Here We Go Again

March 6, 2012

I looked at my watch this morning and it read “March,” which reminded me that purchasing a timepiece that only displays the month was a pretty stupid thing to do.

It also reminded me that it is March, and, therefore, the 2012 baseball season is only a month away. And, like in each of the past three seasons, I plan to travel the Minor League landscape to the extent that time, money, and my uber-delicate emotional state will allow.

Potential travel area (sans Alaska, unfortunately).

And here, of course, is where you come in: Where should I go, and why? One of the most gratifying things about the 2011 season was the extent to which readers of this blog, and MiLB.com in general, shared their local expertise and suggestions. (Carolinians were especially helpful in this regard).

This expertise, combined with the hospitable attitudes of the teams I visited, resulted in a heap of largely unprecedented baseball journalism (you can put “journalism” in quotes if you want. I’m fine with that). It was a season of sumo wrestling, pies to the face, bat-burning rituals, late-night donut shops, eating contests, polka-dot pigeons, rustic locker rooms, flying rubber chickens, scrapple sandwiches, molar mascotting, and dozens (if not hundreds or perhaps even millions) more uniquely Minor League moments.

Just another night on the job.

2012 is going to be more of the same, and then some. So, again, where should I go and why? I’m always up for creative ideas, whether it be performing ballpark jobs, profiling a ballpark character, checking out the local sights before (and after) a game, collaborating on a promotion, competing in between-inning contests, trying all of the ballpark culinary specialties, any combination of the above, or just about anything else you can think of.

And, teams, this doesn’t necessarily have to be a “one and done” endeavor. Perhaps I could serve as an intern over the course of a homestand? Or go on a road trip in the team bus? Or live in the dim sepulchral glow of the stadium’s interior, emerging only to hunt rats in the murky pre-dawn?

The world is ours.

I'll work for free. Quality not-quite guaranteed.

Please, get in touch via the comments section, Twitter, or email (the latter two methods of communication are, as always, listed at the end of this email). I’m aiming for (at least) four trips of a week or more in length, as well as various incidental outings at locations accessible from NYC. As always, the overall goal is to illuminate the extent to which Minor League Baseball is America. And, also, to convince myself that I have chosen a viable career path.

Please, help me make the 2012 season the best that it can be. Or, barring that, at least suggest some ways in which I can creatively humiliate myself on professional baseball diamonds nationwide. I look forward to hearing from you.

benjamin.hill@mlb.com

twitter.com/bensbiz

Written by BensBiz Posted in Minor League Baseball, Promotions, Travel Tagged with making a go of it, On the Road, planning