I have been away from the ballpark for far too long

Minor League Baseball offers some great sport and a night of fun for the family without the petulant managers, entitled high salaried players and Disney prices.

It has been nearly 30 years ago, when I moved to the Phoenix area and had a “real job” working for what was then USWEST. The company would eventually become Qwest and is now known as that abomination called Century Link.

I would find myself moving up to eventually work on product and process management for high-speed internet and multichannel video programming distribution (MVPD) services, only to be made redundant, because at the time, Qwest was jockeying to be Colorado’s largest employer and Phoenix area managers could not fit that qualification (and there was no money for full relocation).

So what the Sam Hill does this have to do with baseball?

My first job at USWEST was in 1996, just to get my foot into the door. I worked in a specialized sales center that dealt with those customers who do what we call today as telework or remote work. In those days, we called it “home office”. This was a high-pressure sales department with a nasty commission schedule. I had come from a different Regional Bell Operating Company that, at the time, did not have high pressure sales (mainly because the state cracked down on that by the time I got there) and I made my normal $17.17 per hour, regardless of how many calling plans I would do per day. Both the compensation as well as how orders were placed in systems was a complete culture shock. Where I came from, we put our own orders into the service order processor systems, now we have to send them to “order writers”, who got it right about 80% of the time.

Again, what does this have to do with going to the ballpark?

One of the perks of being in the sales centers, especially the specialized departments such as “Home Office”, there were certain incentives. During my time I was there, I had been able to attend Arizona Diamondbacks and WNBA Phoenix Mercury games, and not in just the “normal” seats, but in the skybox suites. That’s was a bucket list item for me. Not that I can afford to do that myself. Growing up as a kid, I would occasionally go to Dodger games and I would listen to legends like Vin Scully on the radio. This was back in the days of Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Reggie Smith and then eventually, Fernando Valenzuela. Honestly, I still bleed Dodger Blue today.

Since those days in the mid-90s, I had been too involved with other things in my life and attending pro sports events was way at the bottom of the radar. Even during the late 200Xs when I was involved in doing journalism for women’s flat track roller derby in Arizona, I never found the real need to go to see a MLB, NFL, NBA or NHL game. There just wasn’t enough time in the year to do that. Fast forward later into my life when I moved to Riverton, I married someone who did not have an interest in “sportsball” and yes, I totally respect that. Out on the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland, we do have a minor league team, the Delmarva Shorebirds, who is a single-A affiliate for the Baltimore Orioles.

On June 27, 2025, I will be attending the Savannah Bananas vs. Firefighters show at Nationals Park. Because I refuse to drive or park in DC (and after my last adventure, I am adding Baltimore to that list) , I stay at a hotel in Bowie, MD anytime I need to go to DC, such as to attend a meeting at the FCC. Across the highway from the hotel is Prince Georges County Stadium. The stadium is the home of the Chesapeake Baysox (formerly known as the Bowie Baysox), a double-A affiliate of the Orioles in the Eastern League. It seems that every time I need to come to DC (via Bowie), it is outside of baseball season or there is just no home game that night.

Fortunately for me, this time, there was one.

Given that I am not a huge fan these days of the major league baseball franchises, especially with all of the extreme salaries, bad TV deals and the petulant entitled behavior by owners, managers and players alike; and that I don’t have time to sit through a 3 hour+ whinefest, opting for the Jomboy breakdown; I am more inclined to show my support for the minor league baseball teams. These boys in the minors are barely scraping by but are working hard to get their big break. The front offices are also more of a family environment and it shows in the friendliness of the staff. Plus, the between inning promotions are fun to see. Mind you, they are not as strange as the ones that are done in Banana Ball, but unlike the Bigs, MiLB games are more “fans first”.

In this game, the 31-38 Baysox was taking on the 32-38 Altoona Curve, the AA affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The nice part about going to a minor league game, the ticket prices. I managed to get front row right behind the home dugout: $20, purchased directly from the team. Paid a few extra dollars for VIP parking (which became a godsend when the heavy rain started to fall after the game ended). Also, VIP included a “gift”. The gift, a nice ceramic mug:

The crowd was very light, likely because of the prospect of rain and it was a Thursday night game. But overall, the fans were friendly. We had one heckler who could be very well heard, but he was not too annoying. The minor league experience is more intimate than the big stadiums.

The rain started at the top of the 9th and the Curve was leading 3-1. In the bottom frame, the Baysox managed to load the bases and was able to score one run on a botched play at 1B. It was not enough and the game ends with the Curve winning 3-2 and rain starting to really come down.

If given the opportunity to do it again, I would do it in a heartbeat. Minor League Baseball is the development ground for tomorrow’s future stars. These boys deserve their day in the sun. Please come out to your local ballpark and show some love, especially with the ticket prices so low, compared to their MLB counterparts.

If you do go to see an Altoona Curve game, I have been reminded to tell you that you must learn their fight song first: