TCAnelle

Bauer is on quite the redemption tour with his video breakdown of MAX! owning him and then telling Aubrey Huff to pound sand. If he sucks against the Twins and crushes the rest, I might have to be less annoyed by him.

I finally gave up on finding my 2009 pictures of Busch Stadium and finished the NL Central write up. I've made my peace with not finishing the 30 active stadiums this year, so writing about visiting baseball is still the best option until I can go see it again. And without further whining, here's the next division... National League Central Chicago Cubs Wrigley Field What if I told you if you would watch a club volleyball tournament with friends in the Dells for two days you’d get to go to the Twins at Cubs to finish out the weekend? What do you do? Well, of course you go watch volleyball and then go watch the Twins. In 2009, when I saw the Twins would finally be in Chicago for the first time since 2001, I knew I had to go. I checked in with old friends who are Cub fans only to discover they were booked for a volleyball tournament in the Dells. Some schedule shuffling ensued, Cubs tickets were acquired, and next thing I know I’m cheering for volleyball then listening to Joe Nathan get the save in the second game of the series as I’m driving past Mt Olympus on the way to Chicago. The Twins were 32-32 after the Saturday win and were three games back of the Tigers after the Pirates and Zach Duke had beaten them 9-3. My friends lived in St Charles, so we left from there on Sunday morning for a 1PM game. Fortunately, I wasn’t driving and didn’t have to figure out parking. I’m not sure it’s any easier now, but in 2009 we ended up parking in some guy’s alley driveway. I don’t remember what we paid, but our car wasn’t blocked in so I’m sure it wasn’t cheap. We walked past the McDonalds near Wrigley which I think is gone now, or at least the surface lot parking is, and even they were selling spots in their lot. Wrigleyville on a Sunday afternoon in 2009 was nuts. I can’t fathom what it must have been like for a night playoff game in 2016. We made our way into the stadium... and well… it was before the rehab and enhancements. The bathrooms weren’t very good. The concession stands were limited. I don’t remember it smelling as bad as Oakland, but there was a scent I would describe as less than pleasant in the concourse. I didn’t take pictures then like I do now. I wish I had so I could validate the memories. We made our way to the seats. We were in the lower level on the 3rd base side under the upper deck so we did have a couple of beams to look around. The field itself was lovely. I’d never been to a park with plants lining the outfield wall. The manual scoreboard in center field was novel. Once the game began, I realized how much data I wasn’t getting because Wrigley just didn’t have the same number of screens and boards, even compared to the Metrodome. Nick Punto bunted for a hit in the top of the 2nd allowing Gomez to score (don’t tell Parker). Scott Baker would give the run right back in the bottom of the 2nd and another run in the bottom of the 4th. Carlos Gomez hit a solo homer off Ted Lilly in the top of the 6th to tie the game. He probably bat-flipped and annoyed someone, but I only remember cheering. The game remained tied until Jesse Crain and an unfortunate series of hits and an IBB lead to a walk-off single by Ryan Theriot. Twins lost 3-2. The Twins still won the series, but my one and only game at Wrigley was a Twins loss. And I got in “trouble” for eating ketchup on my hot dog. I eat mustard on them now, please hold the pitchforks. I’d like to go back now and see the updates they’ve made, especially to give it a fair comparison to Fenway which has done a very nice job of keeping the history and yet having decent restrooms. I didn’t make it there for the Twins in 2018. Maybe next time. Cincinnati Reds Great American Ballpark In July of 2016, life took me to Cincinnati while the Reds were in town, so it was time to get another ballpark off my list. Great American Ballpark sits right on the Ohio River on the edge of downtown Cincinnati. The state line with Kentucky is a few feet into the river, so in theory, a hitter could launch a ball into the next state and it not be hyperbole. To get to the ballpark you can either go by land via Johnny Bench or Pete Rose Way or if you have a boat or live on the Kentucky side you can take a river boat shuttle from the Hooters in Newport, Kentucky. Taking a boat to take a boat to a baseball game was a first for me. GABP is faithful to the team name and had all red seats so the green grass of the field is quite a contrast. Red seats also help hide attendance issues. The announced attendance for the game that Sunday afternoon was 23,085 (GABP capacity 42,319), but as we all know that’s tickets sold, not bodies in the seats. The team was 34-58 at that point in the season so it’s not terribly surprising attendance was light. GABP opened in 2003, but it felt more than seven years older than Target Field. Scouts Alley was a bar/tunnel area with exclusive access from the Scout Seats around home plate. It’s since been remodeled which is good, because it was dark and had limited amenities compared to other club areas I’ve been in. The main concourses have a good selection of food and there’s a bar with a huge list of beers. The most remarkable thing about the ballpark is location, location, location. It’s all fine, but the position on the river with access by boat in a city that has a huge boating community is really the most remarkable thing about the park. The game was against the Brewers and was an eight hit pitchers’ duel between Zach Davies and Dan Straily. I did get to see a Joey-from-Canada hit in the bottom of the 4th so the game wasn’t a total bust. The Reds would finally break the 0-0 tie with a walk-off passed ball by Jonathan Lucroy that allowed Billy Hamilton to score. Reds win 1-0. Milwaukee Brewers County Stadium I happened to take a couple of pictures with a film camera during my visit to County Stadium or I honestly wouldn’t have recalled the date I was there. I remembered who I was with. I’d started babysitting for a family in high school. They moved around after I was in college, but we’d stayed in touch and they were going to be in Milwaukee to visit family. I missed the kids, so I booked a ticket to see them. We ended up going to a Brewers game, my one and only game at County Stadium. The Brewers were still in the American League in 1997, but it would be their last year without forcing their fans to watch the crime of making pitchers bat. They were also in the midst of building the airplane hangar that would eventually be known as Miller Park, I mean American Family Field. I honestly don’t remember much about the park other than the posts for the upper deck near our seats and a long walk to where we parked thanks to construction starting on Miller Park. The box score tells me the Mariners won 6-5 and the Brewer’s Jeromy Burnitz hit a homer so Bernie Brewer must have taken the slide down to his beer mug (when it still got to be a beer mug). If I’d had to testify in court without Baseball Reference to check the details, I’d have been in trouble. The family would eventually move back to the Chicago area and one of the kids would play volleyball in the Wisconsin Dells before I got to see Wrigley Field for the first time (see above). The kids are grown now and County Stadium was demolished in 2001. Time flies. Miller Park (soon to be American Family Field) Oh, Miller Park… What can I say about an airplane hangar masquerading as a baseball stadium? I never made it to Miller Park in the Metrodome years, but starting in 2012 I had to travel to Wisconsin and Illinois for work, so it was finally time. The Twins were slated to be in Milwaukee in July that year. I plotted out my work meetings and managed to squeeze in my first trip to see the Beloit Snappers, the Twins low A affiliate at the time, spend a few days working, visit my niece and nephew, and get to a couple of Twins games at Miller Park. I will admit I’m not much of a tailgater and that likely colors my impression of Miller Park. The stadium is about 5 miles from downtown has miles and miles of parking that fills with tailgaters, especially for weekend games. By the time I visited Miller, we’d had two full seasons at Target Field in downtown within walking distance of restaurants and bars. Miller Park felt like it was out on an island. The clamshell retractable roof gives the building an odd look since it doesn’t blend with the brick walls of the main structure. Once you’re inside, even when the clamshell roof is open, you never quite feel like you’re outside since the support structure for the roof is stationary. They also partially close it to manipulate the shadows so it feels even less like you’re outside when that happens. The field itself is nice and there are decent views from most seats. There are seats directly over the bullpens where fans can share their appreciation of the relief pitchers… probably. In County Stadium, Bernie Brewer lived in a chalet and slid into a beer stein. With the move to Miller Park, Bernie was made more kid friendly by having him live in a dugout and slide into a “home” platform. Yes, it’s lame, and yes, it’s ironic in a ballpark named after a beer company, but that’s changing next season. Ultimately, Miller is fine. It won’t have any rain outs. There’s always plenty of parking. But, it’s just not special for me beyond being the place where my niece and nephew saw their first MLB game. I got to see plenty of offense on Friday night as the Twins won 11-3. Scott Diamond was 3-0 with a 1.40 ERA after the game and would go one to have his best season in the majors. On Saturday, with my niece and nephew in attendance, the Twins would need six pitchers for an 11 inning 5-4 win. The kids were troopers and made it through the almost four-hour long game. Thankfully, Trevor Plouffe hit a homer off Manny Para in the top of the 11th or that might not have been the case. I fortunately skipped the Sunday game. It was a 16-4 mess of a loss where Jason Marquis gave up eight runs in 1.2 innings to start the game and Jeff Gray allowed five while recording zero outs in the 7th. Drew Butera got the 8th for his MLB pitching debut. He allowed no hits, walked one, and struck out one… Carlos Gomez, because of course he did. Pittsburgh Pirates PNC Park I’d been to Pittsburgh in 2003 for work and was fortunate enough to see Mario Lemieux play in the old Igloo back then, but didn’t get to PNC. By 2018, I was actively trying to get to all 30 active stadiums. I still needed PNC and Camden Yards in Baltimore. When the Twins 2018 schedule came out and they started the season in those two cities, I put the vacation days on the calendar. It was snowing upon arrival in Pittsburgh on April 1, 2018. April Fools! Or not… The next morning and 4 inches later, I was watching the grounds crew shovel the field via the hotel TV. It was the home opener for the Pirates so they were doing everything they could to get the game in on time. The temp was supposed to be in the low 40s at game time so I grabbed my blankets and parka and headed downtown. For those who haven’t been to Pittsburgh, downtown sits at the confluence of the Allegheny River and Monongahela River, which meet at Pittsburgh's Point State Park to form the Ohio River. Three rivers surrounding a downtown means there are lots of bridges. And there’s a funicular!!! The Duquesne Incline takes you up Mt. Washington on the south side and gives you a great view of the city and the many bridges. Near the ballpark is the Roberto Clemente Bridge which leads across the Allegheny from downtown. It’s closed to traffic for games depending on game time and becomes a pedestrian bridge. The center field gate is on the other side of the bridge. The lower concourse of the ballpark has a few different levels so you can’t walk the circle without stairs or elevators, but you can walk the full circle. The upper concourse spans foul pole to foul pole around home. With no high outfield stands, the view remains unobstructed. The view of the bridge and the skyline from inside the ballpark easily gives PNC the best view in MLB. Yes, St Louis has the arch and Oracle has the bay, but neither beats PNC in my view. They have a few unique food items like the pulled pork pierogie hoagie. The mascot race is between different flavor pierogies. Onion won the race for the second game. I missed which one won the race for the first game. I sat along the third base line for the first game a few rows up from the dugout. The view is still good, but the batter’s eye wall blocks part of the bridge and you can’t read the ivy “PIRATES” in center field as well as you can upstairs. I did have a great view of Lance Lynn giving up a first inning grand slam. The Twins would make some noise in the 6th, but would go on to lose 5-4. For the second game it was supposed to be cold and probably snow again so I went with a ticket in their version of the Legend’s Club. The PBC Level has a few pool tables, several bar and food areas, and some nice leather chairs in front of TVs when you’ve had too much of the cold and snow. The Twins offense showed up for 7 runs. Jake Odorizzi exited after two walks in the 5th, but Taylor Rogers, Hildenberger, and Addison Reed kept the Pirates off the board until Fernando Rodney came in for the 9th, ate some snow, and closed out the Twins’ 7-3 win. Pictures from the two games are posted on Flickr. St. Louis Cardinals Busch Stadium 2.0 This picture is not from the June 2009 games when I first visited the new Busch Stadium. I’ve given up on ever finding them. Either I didn’t take any or they’ve been lost to a crashed hard drive at some point. This picture is from a drive by of the stadium in December of 2012. It was definitely cooler when I took the picture than the Saturday day game in St Louis on the 27th of June, 2009. The box score shows the temperature at time of game was only 92, but it would rise to 99 after the noon start along with a heat index into the 100s. Family from Missouri and Illinois was supposed to be going to the game with me and my cousin was brining her boys to the game for the first MLB game ever, so of course the heat was the worst it would be all summer. Our seats were in one of the upper levels, but the canopy for the top level isn’t very wide and the orientation of the stadium means that the sun is pretty unrelenting during day games. We finally got shade in the later innings so fortunately, the boys didn’t melt and neither did their friends or my aunt and uncle. The game was terrible for the Twins. Kevin Slowey only went three innings and allowed five runs. Four of the five runs came on two separate two-run homers from a much younger Albert Pujols. My cousin’s boys were thrilled. St. Louis native Bobby Keppel went four innings in the heat after Slowey was done. The boys didn’t really care that Keppel was a local guy. They also probably don’t remember that Keppel appeared in 37 games for the Twins in 2009, most importantly in the top of the 12th inning of Game 163 and forever cementing his name in Twins Trivia history as the winning pitcher. Despite the Cardinals using SEVEN pitchers to get through the game, the only offense the Twins mustered was off Todd Wellemeyer in the top of the second. The Cards would go on to win 5-3. The weather broke a bit for Sunday’s game plus it started an hour later. My college friends I went with were smart enough to bring partially frozen water bottles and we got shade sooner. Liriano was the starter. He went seven innings and allowed only two runs. Justin Morneau hit a three-run homer in the top of the 1st. Joe Nathan got his 19th save of the year. The Twins won 6-2 in 2:50. A good time was had by all, except for the whole pitchers batting thing. My memories of the stadium aren’t very complete. I remember the arch and the old courthouse dome that can be seen from the stadium. I remember plenty of brick and polished concrete. I remember the old Busch scoreboard that hangs in one of the concourses. I don’t remember any food options that are unique. It was too hot to eat anything. Old Busch had been torn down by then, but the space that’s now a ballpark village area with Cardinals Nation and other restaurants and bars was just an asphalt parking lot in 2009. There’s also a Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum in that space now, so if the timing works out for me to go the next time the Twins are in St Louis, I’ll have something new to see. And maybe take a few pictures that won’t be lost since everything now gets backed up to the cloud. TCAnelle’s NL Central Rankings: PNC Park Busch Stadium 2.0 Wrigley Field Great American Ballpark Miller Park/American Family Field County Stadium

Unless you like a lot of minty alcoholic drinks, I'm not sure most people have crème de menthe hanging around in the cabinet. Mama Hutch is making brownies with a kick unless melting butter and sugar with it is enough to cook out the alcohol. LOL Might have to put some in my next Total Wine order.

I was spending two weeks at a time in Atlanta so Turner was a welcome distraction. It was 2011 so they were talking a lot about the 1991 series on the radio, but not quite as nostalgically as we do here. I did manage to meet someone in an autograph line that helped me get my Hrbek Gant bobbleheads signed. Gant was originally supposed to be in the autograph session, but missed it for last minute TV duties. Hrbek signed them afterwards and was surprised to see Gant had already signed.

According to my mother, my first word was “go.” I’m not sure I buy it, but if it’s true it certainly explains my predilection for travel. My first MLB game was in 1987 and after moving to Minnesota in 1998, I fell in love with the game. It was almost inevitable my love of baseball and travel would intersect, although I’m not sure when I started intentionally marking off stadiums. Before the season was suspended from the virus, I’d planned to close out seeing all 30 active stadiums in September 2020 when the Twins visit the San Diego Padres. The new Rangers stadium is also in limbo for July. Everyone needs to keep washing their hands and maintaining proper social distance so I can get back to flying and hanging out with 30,000 people on a nightly basis. In the meantime, I decided to take a trip down memory lane and finally finish my write up my experience at each stadium. National League East Atlanta Braves Turner Field My first visit was June 6, 2006 Washington Nationals at the Braves. It was a work trip and a group decided to go see a game. Former Twin Matthew LeCroy was playing for the Nationals at the time. Future Twin Jon Rauch also appeared for the Nationals. I would later be back in Atlanta the summer of 2011 for a work project and attend multiple games, including an August 12, 2011 game when they retired Bobby Cox’s number. I have a Dan Uggla bobblehead from that summer too. It’s only selling on ebay for around $20 eight years later so guess I won’t be retiring early with that gem. The Chipper Jones bobblehead from the same series is going for $36 so if you rate it by hits per dollar, Chipper is a better deal. Turner was fine and close to the airport and downtown which was convenient for me as a visiting fan in those days. But the concourses weren’t open and it hadn’t been maintained all that well by 2011. There weren’t many premium areas either. The Braves closed it five years later and moved to the suburbs where the money was. Trivia tidbit – If you look closely you can spy Turner, now known as Georgia State Stadium, in episodes of IFC’s Brockmire. SunTrust Park (now Truist) By the time SunTrust was built, I was consciously trying to get to all active stadiums, but hadn’t managed to find a time to get back to Atlanta when the Braves were in town. Fortunately a work trip to Atlanta popped up in August of 2018 while the Braves were hosting the Rockies. If they’re going to force me to watch pitchers bat, at least I didn’t have to spring for the plane ticket. The stadium is new and fine and in the middle of a new and fine manufactured village. Parking is not great or cheap, it’s still hot and humid in Georgia, and they didn’t put a roof on it, but there are plenty of premium areas so if you have the money you can get some AC. It has a really nice kids’ area and picnic tables around the concourses so it’s a family friendly park if you can afford the tickets. Pics and more on Twitter. Since I was there in 2018, they’ve unfortunately changed the name to Truist Park. Miami Marlins Marlins Park I’ve been to Florida a zillion times and I’ve seen probably a hundred baseball games there, but until the 2017 All Star Game, they’d all been spring training or MiLB. The Twins were headed to Houston after the ASG break and Royce Lewis was in Fort Myers at GCL so I decided to get two stadiums off my list and squeeze in some MiLB with a Miami-Fort Myers-Houston trip. My first impression of Marlins Park was it looks like a spaceship from the highway. I made it into town in time for the home run derby and saw the ASG the next night. It was July in Miami so the roof was closed both days, mercifully. Inside the stadium isn’t particularly remarkable, but the bobblehead collection is pretty cool and it was the first time I’d encountered signing up for designated driver via iPad. The home run whirligig was still inside in 2017. I’m still not sure if it was hideous or awesome, but it was at least unique. For the actual ASG, my seat happened to be in front of the auxiliary press box which meant I got to hear all the announcements to the visiting press. The AL won 2-1, I took a couple hundred pictures, and then spent an afternoon on South Beach before heading to Fort Myers. New York Mets Citi Field I’d been to the newest Yankee Stadium a couple of times and once saw Shea Stadium from a cab, but hadn’t made it to Citi Field despite being in New York City several times over the years. When I saw the Twins on the schedule early in 2019 with a weekend series before in Philadelphia, the trip practically planned itself. I took Amtrak into the city and then made my way out to an Airbnb in Flushing about a mile from the field. The first game was rain delayed, but fortunately I’d managed to accidentally buy a ticket with access to a couple of the clubs. None that included free food of course, but it was cold and rainy so I was happy to have a warm dry place to hang out after doing a lap around the concourse. There are some weird areas in the outfield from them moving in the fences. The views from the seats are OK, but there’s a dead space between the seats and the wall which makes the area just seem awkward. The condiment carts were exceptional and put Target Field’s to shame. The batter’s eye has an apple that pops up if the Mets hit a homer. The game ended as a 14-8 Twins win and we got to see the apple a few times. The weather had cleared for the second game and I was able to walk the mile to the field. You pass an area that an usher told me used to be a big chop shop area. He said the discussion lately has been about moving the vast parking to the east side so hotels could be built with Manhattan views. The stadium is close to the tennis complex that hosts the US Open so there’s definitely a market for more hotels with better access to transit near the field and tennis complex. With better weather I made my way out to a deck where you can watch flights come and go at LGA. I’d seen Citi Field from planes a few times so it was fun to be on the other side. Game two ended in a Twins loss 9-6 where Twins pitching allowed TEN walks so I finished the game in the Delta Sky360 Club and watched the Islanders play the Penguins. Here’s the Flickr album if you’re interested. Philadelphia Phillies Citizens Bank Park When the 2019 Twins schedule came out with an April weekend series in Philadelphia with the Mets next, I knew it was time to get both off my list. I flew in later Friday night, but not in time for what turned out to be a terrible, rainy, cold game where Jake Odorizzi went 0.2 and gave up five runs. Fortunately, the sun came out on Saturday morning and, after doing the Rocky stairs at the art museum, I headed to the ballpark on a warm April day. Citizen’s Bank Park sits south of downtown in the middle of parking lots that serve the football field, hockey arena, and baseball field. It’s a great feature if you’re driving, but isn’t as convenient if you’re a walker, so I arrived by Lyft. I like brick and Citizen’s Bank Park has plenty of it. They also have trees in the batter’s eye. The bullpens are tiered, which always reminds me of the 2010 game where Drew Butera caught Jim Thome’s homer in the bullpen in a crazy game where the Twins won 13-10 in 11 innings. Out behind left field you can get the Federal Donuts chicken sandwich. There’s no donut involved, but the sandwich is good. I made my way to my right field seat near Bryce Harper for the Saturday game and watched the Phanatic take its laps on its four wheeler. MAX! and La Tortuga had back-to-back homers in the 3rd then and the Twins won 6-3. I opted for a seat in the CBP equivalent of the Legend’s Club for the Sunday game. It has whole walls covered in baseballs. The security guy I talked to says it's like 17-18K baseballs. I didn’t count them so we’ll have to take his word. They've been up since at least 2010 as far as he remembered. The game started out well with a MAX! lead-off homer but the bats went silent and Berrios was human and the Twins lost 2-1. Pictures on Flickr. Washington Nationals Nationals Park A family trip took me to Washington, DC in October of 2019. I didn’t get to pick the dates so no option to make sure we’d be there during baseball so I needed a little cooperation from the Nationals. I’d done the math and new they needed to make the NLCS for us to have a chance to see them… and THEY DID! And of course went on to win the 2019 World Series. There were four of us who decided to make the trip to the game. Believe it or not the tickets for game four were cheaper than a trip back to DC would have been. We picked the outfield right under the scoreboard. Not my usual infield choice, but the price was right and the view was pretty good. We took the Metro to the game. As you come out of the stop for the ballpark, there are restaurants, bars, and condos. I’m not sure what was there before, but the area looks new and was hopping on a playoff game night. The main entrance on the metro side has two large parking garages on either side with large silver baseballs on each side. One garage is the path of a pitch and the other is the path of a homer. Unfortunately, other than the baseballs and nice area across the street by the Anacostia River, the rest of the outside is rather non-descript. They have some history stuff leading up to the homeplate gate which includes the Senators years that are actually the Twins’. Inside the park is pretty standard with open concourses, middle tier club level with suites above it, and the requisite Budweiser party roof/loft/deck in center field. We got to see the Presidents race, sing Baby Shark with the crowd as Gerardo Parra stepped up to bat, and cheer when Brian Dozier entered as part of a double switch. The Nationals scored seven in the bottom of the first. It would be all the offense from them we’d see and all they’d need. They went on to win 7-4, sweeping the Cardinals in four games to advance to the World Series. It was amazing to be in that environment, despite the beer thrown over our section when the game was over. We really need to have a winning playoff game at Target Field. Pictures and some terrible video work on Flickr. Except for Turner Field, the visits to the National League East stadiums came later in my trek to see all parks. I managed to see the Twins at the Mets and Phillies, but the most fun was watching the Nationals win the NLCS. My favorite stadium in this division is a tough choice between Citi Field and Citizens Bank, but the edge goes to Citizens Bank. TCAnelle’s NL East Rankings: Citizens Bank Park Citi Field Nationals Park SunTrust Park Marlins Park Turner Field

This is awesome. Would love to attend even. Not sure I'd ever leave my brokerage career to be a scout, but would love to be in the sessions with these women.

Yankees wanted more credit from me so they also hired a female hitting coach. Shame on any team that didn't call her back and I hope the never-hire-a-woman guy is gone.

I didn't do a deep dive into all the MiLB coaching staffs for all 30 teams, but the Cubs announced a woman has been added to their Rookie League in Mesa today.

I was not a sporty kid. I took tap and ballet for years and thank Miss Jane for what little coordination and grace I may have today, but my sports career was never destined to be. That said, back in the day I just accepted that girls played softball and I don't remember any of my friends lamenting not getting to play baseball. I didn't look at it critically and ask why that was. My mom was always empowering, but there are generations of gender roles modeled for us to overcome. I can install my own garbage disposal, but I was an adult before I really questioned why it was that women play softball and men play baseball.

I totally get this. I debated about tagging her in the tweet of the story. I think she's great and would love to get a chance to just talk to her and Vanessa Lamb (the FSN producer) in an informal setting about what they do and what it's like to travel with the teams. Thanks for reading, Bob.

I can only imagine... especially with what that franchise has been through. Thanks for reading.

Thank you for reading. I really appreciate it.

Jessica's fine and I'm glad ESPN has her in the booth, but she's not a daily voice. She's not even weekly unless your teams are the Yankees or Red Sox. We hear the FSN and/or Twins Radio crew for nearly every game. That's where we need the female voices, in the places that we listen every game. The change in philosophy seems to be translating to college coaches being hired, not women. Justine Segal from Baseball for All could coach. She's doing it tonight in the Mexican Pacific League. There are likely others like her but MLB hasn't show much evidence of trying to find or develop women for those roles. We'll see, but I'm not confident there's going to be a woman on an MLB bench for a regular season game in my lifetime. I hope I'm wrong.

It only takes a glance at the Twins front office list to see it’s still very much male majority, especially in baseball operations, communications, and broadcasting. What does that tell me as a female baseball fan? Women still aren’t adequately represented in the front offices and operations staff of my favorite team. The old boys club is alive and well.Women are advancing in non-traditional roles, but it’s slow and it demonstrates the teams just aren’t great at bringing the game to women at all levels as fans and players or as a career path. It’s not just the Twins, by the way. It’s across MLB. In 2017, the Cardinals promoted a replica ring celebrating their 1967 World Series victory with a tweet that said "You love baseball, she loves jewelry. On May 17th, it's a win-win." The backlash was swift, but it’s quite a comment on how some in baseball view female fans if that tweet made it out to the internet in 2017. Download attachment: WBE6.jpg And what about on the field? I asked Garvin Alston during the 2018 event if we’d ever see a woman on an MLB team? He said he thinks so, someday. His daughter was a baseball player, but she’d reached the point of having to decide about a move to softball for college. And why does she have to decide? Blame Little League. We just passed the November 7, 1973 anniversary of the . Little League officials couldn’t possibly let that happen, so they got together and in 1974 created a softball league for girls. So here we are 46 years later and girls are still faced with choosing playing the game they love or switching to the game a bunch of misinformed men in the 1970s decided was “safe” for girls to play if they want to continue playing sports in college or beyond. Women have played baseball since the beginning of the sport, even before the AAGPBL portrayed in A League of Their Own. But thanks to Little League, most girls have been pushed into softball in my lifetime. “But why do you care?” asks the dudebro who definitely hasn’t read this far. Because representation and opportunity matter, dude. I’m a baseball and hockey fan. The team sport with the best established women’s league is basketball. I think we’ve seen just how exciting the women’s game can be as we’ve witnessed the Lynx become a dynasty. It almost makes me a basketball fan, but my heart belongs to baseball and hockey. I am able to watch a women’s professional hockey team now in St. Paul that’s in a national league. I hope they continue to grow to a point where the women playing on the teams don’t need a separate full time job to pay the bills. With the turmoil over the last year with the NWHL and CWHL, it’s apparent we’re a long way from that being their reality. And baseball? Nope. At least not in the U.S. Japan has a professional women’s league, but alas, I still live in Minnesota. If I were a young girl looking at professional options available to me in sports that provide the same opportunities as men, what are my choices? Tennis is probably the most equal. The prize money is equal in many tournaments and endorsement deals are lucrative for both. Golf has a professional tour, just like the men. The prize money isn’t equal to the men’s game, but it’s growing. The top LPGA earner earned a million more in prize money in 2019 than in 2010 while playing in two fewer events. Basketball has the WNBA, but the top salary is only around $115,000. Women can earn 15 times that playing in Europe or Asia, but if you want to play in the US, too bad. Soccer? If you can make the US national team, you can earn a salary as high as $250,000 plus endorsements, but if you aren’t in the top 25-30 players in the country, that opportunity doesn’t exist. By comparison, there are over 600 roster spots for men on MLS teams with a league minimum salary of $60,000 and the top paid player at $7,200,000. And it’s bigger than just sports. Justine Seigal, the founder of Baseball for All, was a guest on the This Week in Baseball History podcast recently. Justine was 13 when she was first told she shouldn’t play baseball because she was a girl. She founded Baseball for All to empower girls to believe in themselves and keep playing the game they love. As she said on the podcast with Bill and Mike, “My focus is on girls believing in themselves. Because I’m so concerned that when you tell a girl she can’t play baseball, what else will she think she can’t do.” Even if the opportunities existed today, my window for playing baseball at a professional level has been closed for a while. So what do I want to see in the future of baseball as a fan? As a female fan of the men’s sport, I’d like to be respected as a fan. Don’t market the game to me as if women are only watching because men are attractive and we can’t possibly understand or appreciate the plays on the field. Sell more than pink and sequined women’s apparel. For every player shirt or jersey that’s in the store in a men’s cut, also have the women’s cut available. Unisex in a t-shirt or jersey is a lie we’ve all accepted. Unisex is code for “it’s the men’s cut, but we don’t have a women’s cut so we call it unisex.” Bring more women into roles traditionally held by men, on and off the field. You don’t have to have played in the major or minor leagues to be an effective infield coordinator or first base coach or any other coaching or staff position. Make it crystal clear to every single employee on and off the field that behavior like Osuna’s and Taubman’s is absolutely unacceptable. It’s highly unlikely that was the first time Taubman said something unacceptable, but this time it had consequences. How many other times did it not? And Osuna or Russell, or Chapman, or Torres, or Herrara, or or or…)? I understand the players are protected under their CBA while under contract, but teams can still make choices on who they trade for or sign as free agents. Now, about those girls and young women who want to keep playing baseball? Support them, mom, dad, and MLB. Help them build the route to playing through high school, college, and all the way to a major league whether it’s MLB or their own. Do I think we ever see a woman play on an MLB team? Why not? There are women who are fast and strong and can play as well as some men in the league today given the opportunity to develop. But beyond that, women can have their own league. If Japan can do it, so can the United States. I watch the NWHL Whitecaps and the hockey is fast and exciting and worth watching. I have no doubt women’s baseball can be just as exciting given a proper development path and opportunity to play. And give me more female voices in primary roles on TV and Radio. I love Cory Provus. Dick Bremer sans Bert is good. But as we’ve seen with the new rotation of color commentators with Dick on the Twins TV broadcasts, there are new voices worth hearing. Marney Gellner is the most logical local voice to move into the role. She’s an experienced broadcaster with years of basketball play-by-play experience and was the first woman to do Twins play-by-play. And when was that? 2019… yes, 2019. How fun would it be to hear Marney with Justin Morneau or Roy Smalley? She knows the sport, she knows the team. Or how about the radio? Dan Gladden is phoning it in now. The Yankees have had a woman on radio color since 2005. Kris Atteberry is a fine fill-in with Cory when Gladden is out, but why not cycle in a woman. We can have a quality broadcast without one of the voices being a former player. We really can. Many times watching the Twins and MLB in general is an exercise in cognitive dissonance. I want the team to do well, but I can’t cheer for some players. I’m excited to participate in a day on the field with Twins coaches, but know that none of them will be women. I want to read about Twins baseball, but know that most of the writers, with or without access, are men. Betsy Helfand, who arrived to the beat in 2019, is the lone female full time beat writer and she’s the first since Kelsie Smith left the Pioneer Press in 2011. If you’re still with me after 4,000 words, thanks. I love baseball and I love the Twins, but I also look forward to the day when there are more women on and off the field and it takes less cognitive dissonance to love the team. Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Not registered? Click here to create an account. To stay up to date, follow Twins Daily on Twitter and Facebook. Previous Installments of This Series — Part 1: Woo! Fun on the Field! (A.K.A the One Where They Actually Let Us on the Target Field Grass!!!) — Part 2: Women Who Work in Baseball (A.K.A the One Where We Got a Panel of Female Employees Instead of a Player’s Wife) Click here to view the article