Eastward Ho!

Updated 02/16/26

Last month, Melvin and I traveled (generally) the Mormon and Oregon trails of the Westward Expansion, but geographically in reverse. Whereas 19th-century emigrants set their sights on physical landmarks like the Platte River, Independence Rock, and Devil's Gate, our itinerary characteristically derived from the home schedules of successive baseball teams.

Devil's Gate; Natrona County, Wyoming

This was a paradoxical adventure. In my first draft of this post, I called it our "most ill-conceived itinerary" but that is not only a bean counter's accounting, it ignores the fact that I presumed the trip to be a bad idea but decided (as in, I could have declined) to give it a try. [02/16/26 edit]

What we did and saw might or might not be equal to the insane amount of driving (2,740 miles, not including Chicago) and inflated financial cost, but we would have experienced none of it if we stayed at home. (02/16/26: Further, for me, the driving was actually a highlight of the trip. This is scenically a beautiful country that you will never see at 35,000 feet.)

Minor League Baseball on the Radio

The day after Melvin and I completed our 2025 baseball road trip, while I was flying to New York and Melvin was getting back in the swing of things at home and at work, public radio station WNYC broadcast a segment about minor and independent league baseball.

On the "All of It" midday talk show, Kate Hinds interviewed the recently mentioned Ben Hill and Kate's WNYC colleague, Rex Doane, with whom I am also acquainted.

Measuring the Mets

There is a poster at Maimonides Park in Brooklyn that is a contemporary take on a family's penciled hash marks on the kitchen door frame. The to-scale display asks how "you" measure up to Jett Williams, the Mets' highest ranked prospect (#51 on the MLB Top 100 list), who stands 5'-7".

'When you're a Jett, you're a Jett all the way....'

Among the Mets' "Top 30" prospects, Drew Gilbert, (#10) is the next shortest and Eli Serrano III (6'-5", #22) stands tallest. But as Jose Altuve taught so many people, it's about ability not stature. Starting last Saturday, I took limited measure of the organization's prospects, and other systems' as well.

Ben Hill does it for money.

A comparative season preview.

Traveling to see minor league baseball, that is, then writing about it. WHAT?! Are you in junior freakin' high school? I would never dis' Ben Hill. For one, he is some kinda neighbor — I have chatted with him a couple of times at Brooklyn Cyclones games. (That's right; he goes to baseball games even when he's not on the clock.)

And Melvin can attest to the months or maybe years when I wondered, 'How can I get a job doing what Ben Hill does?' Arguable doppelgängers Kevin Goldstein and Jason Parks disabused me of that insane idea on the Up and In Show but for a while there, jealousy was the highest form of flattery. Really, man, grow the ef up. You read this on Baseball Byways, not some bathroom wall.

 Ben's 15th season; our 25th

Anyway, Ben has posted a season preview (which you can read in full for yourself) and it made me think I might do the same. There is some overlap, as well as some very intentional divergence.

Ems the Breaks

I attended the home opener of the Eugnne Emeralds' 70th anniversary season, sitting in the front row looking down the third base line. Eugene, Oregon, is about 45 minutes from where my stepmother and late father live/d and so it is not hard to figure how I have seen the High-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants four times; once with the 'rents, once with Melvin, and once before on my own. However, the April 9 game was probably my last visit there.

screen capture from the City of Medford website

The Ems are owned by the venerable Elmore Sports Group (Ballpark Digest eulogy for founder Dave Elmore), which may explain in part how the team survived MLB's 2020 purge of 42 minor league franchises. (As part of the 2020 reorganization, the already diminutive Northwest League was reduced from eight teams to six and the future of the Everettt AquaSox remains uncertaain.)

In the four-plus years since the league reorganization, a bid to build a new stadium in the Lane County Fairgrounds failed to gain momentum. The proposal asked for more public dollars than the county was willing to allocate and a $15 million bond referendum put before voters by the Eugense City Council lost by a two-to-one margin. The Emeralds accept that they need to find a new home, with Medford, Oregon, most prominently in the news at this time.

Roberto's 2024 Baseball Diary

Melvin and I took only one trip together this year, riding the 1 train from the former Little Syria to Kingsbridge, passing through all but the two southernmost stations and the terminus in the Bronx, 36 total. Quite a change from years past but honestly reflective of current circumstances.

the "West Side IRT local" for those of a certain age or semantic inclination

We met again shortly after Los Angeles won their second World Series in five years but for more on that — meeting up, not the Dodgers — you will need to scroll way down to the end.

Fair 'ball

I became smitten with this depiction of baseball exhibited at the 178th annual Dutchess County Fair, so much so that I am sharing it here.

All This Time

... all I had to do was ask Melvin.

Melvin, Watson, Norton and I toured the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory during our soggy sojourn through Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana in 2013. The factory offers personalized bats for sale and at the time, I thought this might be the right medium to commemorate seeing every major and minor league team. That achievement wouldn't happen for another decade —

first pitch
Carolina Mudcats vs. Down East Wood Ducks
September 3, 2023

I was thinking that I could have the barrel inscribed with "Touch 'em all" and the dates of my first baseball game and the day I finally saw every team in affiliated baseball. Among other problems, which I will get to, I didn't know the earlier date.

School Tripping at the Ballpark

Last week, I attended back-to back-to-back day games marketed to school groups. All three contests were entertaining but I am sure that many of the young people will remember nothing that happened on the field. My first professional baseball game was a trip to Shea Stadium and I do not recall a single thing about the day; who else went, the bus ride there and back, the game itself. I don't fault my younger self or any of the kids who had a similar experience last week. So much excitement and nobody said there would be a quiz later.

first pitch in Reading

Remembrance with Tangential Introduction

For many Years, many years ago, I read a Weekly neighborhood newspaper. I read it for what would later be Termed hyperlocal news, but the gazette was quirky and so Also a source of entertainment. One of the most peculiar Characteristics was the inexplicable Use of capitalization. Fellow traveler Haldeman liked words and word-play — "Hold me closer, Tony Danza." — and I think he would have been delighted by the paper.