COLUMN: HR derby to decide extras? Sign me up
Once upon a time fans of the Billings Mustangs used to enjoy “Foamers,” which was a 10-minute period after a player from the home team hit a homer in which fans could get free adult beverages.
In 1983 the stampede toward the beer gardens — when a Mustang named Scott Losecke hit a no-doubter at Cobb Field — startled my dad.
By the time I got to the Billings Gazette in 1991, “Foamers” was replaced by the “Beer Batter,” where reduced-price beer (say, a tray of four for $7) was offered for the duration of the half-inning after a selected player got a knock.
Eventually no such alcohol and line drive-based celebrations existed. This is considered progress.
Now it’s 2021 and none of the eight current Pioneer League teams, a far-flung circuit that includes the Mustangs, Great Falls Voyagers and Missoula Paddleheads, has a Major League affiliation.
Left to its own devices the PL has decided to have courtesy runners, a re-entry for batters being pinch-hit for and, best of all, a home run derby to decide wins instead of extra innings.
Heck, yes. Free baseball is free baseball.
Sportswriters around the state noted that this last move is deadline-friendly, though I’m not sure. First, someone has to drag out the L-screen, if not the shell. Second, newspaper deadlines keep getting earlier.
Third, somebody else has to throw. Will it be a coach, who’s already thrown pre-game BP and really just wanted to get completely naked — I’m thinking of a specific, hirsute former Mustangs manager here — and enjoy a foamer?
Probably. Without post-game reports (“Losecke: One solid contact, fourth inning”) to fill out for the Reds, White Sox or Diamondbacks, I suppose the staff could be imposed on.
These changes may tend to bother baseball “purists,” and serve to make the minor leagues more minor. I say, Let’s do this.
In 1998 the Billings Mustangs franchise turned 50 and my employers thought it’d be great to send me on the road with them. I was annoyed; so was the radio guy, who suddenly didn’t have his own bench seat on the bus.
Yet it was a revelation. Example: I’d seen the movie, “American Pie,” at the theatre and found it to be amusing. Then I watched it with 25 men aged 18-23 and it turns out it is the funniest movie ever made.
By the time we got back from a trip to Ogden and Idaho Falls I knew every player by name — something that hadn’t happened from 1994-97. Seven players on that team made The Show, including Adam Dunn, Austin Kearns and BJ Ryan.
My favorite on that team? Probably shortstop Andrew Beattie, who while he was sitting out one game called up to the Cobb Field (now Dehler Park) press box and asked the PA announcer to acknowledge two friends who’d traveled far to watch him play.
One was a well-known adult actor; the other was one of Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends. And Hank Cox, may he rest in peace, said, “Sure!” and then did exactly as asked.
All of which is to say there have always been characters in minor league baseball, and that won’t change now. We are very likely to have more per team in this new PL.
I’m beyond disgusted that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred ended affiliation for 40 minor-league teams. Sure, on one hand I’ve heard it cost the Reds $30 million each year to put a team in Billings; on the other that figure includes bonus baby pay and dammit, the money is there.
I have a certain sense of dread about what will happen to these teams left behind. I hope the independent-style league is a wave of the future if only to prove Manfred wrong — except we might be proving him right. In which case I’ll be more annoyed.
I’ll always have 1994-99 with the Billings Mustangs — an amazing time full of excellent players and colorful characters. May these teams never leave or stop giving baseball fans memories of a summer night, where a fan can grab a foamer — starting May 22 in Missoula — and only guess what might happen next.
Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 758-4463 or fneighbor@dailyinterlake.com