have Portland Mavericks stuff soon. However, since they only do flannels, they won't be doing jerseys for the Mavericks (who wore double knit).

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Second minor league game for me this month as we shlepped down to Trenton with some friends for the Trenton Thunder/Binghamton Mets game. Trenton's barn (Arm & Hammer Park) is really nice- friendly, compact and down to earth, with cute minor-league touches like a dog fetching the Trenton players' bats and modern touches like a huge, major league-quality HD board in right field. Forecast called for rain so we didn't bother with lotion- so naturally it was 90 degrees and brilliantly sunny and we all got burnt to a crisp. Bingo lost 7-2 so we're on an 0-for-2 slide with Mets affiliates... which thankfully hasn't deterred Cindy from her goal of seeing all the Mets minor league clubs. Bingo, St Lucie, Savannah, Las Vegas... this could almost work. :lol:

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  • 4 weeks later...

Crazy night at the ballpark the other night with the Spokane Indians hosting the Tri-City Dust Devils (AKA the team with Steve Garvey's kid).  With Spokane trailing 16-4 after 4-1/2 innings, I made the decision that I'd leave early unless Spokane scored in the bottom of the 5th.  They did, making it 16-5.  OK, fine, I'll stay another inning.  Spokane scores 7 more in the bottom of the 6th, making it 16-12.  Great, now it's fairly close and I decide to stick around to see if Spokane can complete the comeback.  In the 7th, a guy for Tri-City (who came in hitting .230) hits a bomb for his 2nd homer of the game and does an exaggerated bat flip.  Great, now I gotta stick around and see if Spokane drills him and we get a brawl.  Alas, no more fun to be had.  T-C tacked on 2 more runs to make it 21-12 for the final score.  Easily the highest-scoring game I've ever attended.

 

2 nights earlier, Sean Dwyer of T-C hit 2 home runs to dead center field at Avista - nearly identical shots that cleared the wall in pretty much the exact same spot.  Why do I mention this?  Because in 15 years and hundreds of games at Avista, I've never seen ONE ball hit out there, let alone TWO in one game.  It's only 396 to center but the wall is like 18 feet high and the ball doesn't carry.  So, yeah, 2 in 1 game?  Amazing.

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So apparently there is gonna be some changes in the PCL next year. The Dodgers are moving their AAA team from Albuquerque to Oklahoma City (which means the Astros will have to find a new AAA affiliate), The As are moving from Sacramento to Nashville (currently a Brewers affiliate) and the Giants are moving from Fresno to Sacramento.  

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So apparently there is gonna be some changes in the PCL next year. The Dodgers are moving their AAA team from Albuquerque to Oklahoma City (which means the Astros will have to find a new AAA affiliate), The As are moving from Sacramento to Nashville (currently a Brewers affiliate) and the Giants are moving from Fresno to Sacramento.  

 

I know that the LAD thing has been kicked around a lot, especially in the last week or so, but none of that stuff gets finalized until after postseason play gets completed. Have you seen anything that stated any of this was concrete? Also, all I've heard about the Sacramento/SFG deal would likely end in Oakland picking up the Grizzlies franchise, not Nashville. I live like 2 minutes from Raley Field, and I hope that they stay in the OAK organization. I would have to stop going to River Cats games if they were a Giants affiliate. (Unless Pence was rehabbing down there. Even as a DIEHARD Dodger fan, I can admit my love of Hunter Pence)

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