Roscoe Baseball Field

All photos of Roscoe Baseball Field available on Flickr.

My first new Town Ball park of 2025 took me to bustling Roscoe, which is two towns west of Cold Spring and boasts a population of just over 100.  It was about a 10-minute drive, and then tack on another 5 minutes to find a parking spot that I felt confident enough wouldn't result in me getting boxed in nor pummeled with foul balls.  Roscoe was of the "drive your vehicle up to the fence and watch from the front seat" variety, so I found a nice spot in the right field corner that was shielded by a drive-in row of trucks.  This was Elliot's first town ball experience and I had Molly along for the ride as well.  However, I don't think either of them cared or even knew they were at a baseball game.  After assessing the snack situation immediately upon arrival, they made a bee-line for one of the two playgrounds available at Roscoe Baseball Field.  They were conveniently located far enough away to be out of danger from the field of play, but close enough that I could keep an eye on them while watching the game.  A guy I bowl with was riding the pine for the Rangers and I chatted with him for a bit before settling into my lawn chair for a lovely afternoon of baseball.  As an aside - kind of scary to think that I've been in the boonies long enough that I already run into people I know, and in a neighboring town no less.

Cold Spring still remains in a class and style of its own, but most other parks including this one feature a small set of bleachers down each line, a covered grandstand/concessions area behind home plate, and then a press box on a second level either above a concessions building or a dugout, the latter of which being the case here in Roscoe.  This park was probably on the lower end in terms of seating capacity compared to the other five I've been to - but again, I will continue to drive home the point that it's remarkable that teams in towns this size even draw at all.  I'd place the attendance in the 75-100 range and I'm guessing the park could hold about twice that much, but most people were sitting in lawn chairs or their cars so it was hard to tell.  This was one of the better composed ballparks I've visited so far, and by that I mean its layout had purpose and it felt like a ballpark.  Some parks like St. Nick or Richmond are really just a conglomeration of out-buildings and rickety bleachers with no real order or hierarchy and feel more like just a baseball diamond in a city park, but the Roscoe field felt like it could have hosted low-level college ball if it was a little bigger (and, you know, in a real city).  Roscoe Baseball Field had the standard concessions fare you'll find at most town ball parks - dogs, chips, candy, and 12-packs of Busch Light.  There were 4 guys standing next to me smoking and polishing off their 2nd pack when we left and were very clearly enjoying their Sunday.  It was very evident the pride and care that goes into this field and that is an invaluable community asset.  The playing surface, fencing, and structures were all maintained decently, the tally scoreboard was pretty fancy and in pristine condition, there was a nice little league diamond behind the left field fence, and the aforementioned multiple playgrounds were a huge plus.  Aesthetically speaking, the white metal siding adorned with chunky red text felt very farmhouse and appropriate in context with the dozens of grain silos and barns behind the parking lot.  The main playground situated just in front of the tall row of rusty silos was probably my favorite part of the park, and one of the more memorable town ball stadium views.

We made it through 7 innings and left with the Rangers leading 6-0 over the visiting Lake Henry Lakers, and they would hold on to win by a 6-2 final score.  The Rangers starter Bryce VanderBeek was dominant, tossing 7 scoreless innings.  I'm perusing their roster and it looks like his dad is also on the team, which seems wild but I'm sure is a common occurrence in town ball.  We actually left in the middle of the 7th, but I made a point to pull the car up to to an empty spot along the fence to watch leadoff batter Max Athmann hit one last time for the Rangers.  He crushed two laser beam home runs over the left field wall and chipped in two singles as well, including the single we witnessed from our car.  I mentioned in my last post that Town Ball rules limit the number of players on your team that can have college experience unless they live in your town, and sure enough I checked the roster and Max is the only Ranger player assigned a point value.  Granted, this was one of the smallest fields I have ever been to at 320 down the lines and 350 to center, but it was still an impressive day at the plate.

The game flew by fast with the kids fully entertained by themselves, and we seemed to be out of Roscoe just as quickly.  In the blink of an eye we drove past the town bar, church, and lone controlled intersection, and yet another town ball experience was in the rear view mirror.

park rankings and statistics

(for purposes of amateur/town ball rankings, some categories are changed to just yes/no questions):
aesthetics - 4
views from park - 8 (pretty cool view of silos)
view to field - 6 (home plate blocked by press box above dugout down left field line)
surrounding area - 2
concessions - yes
nachos - yes
beer - yes
vendor price - 9
ticket price - 10 (free)
atmosphere - 5
walk to park - 2
parking price/proximity - 10
concourses - 2
team shop - no

kids area -  yes

best food - you guessed it...hot dogs
most unique stadium feature - setting amongst silos/barns
scoreboard - yes

lights - no

best between-inning feature - scoreboard operator could not be bothered to keep track of hits and errors, only runs

field dimensions - 320/350/320
teams - Lake Henry Lakers v. Roscoe Rangers
time of game - unknown
attendance - 80-ish
score - 6-2 W
Brewers score that day - 5-2 W

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 5/27/25:

Brewers 27-28, -6.5; 3 v. Red Sox, 3 @ Phillies

Twins 29-24, -5.0; 3 @ Rays, 3 @ Mariners
Athletics 23-31, -7.0; 2 @ Astros, 4 @ Blue Jays

2025 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1
Peter - 7

Town Ball Season 2025

All photos of 2025 Springers Home Opener available on Flickr.

I attended the Cold Spring Springers home opener this past Wednesday to kick off another exciting season of local town ball.  It's hard to believe this is my 2nd season since moving to Minnesota and that we're coming up on 2 years here already.  I cemented the permanence of our move by acquiring a $5 Springers T-shirt upon entering the park, and I also paid $5 admission for the first time at a game here for some reason.  I'm not sure if that's just because it was Opening Day, or if this is a new policy for all games, or simply because somebody happened to be at the ticket window and thought I looked gullible enough to charge.  Paying admission to this "low level" of a ballgame normally annoys me, but I'm more than happy to shell out whatever I can at these town ball parks, because I can only imagine what the upkeep costs and volunteer hours are in communities this small.  It seems like so long ago now as I sit here typing this post in a sweater, but that game was at the end of record-breaking heat wave of 85-90 degree temps, so I joined everyone else under the covered grandstand to escape the sun and settle in for a beautiful May evening of baseball.

There's not much else to say about the park and about town ball that I haven't already said.  Normally my Opening Day posts consist of me providing an update on the team's outlook for the season and anything new at the park, but those things change as slow as just about everything else does in a small town.  The fact that the Springers' starting pitcher was 46 years old should tell you as much as you need to know about how much the team changes year to year.  My recollection is that he gave up 1 run in 3 innings of work, and whereas most pitchers in town ball will just swap with someone else in the field when they're replaced on the mound, this particular pitcher earned the rest of the night off to probably crack a Busch Light and take a nice ice bath.  He could still chuck it pretty good, but he definitely showed his age when he could not bend over to retrieve a ball squirted up the first base line, and then needed a minute to catch his breath.  The standout offensive player I made sure to note was Brian Hansen of the Springers.  He went 4-4 with 5 RBI, including a 3-run double smoked into the gap the 3rd inning.  This guy clearly had a higher level of baseball experience than just about everyone else on the field.  There are rules for roster composition in town ball that I'm slowly understanding, but it basically involves a point system where teams are assigned a certain number of points based on population size, and any player "signed" from outside your town who is under a certain age and has a certain level of professional or collegiate baseball experience counts as a demerit against those points.  This system is meant to keep teams truly as local as possible with a limited opportunity to poach better players from other cities.  Whether or not this Hansen guy had a point value assigned to him or if the Springers are lucky enough that he's a Cold Spring resident I'm not sure, but I'll be keeping an eye out for him at the next game I go to, and I'll be trying to eavesdrop on the same old guys who seemed to know everything about town ball and everybody in town.

The Springers ended up defeating the Luxemburg Brewers by a score of 7-2 in 7 innings, in a brisk 1:45 game time.  I always make sure to check who the road team is now when I go to town ball games, because it seems like I've seen the Brewers at least 5 times now and I don't want to be caught wearing my Brewers cap.  I really need to go to a home game for those guys and sit amongst my people.  I've got a few new parks I'll be getting to as the season unfolds to chip away at my Stearns County list, and we'll see if Luxemburg is in the cards.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 5/19/25:

Brewers 22-25, -6.0; 3 v. Orioles, 4 @ Pirates

Twins 26-21, -5.0; 3 v. Guardians, 3 v. Royals
Athletics 22-25, -5.0; 4 v. Angels, 3 v. Phillies

2025 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1
Peter - 6

MLB Expansion Talk Heating Up

Rob Manfred has publicly stated that two of his main goals before he reportedly ends his tenure as commissioner in January 2029 are to have the Athletics and Rays both in new much-needed ballparks, and to have the wheels in motion on league expansion (ka-ching).  The Athletics are *knock on wood* breaking ground on their extensively hyped Las Vegas ballpark next month.  They have all the necessary approvals, the design is nearly complete, demolition has occurred, permits are being pulled, and financing is about as much in place as it can be.  I won't believe it until I see it, but things are moving in the right direction on that front.  As for the Rays, I've covered them ad nauseum over the last couple of years, and at this point it seems likely that the team will either need to be sold or moved out of the Tampa Bay region sometime before their lease at Tropicana Field expires in 3 years, otherwise MLB may have no choice but to intervene.  Their ballpark situation may not be clearer anytime soon, but I do expect their franchise to have ownership stability and some sort of game plan before next season (I've been wrong before).  

Manfred has also stated that he does not want to start seriously entertaining expansion until the A's and Rays situations are resolved.  That could still be years from now, but until then, it sure is fun to speculate where two more teams could land.  The uncertainty of the A's and Rays has not deterred a cavalcade of prospective stadium plans, ownership groups, and municipalities from coming out of the woodwork.  Portland OR (rendering above), Salt Lake City (rendering on left), and Orlando (rendering below) have all established groups of investors and secured a variety of private and government financing for hypothetical ballparks just in the past year alone.  Orlando is very intriguing in particular of the three of these because (1) they could essentially capture the current Rays fanbase and market if they purchase the team in lieu of expansion, (2) they have a built-in plethora of temporary home options all over Florida as their stadium gets built, and (3) they seem to have a solid funding plan in place that does not utilize public money.  Nashville has long been considered a front-runner for a new team due to its market size and location, and they started the group Music City Baseball in 2019 to begin the process of searching for capital, land, and trademarking "Nashville Stars" in honor of the former Negro League team of the same name.  Montreal has perhaps been kicking the tires on a new team longer than anyone and would be desperate for another opportunity to showcase Major League Baseball, and one can only hope that would involve at least temporarily fixing up Olympic Stadium.  They are currently the largest North American city without an MLB team.  Sacramento is also in a unique position right now to be in an "audition phase" for a new team as the temporary home for the A's.  It's a very real possibility that either the Vegas ballpark falls through or gets delayed and they retain the A's, or that Vivek Ranadivè empties his pockets and woos Manfred for an expansion team.  Certainly at least one western US team will be a part of this expansion to even out the divisions, and Sacramento would seem to have the media market advantage over Portland or SLC.  Oakland has also been floated as potentially getting another crack at a team someday if they can ever replace the Coliseum, but after losing 3 major sports franchises in the last 5 years and also being in such close proximity to San Francisco, I don't see that ever happening.

It's way too early for me to put formal odds on any of these potential expansion cities, or to even be sure these proposals have a leg to stand on.  There may still even be more serious suitors to come - I have also heard San Antonio, Austin, and Charlotte thrown out there among others.  But in the interim, it's exciting to think about the two new cities Erik and I would get to visit (please God not Orlando), not to mention the likely need to add 8 new minor league teams to service the big league clubs.  That is, unless MiLB gets slashed again during the next CBA, which I wouldn't bet against.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 5/5/25:

Brewers 17-18, -4.0; 3 v. Astros, 3 @ Rays, 3 @ Guardians, 3 v. Twins
Twins 15-20, -7.0; 3 v. Orioles, 3 v. Giants, 3 @ Orioles, 3 @ Brewers
Athletics 19-16, -2.0; 3 v. Mariners, 3 v. Yankees, 3 @ Dodgers, 3 @ Giants

2025 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1
Peter - 4