Hello, folks - looks like we're going to have a dark Coronaviriffic winter, so I'm kicking my ass in gear and I'm going to start writing posts here at Rock And Roll And Baseball again. It's been almost a decade since I was actively posting here, but why not again? I'm feeling it.
Today, in the Twin Cities, we learned that the Minnesota Twins are considering taking over the St. Paul Saints and making them their Triple-A affiliate. I have thoughts, but first, here's the link to the Star-Tribune article which discusses this. Twins drop Rochester as AAA affiliate, eye St. Paul as replacement
(I initially posted this at my facebook page - with a few small edits, I'm reposting here)
The Star-Tribune reports that the Minnesota Twins have dropped Rochester, NY as their Triple-A team, and are talking with the St Paul Saints about stepping into that role. Now. This seems appealing on the face of it. Who could argue with both the fun for fans of seeing top Twins prospects play less than 10 miles from Target Field, and the according sweet travel/other logistics for players and employees? The "Rochester Shuttle" becomes the Green Line, if you will.
But on the other hand, I'm wary. Mike Veeck's vision for a baseball experience is about a different from that of Rob Manfred and company's as I can imagine. Now, it's possible my concern is in fact obsolete in 2020. It's possible that the "Fun Is Good" attitude, which the Saints sort of brought into the baseball universe, has now permeated MLB-affiliated leagues to the point where the team would still operate in most or all of its wacky ways. Indeed, as I've watched the Saints over the past decade-plus and especially move from that crummy, uneven-field, shitty-bleachered, loose, fun and wonderful park in Midway to that beautiful, much more luxurious, better concessioned, ultimately stuffier and less enjoyable ballpark in downtown St Paul, I've also noticed a downtick in the super wacky stuff and more of just regular garden-variety wacky replacing it.
For example, when an opposing pitcher is warming up, the crowd is no longer exhorted to make silly slide-whistle sounds as the ball is pitched and then tossed back to the pitcher by the catcher. I would spell the sound in question thusly, first the pitch, followed by the toss back: "BEEOOO! ...woooooeeEEEP"! If you ever got to be a part of this, you know how awesome it was! I'm sure someone on another team complained, though, and so into the sunset rode the crowd slide whistling. Anyway, that's what I'm talking about when I say the Saints have backed off on the super wacky and are more emphasizing regular wacky.
So maybe the Saints as crown jewel of the independent American Association as opposed to flagship minor league Twins franchise would be at this point a difference without a distinction (this would not have been so in 2010, let alone the freewheeling late 1990s/early 2000s when so much of what made the Saints so cool was at its peak). But I remain wary, and thus does extreme ambivalence turn into a longish post for you, my friends, to read, consider, and to offer your own take in the comments should you wish to do so.
Perhaps it's gonna be Summit, not Gennessee, in that beer cooler for when the Twins Triple-A players celebrate their wins.
Impeach Rob Manfred.
That is all.
(PS this will hopefully be the last post I do with the stupid wrong background color which results from copying and pasting from Facebook. I do not know how to fix this and I'm sort of interested in preserving the stupidity anyway. Thank you!)
