Keeping it Small

I have been getting into baseball this year. I played in a casual softball league, I started collecting hats, and I have been to a few games. In fact, for my birthday this year, my family and parents and siblings and their families and I all went to the stadium to watch a game on my birthday!

 But I'm only interested in Minor League.

I have been to major league games as a kid. I saw a few of the Cardinals games back when I lived in Illinois. But it wasn't until I went to the Gateway Grizzlies game that I really started to enjoy it. Major League games are so busy and crowded. Everything feels important all the time; I found it almost exhausting. But Minor League has a whole different vibe.

Minor League games are smaller, obviously. But that smallness is a virtue, not a flaw. The games are almost cozy and the stakes are low. Nothing feels serious or pressing, more like a bunch of friends playing a casual game rather than a big team where every swing feels like life and death. 

And it's cheap! For less than twenty bucks you can sit right at the base line if you want! And if you want to pay less you can see everything from any seat. Two dollar hotdogs and beers on Thursdays. So for the price of a movie with no food you could have 3 or more hours of relaxation. And if you are tired or have seen enough for the night you can leave early and not feel bad that your wasting money or missing anything important.

But here is the best part, the theme nights! In 2018 mostly all the Minor League teams joined the "Copa de la Diversión" otherwise know as the "Copa" or "Fun Cup". It is a celebration of baseballs Hispanic heritage and it's so fun! Most of the teams came up with alternative identities with their own mascots and uniforms and it is just fun and silly! It brings me joy to think about. My local team, The San Antonio Missions, has a fun Copa identity as The Flying Chanclas with bright pink, blue, and white as their colors! The Missions already had two fun mascots, Henry the Puffy Taco and Ballapeno. But with their Copa team they added a third, Ballapenos mom, Mamapeno! She is the wielder of the big Chancla and will sometimes whack Ballapeno with it in a Punch and Judy fashion. And a lot of the other teams new identities are fun too! The Amarillo sod poodles are sometimes the Amarillo Pointy Boots, The Akron Rubber Ducks are the Perros Caliente, and the Columbia Fireflies are the Chicharrones de Colombia. It's all just a lot of fun and the world seems like a more wonderful place having this in it.

Last night my dad, my son, and I went to a game. The Chanclas didn't win. Infact I have never seen them win an official game ever. But that doesn't matter because we got to hang out, it was a nice night, we filled up on peanuts and shaved ice, and got to cheer when our team got a hit and boo when the away team got two home runs. The most exciting part was when a batter on our team hit a ball so hard that his bat exploded in two and the top half sailed backwards and got stuck in the big net that protects the crowd from foul balls. Winning didn't matter. We couldn't have cared less that the score was 7 to 0, it was just a fun, relaxing time. 

In the world it seems that everything is pushing to be the biggest, the loudest, have the most eyes pointing at it. If your YouTube channel has less that million subscribers then you haven't "made it". It's easy to get trapped in that maelstrom of noise and scream to be heard over it. But sometimes, like in Minor League Baseball, it's better to have a small and personal experience. Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to watch The Sandlot with my kids.