Life Goes On
It had to happen eventually: not only is the (regular) season over, but I am all out of “On the Road” content. I hope that you enjoyed this year’s crop of road trip posts and articles — this sort of material is something that continues to grow and evolve from season to season, and I’m always looking to improve and expand upon that which I’ve done before. There is still a long way to go.
So, what now?
A lot of things, really. I’ve got a ton of “Return to the Road” material left to share (aka “non-baseball road trip content)”, some guest posts to assemble and disseminate, and I’m currently in the midst of the mentally exhausting task of compiling 2012’s “Promotion of the Year” MiLBY nominees. (Please, get in touch if you have any opinions to share on that front.)
But, for now, let me return to the full-to-bursting “potential blog topics” folder that resides deep within my Outlook account. Oh, yeah — we’re going to do this post “Bouillabaisse” style. There will be plenty more where this came from.
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Let’s begin by taking a look at one of the best theme jerseys of the season, worn by the Colorado Springs Sky Sox on July 28th:
These jerseys were worn to commemorate the heroic efforts of the Colorado Springs police and firefighters who risked life and limb to combat the Waldo Canyon fire that raged through the region in early July.
From the press release:
These game worn jerseys will be auctioned off during and after the game with 100% of the proceeds benefiting local fire and
police designated charities. The Colorado Springs Fire Protective Association will receive 50% of the proceeds and the other 50% will support the Police Foundation of Colorado Springs.
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Let’s proceed to a considerably smaller scale and quirkier charitable effort that was detailed on this blog a few months back: Northwestern University’s “Schedule Cards for Kevin.” Click on the link to read more about it, but the premise is simply that the university was collecting schedule cards for a developmentally disabled Northwestern super-fan. I asked Minor League teams and fans to join the cause, and many did so. But worthy of special note is Albuquerque-based Biz Blog reader Dave H., who sent along the following array of schedules to Kevin. How cool is this?
In an email, Halliday shared the circumstances that led to his having so many pocket schedules. His anecdote is a reminder of just how much has changed with the advent of the internet. In the old days, collecting Minor League memorabilia took serious effort:
In the early 70s I just had to have a fitted Yankees cap just like the players wear. Found a store in downtown LA that had one. Fast forward a few years and I had a players cap for every MLB team. All I had to look forward to each year were the small number of changes teams made to their uniforms. Then I discovered Minor League teams had much cooler caps, colors, and nicknames. But availability at that time was certainly local. A worker at our local minor league team noticed my Denver Bears cap and commented that he just saw Denver play in Oklahoma City. When I asked him how I might get an Oklahoma City cap, he showed me his copy of Baseball America’s Directory. I got my own copy and sent requests to over 100 teams for a mail order souvenir list. It was amazing what teams sent to me. Full color brochures, type-written product lists, phone numbers of employees that might be willing to take time to throw something in a box if my check cleared. Of course marketing has changed the last 25 years, as has my collection. I still look forward to the ever changing name/logo/color changes that make Minor League Baseball unique.
So, among the stuff sent to me 20 some years ago were schedule cards. I just kept them stored away. And I would casually pick some up wherever I went. Attached is a photo of over 30 duplicate schedule cards that I am more than willing to send to Kevin, along with some ticket stubs I’ve kept. Hopefully there are some he doesn’t have and maybe a few teams he has never heard of.
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Reader correspondence is one of my favorite aspects of this job — keep sending the emails, and I will keep answering them!
Recently the scorekeeping savant known as Stevo got in touch with some anecdotes from the Louisville Bats’ “Halloween Night” promotion. Among the evening’s special features were videoboard headshots in which the players were “disguised” as someone (or something) else. This one, of Corky Miller, was particularly apropos.
Of this there can be no doubt: International League icon Corky Miller is the Yosemite Sam of our time.
benjamin.hill@mlb.com
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