SALT LAKE CITY- The picturesque snow-covered mountains stood in the background. Bumble in his black-and-yellow-striped costume pranced around the half-filled stadium and the yellow train slowly, circled the outfield track. It was minor-league baseball at its finest on a sun-drenched Saturday afternoon.
It was the Salt Lake Bees hosting the Sacramento River Cats in a half-empty Franklin Covey Field. Sure we came to watch the NCAA gymnastic championships, but you can never pass up some exciting minor league baseball.
“Trying to achieve your dream in minor league baseball I think you try and create opportunities for yourself in the big leagues, and the more opportunities you create for yourself, the more opportunities you have,” said Salt Lake pitcher Greg Jones.
Minor league baseball is no walk in the park and is definitely no glamorous life compared to the major leagues. The minors consists of long bus rides, crappy food, cramped locker rooms, used equipment and very little pay.
“There are a lot of players here that could be playing in the big leagues for a lot of teams. Baseball is the toughest sport to get to the highest level. You got to work your way through the minor leagues,” said Bees Head Coach Brian Harper.
There are players that are 23 years old and others like Jones, that are 30 and have been in professional baseball for 10 years and still played just over a year in the majors.
Many think getting to the major leagues is the hard part, but the hard part is trying to stay there for a long time and hopefully for your entire career. Many times players from triple-a, which is the highest level of minor league baseball, are called up to the majors for a day, week or month just to replace an injured player and then are sent back down after that player returns.
“Triple-A, there are guys just waiting to go to the big leagues, most of the guys here are ready for the big leagues, waiting for the right time,” said Bees pitcher Henry Bonilla, who is now spending his seventh year in the minors and has yet to make it up to the majors.
“You can’t worry or control anything other than your performance. So many times you worry about who is ahead of you or who is behind you and that is really out of your realm. The only thing a ball player can control is his performance,” said a disappointed Harper after his team lost 10-0 on Saturday.
The minor leagues have all the same rules and dimensions of the majors, but have a much different style while the game is going on. During Saturday afternoon’s game, there was a fly-fishing contest to see which kid could cast the farthest. A hula hoping contest, a potato sack race and a ball toss all took place between innings.
The minor leagues are no business conference like going to a major league game is, where many companies will bring their clients to try and entice and impress them. There is no space for that at a minor league game, where the attitude is free flowing, and the crowd is enthusiastic and very much into the game.
“It’s a great city to play in. It is just a great community in general for baseball and the fans could not be more supportive,” said Jones.
Minor league baseball first came to Salt Lake City in 1994, and the Bees have been an affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels since 2001. Therefore all the players on the Bees roster belong to the Angels organization.
“You always think you could draw a little bit more. I think the direction the team is going with the ownership and everything is a good direction, so it should go up from here,” said Harper.
The team is owned by Larry H. Miller who also owns the only major professional sport in town, the NBA’s Utah Jazz. The Bees saw a great average of 10,189 fans per game in their first season in 1994 but since then have slowly decreased to an average of 6,550 fans last season.
Attracting fans in a small market like Salt Lake City, which also houses many other minor league sports, is a tough task, and all the tricks in marketing and advertising are used.
“As far as better than the worst major league cities and the best minor league cities, but as minor league cities go this is by far and away the best,” said Jones who has played in Salt Lake City off-and-on for the past five years.
In some sports, the love for the game is questionable due to the amount of money and fame that athletes receive, but this is certainly not true in baseball and especially in the minors. Players like Jones in their thirties are still playing in the minors and have not given up on their dream of playing consistently in the major’s and making an impact on a team. Also, they have not given up on their love for the sport, a sport that at times pays them barely enough to get by. Most rookie ball and single-A players live with host families to save on rent and barely get $600-700 a month. Other players, like Jones who is on the cusp of a big league roster, are currently in the range of $400,000 and can live a little more comfortably.
Not only do the mountains provide a backdrop for minor league baseball in Salt Lake City, but also down south in Colorado Springs, where the Rockies triple-A affiliate Sky Sox call home.
The life of a minor league baseball player might not be that of the rich and famous, but the atmosphere surrounding the game is right up there. The next time you want some cheap but very exciting entertainment go check out some minor league baseball.
