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.

If you listen to the segment or read the transcript, Rex reveals his fondness for Mr. Celery, a mascot of the Wilmington Blue Rocks, for many years an affiliate of the Kansas City Royals, now a licensee of the Washington Nationals. As it so happened, it was at a Blue Rocks game that I met Rex and his wife, both (if I remember correctly) rocking Mr. Celery toppers — a noun that Rex introduced to my vocabulary.

That was in 2011, when Melvin and I had seen an above-average number of major and minor league and independent baseball games, but far fewer than today. For comparative purposes, I asked Rex where he had been and he was at a loss for words. Eventually, his wife — I know her name but anonymity seems appropriate here — spoke on his behalf, "Rex has seen a lot of minor league baseball."

(During the interview, Rex states, "I'm old, so I actually went to minor league games in the dark ages in the 70's." Melvin saw the Denver Zephyrs in 1988 and although I am probably older than Rex, it wasn't until 1997 that I saw my first minor league game, the Binghamton Mets.)

"Okay," I responded to his wife's summation, "I'll turn the question around. Where haven't you been?" Rex immediately replied, "Montana." Based on this exchange, I told Melvin, "I don't want to save Montana for last." We went there and neighboring states four years later, a trip so epic it resulted in two posts, one written by me and a second from Melvin.

abandoned miner dorm, Jeffrey City WY
(Wyoming is south of Montana; I said the trip was epic.)

I am glad we got to Montana when we did, when half of the eight-team Pioneer League played in Big Sky Country. As part of MLB's reorganization during the pandemic, the "Rookie Advanced" league — one level above the "complex leagues" but a step below Single-A — was stripped of its affiliation with Major League Baseball. So, thank you, Rex.

Not to take anything away from Ben, I don't have any anecdotes from our conversations at Brooklyn Cyclones games. He always seems uncomfortable, so out of kindness I keep it brief. Maybe he is just self-conscious when recognized in public, or my excitement is intimidating. (n.b.: The Binghamton Rumble Ponies are an affiliate of the Mets, not that team in the Bronx.)

A tip of my cap (my collection is a fraction of the size of Rex's) to Kate Hinds for asking smart questions. Ben and Rex conveyed many of the facts and intangibles that Melvin and I share when we talk about traveling near and far to see baseball. The comprehensiveness of the dialogue is why I wrote this post, hoping more people check out the entertaining broadcast segment.