August 04, 2022

We have reached the sweet 16, and by that I mean this: Welcome to the 16th edition of the Ben’s Biz Beat Newsletter. I’m your host, Ben Hill, fresh off one ballpark road trip and soon to embark on another. There is much to look back on and much to look forward to. Let’s start with the latter option.   

SWEET DREAMS

Next weekend I’m setting my internal GPS coordinates for Dyersville, Iowa, home of the inaugural MiLB at Field of Dreams Game. This mystical Midwest League contest will take place on Aug. 9, two days before the Cubs and the Reds play the MLB iteration of the event. Both of the Minor League teams involved are from Iowa, with the Quad Cities River Bandits hosting the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

In keeping with the nostalgia-soaked spirit of this cinematically inspired event, the teams will assume throwback identities. The River Bandits will play as the Davenport Blue Sox, with the Kernels suiting up as the Cedar Rapids Bunnies. The Blue Sox existed intermittently between 1913 and 1937, while the Bunnies called Cedar Rapids home from 1904-32.

While I’m usually a solo traveler, this trip will be a group effort. Kelsie Heneghan, Sam Dykstra and I are driving from New York City to Dyersville on Aug. 7-8, stopping at multiple baseball-related sites along the way. Stay tuned for plenty of material from what is sure to be a memorable Minor League Baseball event, and if you’re social media-inclined then please join us on our travels!

Twitter: @MiLB, @bensbiz, @kelsie_heneghan, @samdykstraMiLB
Instagram: @MiLB, @thebensbiz

In the meantime, get excited! Learn more about the MiLB at Field of Dreams Game and the teams involved here.

ROAD TRIP REVIEW: OKLAHOMA CITY, TULSA, WICHITA

I was on the road from July 26-31, visiting the Oklahoma City Dodgers, Tulsa Drillers and Wichita Wind Surge. Much more to come, as always, but for now please enjoy an overview of these three Minor League locales.

We’ll begin where the trip began: Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, home of the Oklahoma City Dodgers.

The last time I visited Oklahoma City, in 2012, the city’s Minor League team was a Houston Astros affiliate named the RedHawks. Since 2015 they’ve been a Los Angeles affiliate named, sensibly enough, the Dodgers. Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark is part of the city’s Bricktown Entertainment District, so named because many of the buildings located therein are repurposed brick warehouses. That just means there’s mortar love. (Editor’s note: I’ll allow it. Reluctantly.)

Ballpark Feature: The second-level Fidelity Bank Club has baseball stitch neon lighting and, perhaps more importantly, excellent air-conditioning. It was over 100 degrees on both days that I was in town.

Ballpark Character: Brix and Brooklyn, cattle dog siblings who serve as the team’s mascots. This picture was taken prior to this delightful duo joining me atop the dugout for a deeply felt and entirely on-key rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

Culinary Concoction: Dodger Dogs are iconic. This, specifically, is an Oklahoma Dodger Dog.

Did You Know? Flaming Lips Alley runs behind Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, a tribute to Oklahoma City’s best-known group of psychedelic art-pop weirdos.

OIL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL IN TULSA

My evening at the Tulsa Drillers’ ONEOK Field was more than OK. It was a full-to-bursting bonanza of activity. Highlights included throwing baseballs off the roof of a nearby building and getting pied in the face by mascot Hornsby at the conclusion of an on-field “blind limbo” contest.

For those keeping score at home: The Drillers are the Dodgers’ Double-A affiliate, located one rung below Oklahoma City on the organization’s Minor League ladder.  

Ballpark Feature: This Jackie Robinson mural is painted on a building just beyond the left field concourse. There’s quite a story behind this mural; I wrote it.

Ballpark Character: Hornsby told a joke in my honor. I was honored.

Culinary Concoction: Please excuse this suboptimal photo, which hopefully still conveys the epic grandeur of the Drillers’ ultra-loaded “Street Fries.”

Did You Know? ONEOK Field is located in the heart of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, which rose to prominence in the early 20th century as America’s “Black Wall Street.” The neighborhood was decimated during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, perhaps the single worst instance of race-related violence in American history. Greenwood Rising, a history center that honors the legacy of Black Wall Street, is located just down the street from the ballpark.

HOPELESSLY OBSCURE MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TRIVIA QUESTION

We interrupt these road trip ruminations in order to pose the following query:

The Tulsa Drillers played their first season in 1977, after relocating from Lafayette, Louisiana. What was the name of the team when they played in Lafayette?