To truly understand what’s going on as minor league teams are pulverized into oblivion by Major League Baseball, you must talk to the people who deal every day with the fans and with the game right there in front of them.
That would be an usher behind home plate.
After visiting hundreds of ballparks throughout my career, I can tell you that without a doubt, behind home plate is where the action is and that is where you will find the pulse of any franchise. Ushers in that area are locked in, not only to the game, but to the fans and scouts who always sit in that sacred space.
Those ushers have the blood of baseball running through their veins.
In the minor leagues particularly, they see the same fans night after night to their seats. To those fans, the game is only part of the experience. Sections become neighborhoods.
Everyone knows everything that is going on around them. It is a family affair.
I also know this.
As much as MLB wants baseball to become Amazon-like under commissioner Rob Manfred, it must still take care of the Mom and Pop stores to have sustainable success.
That is how you grow the game, not with the travesty that took place this week as 40 minor league teams were told to get lost by Manfred & MLB Owners.
The Tri-City ValleyCats based in Troy, NY, are one of 40 franchises no longer affiliated with Major League Baseball and the fans, the people working for the team and the Capital Region – Troy, Albany and Schenectady – were crushed by the decision.
Growing up in Kenilworth N.J., I learned about friendships and commitment. You were loyal to your friends. You would never just leave them flat. If you got labeled a “flat-leaver’’ your name was mud.
Right now, MLB left 40 minor league teams flat, flat-leavers in the name of progress.
Shame on them.
For the last 13 years Dan Carubia has been an usher at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium, affectionately known as The Joe, home to the ValleyCats, the short-season Class A New York-Penn League team that was affiliated with the Astros the last 18 years.
Carubia closely followed every aspect of the team, was there for every game, knows the fans, and during spring training would travel to Florida to do interviews with former ValleyCats in conjunction the public relations arm of the team, players like (future Met) George Springer and Jose Altuve.
1 comment:
Hopefully we'll see the rise of Independent leagues, of local leagues, of semi-pro leagues with true roots in local communities.
Baseball, the game, is bigger than MLB.
And, also, it is not MLB's obligation to run a bloated operation.
Jimmy
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