Written by I took some time for myself and my family recently, and we got to do some traveling. Something we have not done in over a year due to the pandemic and all the fun that brought to our world. Before going on our trip, I did some looking around online to see if it would be possible to take in a baseball game of some kind in any of the places we would be visiting. I knew Major League Baseball games might be a bit of a stretch to bring the entire family to, especially with ticket prices rising, so I focused more on Minor League Baseball.
As much as I love watching games at the professional level, I am just as big of a fan of watching the minor leagues. This is where young players get a chance to prove themselves worthy of being called up to the “Bigs” and develop the fundamentals that will help them stay there should they be afforded the opportunity. They play all out here, make mistakes, and hopefully learn what it means to play a game on a professional level, but most of all, it’s a chance for the players to still have fun with the game and the fans.
So I looked to see if there would be any home games we might be able to attend. Unfortunately, the home teams for the areas we would be close to were all playing away during the time we would be in there, or they would be playing a home game the last day we would be around. However, fortune smiled on us as I found out the team that plays in the hometown I grew up in would actually have a couple of home games during our time there. In fact, they would be playing a game the day after we got into town.
Anyone who follows baseball knows, especially the minor leagues, there are more rungs on the ladder to the pros than one can fully keep track of. Then, there are the independent leagues that can feed into the minor league system but are not affiliated with them. For example, there is the American Association of Professional Baseball which features teams like the Sioux Falls Canaries, Chicago Dogs, and Milwaukee Milkmen. The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball hosts teams such as the York Revolution, Lancaster Barnstormers, and Gastonia Honey Hunters, among others. These leagues harken back to the baseball of yesteryear when teams would travel the country “barnstorming” and playing against whatever teams local areas could put together. Then there are the summer leagues which are geared more towards collegiate players wanting to get more playing time in, the experience that comes with it, and the potential for being in front of major league scouts. These leagues were popularized by the 2001 movie, “Summer Catch,” which focused on the Cape Cod League.
In the case of our trip, the New England Collegiate Baseball League’s Winnipesaukee Muskrats would be playing a couple of games at home which would provide the opportunity I had been looking for, to see some live baseball with my family. The benefits of watching games at this level, aside from getting to see young players develop, are the relatively inexpensive ticket and concession prices, the close proximity to the field and players, and the family-friendly atmosphere.
While this season’s version of the Muskrats are not currently leading their league, they are still out there every day grinding away, playing a game that they love, and having fun doing it. The game we watched saw the Muskrats playing against the Upper Valley Nighthawks. My son, who is eight, and had played a season of T-Ball prior to CoVID, was excited to go to the game. My youngest daughter, at nine-going-on-21, was her usual precocious self wanting to know all that she possibly could about the game, the rules, and the players. (To say I was a proud baseball dad was an understatement, especially when they started getting into the game and cheering for the home team.)
We watched as the Nighthawks struck first, hanging three runs in the first inning. Winnipesaukee struck back in the bottom half of the inning but were only able to notch a single run. The game went on like this, with Upper Valley scoring more often than the Muskrats, and seemingly more umpiring calls going in favor of Upper Valley than the home team. This, of course, resulted in more than a few vociferous questions about which game the umpires were actually watching, some of which may have come from this author, to the amusement of the local fans, but all in good “G-rated” fun. The Muskrats did wake the crowd up with a huge fifth-inning two-run home run to bring the team within half of Upper Valley’s eight-run lead.
As the game drew closer and closer to the end, and Winnipesaukee’s eventual 10-to-7 loss, my daughter was presented with an opportunity not seen outside of this level of play. She was tossed a game ball from one of the players in the makeshift “bullpen” next to the stands we were seated in. She mentioned that she wanted to try and get some of the players to sign her ball, and we absolutely encouraged her to go down and see if the players would do so. Not only did she get one player to graciously sign her ball, but she was also able to walk the length of the bullpen and get all of the players seated there to sign her ball. She even helped her brother do the same, resulting not only in some incredible memories and treasured keepsakes, but even more respect gained for the young players from our family and the other fans around us.
While the game may not have had the outcome we would have wanted for the hometown team, the way the teams played, the fun the players and the fans had throughout the game, and the sportsmanship shown, even in the face of what I still consider questionable umpiring, set an example of what good baseball should be. At the end of the day, whether the players are being paid or not, it is still a game, and it’s supposed to be fun. You play for the love of the game, and take joy from the fact that people want to see you play to the best of your ability.
The encouragement from the coaches, the “all-or-nothing” attitude, and the way the Muskrats players enthusiastically cheered on their teammates, really showed what it means to have a solid culture in the clubhouse. The team seemed to take a line from the television show, Ted Lasso, and played like they had the memory of goldfish and did not let the loss deter them or bring them down. The biggest take-away from this is to enjoy what you do, do it to the best of your ability, and, to use baseball parlance, take it one inning at a time.