The New York-Penn League is a strange animal.
While it is a professional baseball league, it also serves as one of the lowest stepping stones on the way to the majors. So as a fan, player, or reporter it is difficult to form any kind of real connection with anyone involved.
The NY-Penn League isn't like the major leagues -- outside of lack of talent -- because there is no continuity to who plays on the hometown team. Every player on the State College roster didn't know he was going to be playing in Happy Valley until roughly a week before the season began.
The fans are hurt the most in the shuffle of a short-season minor league team like the Spikes because even if they do begin to root for a certain player, there is no guarantee that he will be here for the entire season -- and there's no chance he'll come back next season. The most recent example of this is the recent call-up of fan favorite Jose Salazar to The Swing of the Quad Cities on Saturday. Salazar, a non-drafted player, quickly grew in popularity because of his hard-nosed play and maybe more because of how close his name sounded to the chant "Ole-ole-ole." But unfortunately for all of the kids in State College who might have gone out and bought Salazar jerseys or bought tickets to see him play later in the season, he will most likely not come back to the Spikes unless he completely tanks in the Midwest League.
But on the plus side -- and one of the redeeming factors of the NY-Penn League -- it gives the reporters and fans a chance to the see and interact with the future of baseball before they get a big head. This is especially a treat for the fans because it gives them a chance to collect autographs and meet players who could one day be inducted into the Hall of Fame. But the downside is they could also accumulate a collection of a "who's who" of failed prospects (Rick Ankiel, anyone?). Yet, that is the fun of the league; you honestly never know what you're going to get.
But that's the nature of a low-level minor league team. The fans will come back if the environment is fun -- not for who is on the team. And for the players, the team is like a stop-over on a long flight. Even though State College has the most modern park and has a lot of bells and whistles, it's sort of like having the best mailroom in all of corporate America -- the mailroom might be a fantastic place to be, but it's the absolutely the last place you want to be in the company. So the faster you get out, the better.
Even though the league is used for nothing more than evaluating talent, it still gives you exciting moments -- Nathan Southard's inside-the-park walk-off home run -- and also what's more fun than sitting and watching baseball on a lazy summer evening, even if it has the possibility of being bad baseball? But bad baseball is still baseball.
The NY-Penn League is a strange animal, but one I've grown to love.
Blood Battle
The State College Spikes and the Altoona Curve are challenging their fans to donate blood and help area hospital patients. The team with the most fans donating will win the Blood Battle of the Ball Parks Trophy -- a trophy that will be awarded each year to the winning team. The event began yesterday and will run through tomorrow. Donations are being taken today and tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Bryce Jordan Center at gate B.
The blood drives are also part of the American Red Cross summer campaign, "Keep the Motor Runnin'." One lucky donor will win a 2006 Harley Davidson Fat Boy motorcycle. All donors will receive a Harley-Red Cross T-shirt and the chance to win the bike with each donation through Sept. 30.
Backing the Ironbirds
The Aberdeen IronBirds and Baltimore Orioles announced Thursday that the teams have signed a new player development contract, which extends the affiliation between the teams through the 2010 season.
The new contract extends the original agreement signed prior to the IronBirds inaugural season in 2002.
The IronBirds have been an instrumental part of the Orioles organization. Seven former IronBirds have made it to the majors: Brandon Fahey, Jeff Fiorentino, Adam Loewen, Nick Markakis, John Maine, Val Majewski and Chris Ray.
If You Build It...
After seeing record crowds through the first half of the season, minor league baseball's attendance numbers keep going through the roof.
The 9,843,264 attendees in July alone pushed the season total to 31,600,065 with the big month of August and several days in September still to go.
The 31.6 million fans represent an increase of 668,051 over the same period for the 2005 season when minor league baseball set its all-time record of 41,333,279. That's an increase of 2.2 percent in raw numbers for the 176 teams in the 15 affiliated leagues, and the New York-Penn leads the short-season leagues with an average of 3,530.
