Question For You: Minor League Games

went to AAA, AA, and SS-A. I enjoyed SS-A better as your could actually talk to the prospects for a time. Too bad they did away with Oneonta. AAA is awful, the players can be dicks. AA is hit or miss, some guys are cool Brad Holt, Mejia, Montero are great examples of being cool to fans.

It’s hard to say I go to Brooklyn Cyclones games for anything other than the atmosphere, when the stadium is a beautiful example of minor league closeness, plus it’s squarely on the beach, with Astroland (RIP) visible over the left-field wall. I do love the NY-Penn league, and am a Mets fan, so I do enjoy the baseball aspect, no doubt, but the true attraction for Cyclones games is the fun times and wonderful atmosphere at KeySpan. I go to a good handful of games each summer. The stadium for the Staten Island Yankees is also a nice draw, with Manhattan visible over the wall and across the Harbor.

Growing up, I regularly attended Knoxville Blue Jays, Nashville Sounds, and Birmingham Barons games. I was a ravenous baseball consumer in any form. Though it seems I spent more time chasing foul balls at K-Jays games than watching the action (I have dozens of Southern League balls to this day). Though I paid enough attention to know which players’ autographs I wanted after the game. Players were usually quite gracious and approachable. Seeing the Barons play at Rickwood was always fun, as Rickwood is a treasure trove of baseball history. And I’ll never forget seeing Michael Jordan and Frank Thomas (rehabbing an injury) play in the same game. Jordan hit a double, even.

if i had a team within an hour of where i live i’d probably go to at least 30 games a year.

I frequent about 15 Prince William Cannons game a year (15 min from stadium) a couple Frederick Keys and Bowie Bay Soxs games and I try to make it down for at least 1 Richmond Braves game a year.

My wife and I go to 10-12 minor league games a year. We live in Durham,within walking distance of the stadium, so most of them are Bulls games, but when traveling we try to go to games in other areas. I study closely, my wife takes in the atmosphere. My preference is really AA ball as opposed to AAA since there are so many older players (non-prospects) in AAA.

# About 70. Mostly A- and A+

What teams/leagues do you prefer? I hold season tickets to the Potomac Nationals, and I make it a point to go to Harrisburg and Hagerstown at least once a summer, and most summers, I also make it to Frederick and Bowie, too.

Study…Atmosphere? Both. I go to a game every weekend that my team is on the road and will gladly go to an independent-league game knowing full well that these are still professional baseball players – I’m not one of those affiliated-only snobs.

I get to about 20 games a year. About 15 AA Carolina Mudcats games and 5-10 Durham Bulls games. The wife and I also sometimes make trips to all star games if they’re in a good location. This year we’re going to the AAA all star game at the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs home field.
I sometimes go to relax and sometimes to study players. It depends on who I’m seeing and my mood. My wife enjoys the atmosphere and picks favorites based mostly on how nice the guys are, not how talented they are (God forbid I ever say anything bad about Johnny Rayburn’s ability, as he is a truly nice guy).

I live really close to Kane County, so I make quite a few of their games. Those I’ll take the family to.

I also travel for work quite a bit (around 40%), so I get to catch games all around the US. Last year alone I watched games in Chattanooga, Indy, Lowell, Winston-Salem and Harrisburg. This year I am hoping to add Salt Lake, Portland and Myrtle Beach to the list.

I also grew up in Peoria, so I went to many many Chiefs games as a kid. I remember when I was in college they actually brought in Jim Thome right after he broke into the bigs with Cleveland, and they had a booth set up. I was able to get his autograph and shake his hand. That was pretty cool.

How many minor league games do you attend each year? Roughly 5. I live on Long Island, and it’s virtually impossible to get to any weekday games, as the closest team (Brooklyn Cyclones) is a good hour away, so that leaves weekends.

What teams/leagues do you prefer? Anywhere I can get to, but I love low minor league ballparks for the atmosphere. I’ve been to a few upper minors games (AA, AAA) and I just like the atmosphere of the low minors better, I think. The small ballparks, the rosters of (mostly) unknown players.

Do you study the players closely, or do you just go to enjoy the atmosphere? I usually just enjoy the atmosphere, unless there’s a player I really want to look at. One time, at Oneonta, I was right behind home plate watching Randy Choate throw a complete-game one-hitter. That was cool.

Do you take the family? Yup. Although the kids usually don’t make it past the 7th inning.

Catch some of the Eugene Emeralds or Keizer Volcanoes (short season low a), and occasional AAA games In Portland. I take my sons, though they don’t have the passion for baseball that I do. I usually pick out the few players that are considered true prospects and watch them carefully, o/w we just enjoy the atmosphere.

But how many minor league games do you attend each year?
I usually hit about 65 minor league games a year.

What teams/leagues do you prefer?
I prefer the teams and leagues near my house! Seriously though I used to live in a AAA town and I really enjoyed that major league/minor league connection. I also saw AA in two town (one an hour away, the other 2 hours away). I liked seeing guys develop from the low minors to higher levels of play. Plus you see a lot of future major leaguers in AA. For instance the 2006 Texas Lg AS game featured Troy Tulowitzki, Hunter PEnce, Alex Gorson, Billy Butler, Chris Ianetta, Ubaldo Jimenez, Brandon Wood, Kurt Suzuki and Ben Zobrist.

Now I live in the Carolina League and see games for 3 SAL teams as well. The competition isn’t as good, but you get to see players develop. You also get to see the disasters – guys who were picked in early rounds and just dont’ pan out – a lot of those guys never made it to AAA.

Do you study the players closely, or do you just go to enjoy the atmosphere?
A little of both – some places are filled to the brim with atmosphere. The old Ray Winder Stadium in Little Rock was almost too hard to pay attention to the games. The fans were always rowdy, the beer cheap, the setting was intimate and you just couldn’t help but watch what was going on. They don’t have places like that anymore – the new parks just don’t measure up in that regard – too gentrified, both the buildings and the fans.

But I always watch the players. You really get a feel for who has what it takes to succeed. I just wish more parks let you in for batting practice – you can learn as much about a player in bp then you can in the game sometimes.

Do you take the family? No. I want to watch the game, family prohibits that. Occasionally my husband will go with me – if there is a guy he wants to see (a major leaguer) or a guy who went to Carolina (our alum).

I do see some games in the Appy League, too. That’s almost like watching high school ball some days – but you do see some high round draft picks – lots of foreign guys, too. Again, always an interesting crowd to watch if the game gets too boring.

Typically about 5 AA games a year, live about an hour away from Tennessee Smokies (Cubs AA), but I am right smack in the middle of the Appy League and see a lot of games. Usually watch JC Cardinals or Elizabethton Twins, as they typically have more intriguing prospects to watch. Looking to attend more AA this year as there looks to be a lot of top organizational prospects playing in the Southern League this year.

I am a big Indians fan so I prefer their minor league teams. I follow all minor leaguers on the computer to compare the Indians farm system. Last year I went to 6 or 7 Akron Aeros games. It is a family event. I have 6 year old twin boys who go to all the games with me and my wife wants to start going with us this year. I plan on also attending games for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Indians A affiliate) and Lake County Captains (Indians A affiliatte).

I live about 20 min from Safeco and 25 from Cheney Stadium (Tacoma Rainers) and go to 3-4 games at each. Mainley go to Tacoma because it’s a lot cheaper and I can take my nephews to a game without breaking the bank…frankly they don’t seem to care much Tacoma vs. Seattle and they live even closer to Cheney than I do.

Hoping to catch an Everett Aquasox game this year, but it’s over an hour a way.

It’s nice having the Seattle AAA club so close, but I wish we had a AA club close to go see. Better chance of seeing more real up and coming prospects it seems to me.

I probably have to say I go for atmosphere, or more correctly, to share the love of baseball with my nephews and see the game through their eyes. It helps to kindle my enthusiasm even more to see their love for the game develop. By myself, I’d rather watch the MLB game on TV than pay the prices and deal with parking and such.

I work swing shift so I can only go to games on the weekend unless I take a day off, which obviously affects how often I can get to games.

I had the misfortune of growing up in one of the only states in the country with no minor league team (Minnesota). We had the majors, of course, but the nearest minor league teams were either Beloit or Des Moines, both about six hours away.

I do, however, make as many minor league road trips as I can, and hit 3 or 4 cities at a time. Over the years I’ve gotten to most of the Midwest League along with a handful of AAA teams.

You asked, I’m just answering.

I’m here for information I can use in my scoresheet leagues. I know it’s kind of heretical, but that’s my main entry point into baseball these days.

Live in Grand Rapids are now, so we see a few West Michigan Whitecaps games a year.

Before that, hailed from Saginaw area. We would go down to see Lansing Lugnuts games. I love that stadium, the way it’s built down, half underground.

Grew up going to Tiger Stadium every year, and Comerica has nothing, compared to that. Upper deck in Lf or RF was just an awesome cheap seat, at Tiger Stadium. So, I don’t even bother going there anymore, with all the minor league ball, now in the state.

I go to quite a bit of Binghamton Mets games per year as I grew up and live in the area, and being a Mets fan it’s nice to see the up-and-comers.

I’ve been down to Scranton-Wilkes Barre games as well. They were with the Phillies at that point. Unfortunately, the Yanks grabbed S-WB and not the Mets. Would’ve been nice to have the Mets AA and AAA clubs within an hour of me.

I’ve never gone to an Oneonta Tigers game as Detroit is AL and I don’t follow their minors much and don’t have much incentive to go as the park, last time I saw (years ago) was awful.

Syracuse Chiefs games are also only an hour away, and I was hoping the Mets might look here too for their AAA squad this past year. Never been, but I wouldn’t mind going up to a game if Buffalo is in town as the Bison should be loaded with prospects like Davis, Martinez, Tejada, Thole, and Chris “When can I get a chance?” Carter.