It's a Kids Game

I love baseball. It’s a great game that I’ve played and watched since I was a kid. But I hate Major League Baseball. It’s ugly and corrupted by money, drugs, celebrity and power - I’m talking about the players AND the owners.

But minor league baseball is different. It thrives in towns and small cities throughout the US. Even thought it's called "minor", it’s good baseball played with passion. When you go to a game you usually run into people you know and the seats are cheap. The players are talented, accessible and haven’t (yet!) succumbed to the evils of money, drugs, celebrity and/or power.

My favorite aspect? They usually put on big deal for the kids in attendance. High schoolers singing the pledge, mascots racing a kid around the bases, birthday kids invited to the mound during the seventh inning stretch… don't see this stuff at a MLB game. Too bad. In the minor leagues, they remember that it’s just a game.

My hometown team is the Stockton Ports. Also known as the Mudville Nine, they're the inspiration for the famous poem "Casey at the Bat", written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer. Seriously, that’s us!

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out.

BTW, the Ports trounced the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes by a final of 21-7!