Minor League Baseball Road Trip

by Tim Larison

As a lifelong baseball fan I like to take in a major league game when traveling. We have been to major league games in Seattle, Chicago, Kansas City, and St Louis in the past, in addition to many outings to watch our hometown Colorado Rockies. But this July we had a new experience – attending a “rookie league” baseball game in Casper, Wyoming.

I was invited to attend a game of the Casper Rockies – the Rockies affiliate in the rookie Pioneer League – as a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). A special treat for our group was to meet with the Casper manager, Tony Diaz, before the game. That’s Tony in the picture above with Josh and Andrew.

Tony gave our small group an interesting glimpse into what life in the low minor leagues was like. Many of the players on the Casper team are from Latin America and do not speak English, while others are fresh out of U.S. high schools. The team takes long bus trips to their away games (the closest opponent is 550 miles away!). For a good number of players it is their first time using wood bats in competition. Given these challenges many players get home sick. Tony said often playing baseball is the easy part – it’s the cultural adjustment that is the most difficult for his players. To help with this the Rockies place the players with host families in the Casper area.

We enjoyed the atmosphere of the game itself. Minor league baseball teams can have some creative promotions and the Casper Rockies were no exception. On this night it was “Johnny Cash” night with a Cash look-a-like brought to the ballpark by helicopter before the first pitch. Throughout the game Johnny Cash songs were played during the inning breaks and prizes were given for Johnny Cash trivia answers (“the first person who can tell the concession stand where Johnny Cash was born gets a free pizza!”). We saw many families in attendance, with young children playing with their friends and Moms chatting away, seemingly oblivious to the baseball game being played a few feet away. The hometown Rockies were to lose 3-2 this night, but the local fans did not let that spoil the evening for them.

When planning a trip like this I try to add other activities to make the adventure fun for the whole family. The hotel I picked, the Parkway Plaza , had an indoor swimming pool and a miniature golf course next door. Josh, who is not much of a sports fan, said he liked most “playing minigolf before the game and swimming at the hotel!”. Andrew, our baseball player, said “I liked sitting closer to the field than we usually do at a major league game. I didn’t know the players well, but it was fun!”. Anne said “I really liked meeting with the manager before the game. It was interesting learning about the culture shock these players experience and the small town feel of the stadium.”

At first when I suggested this outing I was met with some strange looks from the family. “We are going to drive 5 hours just to see a baseball game??” But the whole experience exceeded everyone’s expectations. What was the response I got when I asked the family how they liked our short Wyoming getaway? “When are we going to do this again?!!!”