Tour Molly 2022 and Ballpark #150: C.O. Brown Stadium

All photos of C.O. Brown Stadium available on Flickr.

This past weekend was my 2nd annual "Tour Molly" trip with my daughter, and this year we ventured to southwest Michigan to see the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Northwoods League teams.  We left Milwaukee just before noon on Friday and due to 100+ miles of Chicago/holiday traffic and road construction, what was supposed to be a 3-1/2 hour drive turned into 5 hours.  Molly was a trooper for the whole car ride - she slept for about half of the ride, we sang songs, and I think we stopped only once.  We arrived to our basecamp Kalamazoo hotel, did a quick check-in, and drove the remaining 20 minutes to Battle Creek for Friday night's 6:35pm start vs. the Rockford Rivets.

Technically now known as the mouthful of "MCCU Field at C.O. Brown Stadium," the park opened in 1990, and like so many others on the circuit, one of its early tenants was a minor league team.  The Michigan Battle Cats moved to Battle Creek from Madison in 1995 and took up residency through the 2006 season, as an affiliate to several teams but most notably the Yankees in the early aughts.  The then-named Southwest Michigan Devil Rays departed after the '06 season to become the Great Lakes Loons (who are still in existence today), but the park was not vacant for long as the Northwoods League moved in for the 2007 season and has been there ever since.  The park holds about 2,000 people and features a simple covered grandstand wrapping from 3rd base to 1st base, with expansive picnic/open space down the lines, open bullpens in foul territory, and a party deck in the left field corner.

I was excited to see the park, not only because of my quest to visit all of the Northwoods League parks and my general love for the league, but because the team rebranded this year from the Bombers to the Battle Jacks, and with rebranding generally comes a sprucing up of the stadium.  However, I quickly found that it looks like the vast majority of the park has not been upgraded in quite a long time.  The layout and feel reminded me a lot of the Johnson City park but about 5X less nice.  Battle Creek did a minor renovation about 6 years ago in which they replaced the first few rows of seats with 4-top tables (which is not uncommon in parks of this size), and also expanded the party deck in left field, and it is a pretty stark delineation from where the original stadium ends and the newer work begins.  I was saddened because I could really envision of the potential of this park if even the most basic of maintenance and upkeep was performed.  All of the blue paint was faded or flaking off, picnic tables were busted with dangerous jagged edges, wood decks and steps were rotting, steel was rusting, concrete chipping, the metal bleachers were filthy, the bathrooms were poorly ventilated and messy, and a lot of the grass both on and off the field looked to be dying.  And on top of all of this, the giant party deck was completely vacant on a Friday night on a holiday weekend.  It just didn't feel like the front office cared at all, which is not something any first-time visitor wants to feel, regardless if that sentiment is real or perceived.  I love the old parks with the covered grandstands and it could be really nice if they tried a little.  As a dad, I tend to look at parks a little differently now when I review them, and I really appreciated all of the open space down the lines for kids to run around - they even had a wiffle ball field - but again, there was zero mind paid to these areas and they were just neglected slabs of asphalt and dead grass when they could have been something great.  On a positive note, I will say that I did love the gesture of widening the seating aisles to add a food & beverage rail in almost all rows.  It was a brilliant idea which Kalamazoo also had, and I think should be incorporated in every baseball stadium in some capacity.

The game was a 2-1 victory for the Battle Jacks, but of course we left when it was tied 0-0 and heard the cheer of the Jacks scoring in the bottom of the 8th just as we got to the car.  Because of the aforementioned wide open areas/kids zones I actually got to watch the majority of the game, which was a far cry from my trip to Green Bay with Molly last year.  I was certainly proud of Molly the entire weekend for being attentive when asked to, and making the experience fun for herself no matter where in the park(s) we were.  Battle Creek ended up walking off in the 9th in perhaps the most anti-climatic way possible - a walk followed by 3 wild pitches.  Obviously it was nice for the home team to get the win, but it was a disappointing way to end what was otherwise a stellar pitched game by both sides.  Garrett Martin tossed 7 innings of shutout ball for the Battle Jacks with 9 Ks but did not factor in the decision, and on the other side, David Mata gave up only 2 hits over 5 for the Rivets.  Bobby Nichols was the clear star position player for either team.  He led off for the Jacks and had the game's only extra base hit with a double in the 8th, and he made three spectacular plays in centerfield - two diving catches on balls in front of him, and running down a rope near the wall.

We stayed as long as we could, but after 5+ hours in the car, not even an evening full of sugary treats could keep Molly awake any longer.  It was a late bedtime back at our hotel to rest up for a full day of activities in Kalamazoo on Saturday.

park rankings and statistics: 

aesthetics - 3 (even a 3 is generous, just points for potential)

views from park - 1

view to field - 4 (good from down the lines, obstructed from seating bowl)

surrounding area - 1 (Battle Creek seemed a little rough)

food variety - 2

nachos - n/a

beer - 3

vendor price - 9

ticket price - 7 (only $10, but that was steep for the experience provided)

atmosphere - 3

walk to park - 2

parking price/proximity - 10 (adjacent lot fo' free)

concourses - 2 (not active, under grandstand, dark)

team shop - 3

kids area - 5 (points for uniqueness in having a wiffle ball field, but not well maintained)

best food - hot dog I guess?

most unique stadium feature - food & beverage rails in most seating aisles

best jumbotron feature - n/a

best between-inning feature - guy in sloth costume races kid and refuses to let kid win

field dimensions - 322/402/333

starters - David Mata (RFD) v. Garrett Martin (BC)

opponent - Rockford Rivets

time of game - 2:49

attendance - 504

score - 2-1 W

Brewers score that day - 19-2 W

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 7/5/22:

Brewers 47-35, +3.0; 3 v. Cubs, 3 v. Pirates

Twins 46-37, +3.5; 3 @ White Sox, 3 @ Rangers

2022 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1

Peter - 11

Return to Cold Spring

All photos of Cold Spring Baseball Park available on Flickr.

For the final ballgame on our 2-week visit to Minnesota, we traded the grandeur and luxury of Target Field for an evening of Town Ball in my wife's home town of Cold Spring.  Megan and her mom stayed home with the kids while my father-in-law and my parents who were also visiting headed down to the yard.  Anyone who is married understands the constant grandstanding between the parents on who will pay for anything, but my father-in-law was gracious enough to let my dad pay for the tickets this evening.  After he promptly figured out the rouse that admission is free, a $4 Miller Lite sufficed and we crammed into a bench a few rows behind home plate for the game.

I visited and documented Cold Spring Baseball Park almost 4 years ago to the day, so I won't re-hash all the specifics of the park nor the romanticism of Town Ball here.  Anybody familiar with Town Ball understands that there is certain element of the game being "frozen in time" that is a large part of the appeal, but you wouldn't know that from visiting Cold Spring.  There is a major amount of civic pride and community involvement that has gone into some pretty significant renovations to their park over the past 10 years or so, including new lighting, the renovation I wrote about in my 2018 post, and on deck for our next visit to the ballpark - a proposal for a new field house for updated batting cages, restrooms, and a community room.  It's not the flashiest or most comfortable park to watch a ballgame in the world (all of our backs and knees could attest to that by the 6th inning), but it's absolutely incredible to me that a park and team with almost zero sustainable income to speak of has not only existed for nearly a century, but that it exists to the quality it is.  Many folks that enjoy Town Ball would be perfectly fine with just a folding chair and a chain link fence, but Cold Spring has a park that I'm actually excited to visit every summer we visit.

As was the case with my last visit, there are no real stats kept for this team nor the league, unless you subscribe to one of the local papers.  The website is very "hit or miss" to put it lightly and all I can really tell from it is that the Springers have a record of 10-2 on the year.  It's always an adventure just finding out if the team is even playing ball that day.  There have been times we've tried to go where a game was cancelled or moved on a whim with very little notice, sometimes the day of.  I'm not joking when I say that a game might be cancelled if a couple of players need to work late at their day jobs or they can't find an umpire.  This particular game had only one ump, who did more walking to and from his house across the street than he did during the actual game.  But somehow, I did remember one particular player from my last visit - Jordan Barth.  Probably because I wrote about him last time and he stood out among the players, but at that time he was just finishing college and now he's still on the team so obviously Augustana College is not heavily scouted.  I would estimate that there were about 75-100 people there and it was a brisk game as you might expect, about 2:20.  Cold Spring held on for the victory against the Raymond Rockets by a score of...Christ, I can't find it...the hell with it.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 6/21/22:

Brewers 39-30, +1.0; 4 v. Cardinals, 3 v. Blue Jays, 2 @ Rays, 4 @ Pirates

Twins 38-30, +1.0; 3 v. Guardians, 3 v. Rockies, 5 @ Guardians, 3 v. Orioles

2022 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1

Peter - 9

Summer in The Cities

All photos of Target Field available on Flickr.

Megan and I reached another parenting milestone this past Tuesday when our daughter Molly completed her first year of school - only 18 more to go!  As any parent knows, along with that comes how the hell we are going to figure out child care for 12 weeks until school starts again.  Our first leg of our jam-packed summer kicked off the minute we picked her up from school and headed to Minnesota for 2 weeks to stay with the in-laws - and of course, to take in a couple of Twins games.

The first game of two was last Thursday.  My company's annual Twins outing happened to coincide with when we were home, so my wife and I took advantage of that.  It was great to put a human in-person face with many people I had only talked to over Zoom for the last year, if at all.  We had seats in on the third base side of the 3rd level, which may have been pretty high up but also boasted a great view of downtown, and a nice wind-tunnel effect channeling its way between the tall buildings to cool us on a warm night.  My second Twins game of the trip came yesterday with the entire family in tow, including both kids and newborn nephew.  For this game we sat in the 4th row of the 200 level directly behind home plate, which is one of my favorite places to sit in the park.  It's got one of the best views of the entire field, but it's also the upper deck so not terribly expensive.  It's also one of the sections that falls into the shade first with the setting sun during a day game, which is crucial in the Minnesota humidity, but if that is not enough there are two publicly accessible indoor bars right above that section with a great open view to the field - something that AmFam Field needs to take note of.  We spent a fair amount of time with our son in the bar area, letting him walk around and not be confined to a seat while we could still grab a beer and keep an eye on the game.  I say "bar" but it really feels more like an enclosed standing area that happens to serve drinks, just in case there is anybody reading this and judging that I would let my 1-year old crawl around in a bar.  As you can see in the headlining photo, it worked quite well and he tuckered himself out enough for us to actually pay attention for a few innings.

Target Field remains one of my favorite parks in the league, I would still say 2nd place behind PNC Park in Pittsburgh, but a close 2nd.  All of my favorite parts of the stadium remain and are even improved from when it opened in 2010 - an abundance of standing room/social spaces, a great 360° view of the field from just about every part of all levels of the concourse, an outstanding food and beer variety, a wide array of seating options, and an urban setting that is unmatched by almost every park in the league.  I'm not the type of person that remembers a detail like a food I ate twelve years ago, but I had a vivid lasting memory of the Tony Oliva Cuban Sandwich I had during our inaugural season visit and was on a mission to find the lonely stand that sold them.  I finally did on Sunday and it was even better than I remembered, especially when paired with a frosty Killebrew Root Beer.  The park is not without its flaws however, but one of the major deficiencies that has been remedied since the park opened in 2010 is the pinch point from the main entry in the right field corner.  They've pushed the gate back I would say a good 50 yards further towards the street to allow for a formal entry plaza.  It's geared as a kids area, which was also a lacking feature of the park, but it also serves as a much needed buffer zone between entering the stadium and the main concourse.  It's pretty normal to walk into a large stadium and just kind of look around and take it all in, and get your bearings a little bit, and now there is a great space to do just that and not having to worry about being in anyone's way.  This existed during my last visit here in 2019, but this was the first time we actually spent any time in the space, as the kids got their wiggles out here for 20 minutes before we headed to our seats.

The Thursday game pitted the Twins against the Yankees, and the Sunday game versus the Rays, and both unfortunately turned out to be losses.  We got to our seats just in time on Thursday to see the ABC's go 1-2-3 with homers to lead off the bottom of the 1st - Luis Arraez, Byron Buxton, and Carlos Correa.  Even a total of 5 homers off of one of the best pitchers in baseball, Gerrit Cole, was not enough to hold on for the victory, and the Yankees came back to win 10-7.  On Sunday, the Twins sent Cole Sands and his 9+ ERA to the mound to go for a sweep of the Rays, but ended up falling short in the 6-0 shutout.  This game featured a rare hitless performance from Arraez, who still leads the league with a .359 average as of this post, and most notably for me also featured an appearance by former Brewers closer and 3rd-round draft pick Tyler Thornburg.  He has faded into obscurity over the last few years dealing with a malady of arm issues that cost him a couple of seasons and a tumultuous time in Boston sandwiched in between (he was a part of the original Travis Shaw trade), and to be honest I didn't even know he was still playing.  The Twins picked him up recently after having been released by the Braves and he was called up just in time on Sunday to throw 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.

These two games at Target Field really helped affirm for me the decision my wife and I made to move to the Twin Cities in a couple of years, not just because of the ballpark but just generally being in downtown Minneapolis.  "The Cities," as the locals call them, are two vibrant, eclectic urban centers with two top-notch ballparks that I cannot wait to visit on a regular basis, and it felt great to purchase a new Twins cap in the team store in preparation of my future fandom.  But not to worry, no matter how much objectively better Target Field is than American Family Field, the Brewers and their ballpark will always be #1 in my heart - particularly in those April ballgames.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 6/13/22:

Brewers 34-28, -0.5, -0.5 WC; 3 @ Mets, 3 @ Reds

Twins 35-27, +3.0; 3 @ Mariners, 3 @ Diamondbacks

2022 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1

Peter - 8

Anaheim, KC Moving in Opposite Directions on New Ballpark Proposals

(image courtesy of from unsolicited study by Pendulum)

Other than the Brewers, I think I've probably written about the A's and Rays the next most on this blog, just because they have both been talking about new ballparks pretty much since we started this blog in 2007.  So long in fact that 7 new major league ballparks have opened in that span, and there is now at least one more serious contender that is throwing their hat in the ring as well: the Kansas City Royals.  It's been no secret and I've written before that the Royals owner John Sherman has made a new ballpark one of his top priorities since he took over the team.  Not necessarily because the Royals need one - fans, players, media, and myself included will all tell you that Kauffman is a gem - but because of a desire for surrounding development, a la The Banks in Cincinnati or Ballpark Village in St. Louis.  Kauffman Stadium is sited well outside the CBD amidst a sea of parking, not unlike American Family Field here in Milwaukee, with little to no opportunity for revenue streams outside of gameday operations, and the drive from many teams nowadays is to maximize profits and development any way they can, not just in baseball but in all sports.  More areas to shop and eat and drink means more fans and money for the team, and a larger tax base for the city on undeveloped land, so it's kind of a win-win for most people (save for gentrification and the poor, but I won't get into that here).

The team recently announced they had narrowed their new ballpark to two downtown sites, and with the NFL Chiefs also pursuing a move to the Kansas side of the city, it sure seems like the demise of the Truman Sports Complex is a matter of when, not if.  One of the sites would be in a neighborhood called the East Village, which is near the famed downtown Power & Light District, and the other site would be a mile further east in the Jazz District, near the Negro Leagues Museum.  Both have their pros and cons - the East Village site has existing infrastructure but is a much more confined area, and the Jazz District site is the current home to the KC Area Transportation Authority in a more diverse part of the city that could really use the development and help bridge the racial divide to downtown (i.e. - again, red flag for gentrification).  The Kansas City Star actually has pretty cool interactive maps of the sites that were put together by the Urban Land Institute and UC-Berkeley respectively.  If all goes perfectly and an eventual vote is approved by various entities to approve a share of public funding, the Royals could be playing ball downtown as soon as 2026.  However, it is worth noting that the city already just funded Kauffman Stadium upgrades barely a decade ago.  It's far from a given that citizens would have the appetite to extend a sales tax for a team that one could argue doesn't even need a new home, not to mention during a time in our country when it's pretty ballsy for a wealthy baseball owner to be walking into the capitol with his hand out.  It's also worth noting that the Royals are contractually bound to Kauffman through at least 2031 as part of the terms of said renovation.

While the wheels are in motion in Kansas City, they have come to a grinding halt in Anaheim.  If you would asked me a couple years ago, I would have said without hesitation that the Angels would be the leader in the clubhouse for next new ballpark.  Nothing like a good old-fashioned bribery scandal and the California politics to send things back to square one.  After the Angels had the framework of a deal starting through the chain of approvals that would have brought millions of dollars of development into newly acquired parcels surrounding a new stadium on the same lot, the California government stepped in with some concerns about the lack of affordable housing that is required by state law in any land transferred from municipal ownership.  Oh, and just one other small detail - the mayor of Anaheim resigned over allegations that he offered owner Arte Moreno a sweetheart deal in exchange for campaign contributions.  None of these allegations have been proven, and there is no indication that the Angels were in any way a part of this foul play, but the sale of the land was effectively cancelled and is now starting from scratch.  I still think it is inevitable that the Angels get a new stadium as, unlike the Royals, they are in desperate need of one, but this process is going to drag on for many years before we see any real traction.

It's always exciting to think about what new major league park Erik and I will be seeing after Globe Life Field, and as of today it certainly looks like Kansas City has pulled neck-and-neck with Oakland.  And speaking of new major league parks - we've settled on September 8-11 to make attempt #3 at seeing Globe Life Field!  Flights are booked as of this morning and here's hoping the country will not be in complete shambles by then.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 6/7/22:

Brewers 33-23, +0.5; 3 v. Phillies, 3 @ Nationals

Twins 32-24, +4.5; 3 v. Yankees, 3 v. Rays

2022 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1

Peter - 6

Northwoods League Opening Day 2022

All photos of Kenosha Kingfish 2022 Home Opener available on Flickr. 

In the Before Time, before Covid and children, it was a regular occurrence for me (and eventually Megan) to attend at least one home opener somewhere in the Northwoods League.  It's one of my favorite days on the baseball calendar and something I would typically plan and look forward to weeks in advance.  Well, 2022 is no longer those times, but Megan and I still made perhaps the most impulsive decision to go to a game in our history.  We snagged three of the scarcely remaining seats left for the Kenosha opener the night before, and drove down for a 4:05 Memorial Day first pitch.  It would be my first Northwoods League Opener in 5 years, and despite getting to watch only a few innings with two small kids in tow, it was so nice to be out at the ballpark on a beautiful afternoon.

One thing for anyone to always expect at an Opening Day in any summer collegiate league is that anything involving a POS or a staff member will just be a nightmare.  I will freely admit that I have the least patience of anybody I know, but even going in fully anticipating the disaster, it still tested my limits.  We started our day at the ballpark by waiting in a line for a half-hour just to pick up our tickets from Will Call.  After getting to our seats nearly a full inning late, we took in a couple innings and our next adventure was at the concessions stand.  This moved a little faster because they had a few menu items pre-prepared, but if you ordered anything that was not one of those items it took forever.  Later in the game, we completely abandoned our attempt at the ice cream line and went to Culver's after the game instead.  Thankfully the one line in the entire park that was fast was the beer line, and I managed to suck down a couple of shandys while chasing a couple kids in the play area and trying to sneak a peak at the field once in awhile.  I would implore anyone who does attend a NWL opener to just be as patient and kind as possible.  The reason these are always a shit-show is these teams hire seasonally with a completely new staff every summer, and comprised almost entirely of student labor.  They all come in wide-eyed learning a system that is either brand new or has been dormant for 9 months and there are understandably going to be hiccups, not to mention the fact that not all of the towns and parks these teams play in have the best internet connection.

Nothing much different at the park since my last visit with Molly last summer.  We sat in the left field corner and I did notice that the left field wall seemed considerably shorter than in years past, not sure if that is new or I never noticed before.  But there was a ball hit to deep left in the 2nd and the guy caught it up against the fence, and he could basically sit on top of the fence to catch the ball if he wanted to.  At some point a ball is going to be smoked out there and send a player careening onto a picnic table, which would certainly make the Sportscenter Top 10 now that the league is on ESPN+.  The kids area and concessions areas have mixed up a little bit per usual, but otherwise business as usual for the Kingfish - and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.  Even the prices were not too drastically different during a time in which everything is skyrocketing in price, and that did not go unnoticed.

We ended up leaving in the 7th inning because, well, a 50-minute drive trying to keep 2 kids awake was awaiting us, and K-Zoo had just put up a 6-spot on K-Hole so we figured the game was in hand.  But, as always happens when you leave early, we missed a lot of action.  The Kingfish ended the game with 7 unanswered runs and won the opener 9-7.  We got to our seats just as Drake Westcott was going yard in the bottom of the 1st and he ended up getting on base 4 times in the game with 2 of the team's 11 hits.  Clark Candiotti (unsure if any relation to Tom) gave up 1 unearned run over 5.  Most of the damage on the day was charged to Jacob Gehring who came on in relief of Candiotti and promptly surrendered 5 runs in an inning of work.  Everybody in the Growlers lineup had at least 1 hit, but it was a death by thousand cuts as Daniel Pruitt had their only extra-base hit of the day.  Generally there is always a son or two of a former ballplayer in a Northwoods game, and sure enough, Craig Counsell's son Brady played 2nd and batted 6th for the Kingfish.  He is a freshman at the U of M and went 2-5 with a walk.  I'll for sure be watching to see if the schedules align when the Kingfish are home on a Brewers off-day to see if I can spot Dad in the stands.

Another exciting Northwoods League season and an unofficial start to summer is upon us, and I am super excited to visit the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek parks with my daughter in July!

2022 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 1
Peter - 6

Brewers off to Best 40-Game Start in Franchise History

I will admit that I came into this season excited, but also a little skeptical.  Not for any logical reason, but more of a cynical one.  This is a team that has largely been horrible for most of my memory, and now coming off an unfathomable four consecutive playoff appearances, including two division titles, I wondered to myself when the wheels would fall off, or at least start to wobble.  There was no way that our pitching staff, particularly Corbin Burnes and Eric Lauer, would be able to maintain this pace.  There was no way that our offseason moves would lead to any more actual offensive output.  As far as I was concerned, the version of Christian Yelich that routinely goes 1-4 with a single and three 100-mph groundouts to 2nd was the Yelich we were going to see for the remainder of his contract.  And so on.  But here we stand with my foot planted firmly in mouth, and the Crew off to their best start ever through the first quarter of the season at 26-14 (now 26-15 after yesterday's loss).  And there will certainly be regressions, and speed bumps - as I write this, Freddy Peralta is getting an MRI on his shoulder - but I'm becoming more convinced that this team has what it takes to make the playoffs again, particularly with the field expanded to 6 teams per league.  I'm still jaded enough in the history of this team that I sometimes forget the hallmark of the Brewers the last 7 or 8 years - trust in Counsell and Stearns and Attanasio, even moreso than the actual roster.

But that's not to say this roster isn't looking damn good from top to bottom.  The aforementioned Yelich isn't quite back to his 2018-19 form (which is probably an unrealistic ask) but has looked every bit of his old Marlins self, driving the ball with authority to all fields and among league leaders in hard-hit percentage on balls in play.  A couple of weeks ago, he became the first player in history to hit for the cycle three times against the same team - the Reds.  Rowdy Tellez's .522 SLG has been a godsend for a team that has been uncharacteristically average in the home run department.  He has an outside shot of making the all-star team given the NL is so weak in the position beyond Freddie Freeman.  Him and Willy Adames actually won back-to-back NL Player of the Week awards recently and are both shining examples of David Stearns' mastery of the under-the-radar trade.  And speaking of all-stars, Corbin Burnes and Eric Lauer continue to sparkle every time they take the ball.  Lauer is in the top 5 in ERA in all of baseball over the past 12 months, in large part to finding another few MPH in his fastball, and I feel like is still not being talked about outside of Milwaukee.  Josh Hader is 15 for 15 in save opportunities and has still not given up a run.  Andrew McCutcheon and Hunter Renfroe were specifically brought in to help the Brewers beat left-handed pitching, and they have done just that and then some.  Renfroe currently leads the team in batting average (minimum 100 ABs) and homeruns.  Outside of Father Time finally catching up with Lorenzo Cain, every single player on this roster is providing meaningful contributions.  And not just the active roster, but a good chunk of the entire 40-man roster - the depth of this team is what has made this 4+ year run sustainable.

One of the most annoying phrases to me from the baseball media is "it's too early," or even worse, "small sample size."  I feel like a lot of players get a pass on being shitty in April and May just because baseball is so streaky and so long and temps are colder in most of the country, and that's fair to a certain extent.  Memorial Day is already next week and, right or wrong, is traditionally the day where teams take a step back and say "this is who we are."  And with where the Brewers are sitting, if they can add another bullpen arm and some thump off the bench at the deadline, and stay away from major injuries, I see no reason this team can't make a deep run in the playoffs.  The problem is that you can say that about almost every playoff contender.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 5/23/22:

Brewers 26-15; 3 @ Padres, 4 @ Cardinals, 4 @ Cubs, 4 v. Padres

Twins 25-16; 3 v. Tigers, 4 v. Royals, 5 @ Tigers, 3 @ Blue Jays

2022 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1

Peter - 5

Miguel Cabrera Joins Exclusive 3,000 Hit Club

A couple of weeks ago (actually just before I published my last post), Miguel Cabrera became just the 33rd member of the 3,000 hit club, with a single to right field against the Rockies.  It's an incredible accomplishment for probably one of the top 5 pure hitters of my generation.  Being in the AL for most of his career I have not gotten to see him play in person very much, but I definitely still remember how exciting it was to follow along with his 2012 Triple Crown and constantly check the stat leaderboards for the last couple of months of that season.  Very few elite players are productive enough to be worth their salary when they retire, and Miggy is certainly no exception.  He still has the same superb hand-eye coordination he always has, but time has made it easy to forget how dominant a player he once was.  From his prime years with the Marlins, all the way through his last All-Star season with the Tigers in 2016, constitutes about a 12-year period the likes of which will statistically match up with or exceed just about every Hall of Famer, and he's sure to be a lock for Cooperstown when he retires.  Not to say 3,000 hits is common by any means, but I was actually shocked when I read that "only" 33 players have ever reached the plateau.  That means there is a wide percentage of hitters even in the Hall that have not reached that mark.  Barry Bonds was probably the most feared hitter I've ever seen in person, and not even he has 3,000 hits.  If you want to break it down into even more exclusive company, Cabrera is one of only 7 players to collect both 3,000 hits and 500 home runs, and one of only THREE players to also notch 600 doubles (the other two being Albert Pujols and of course Hank Aaron).  He has a career .918 OPS which is tied for 3rd on the active list behind only Mike Trout and Joey Votto.

I just can't stress enough how remarkable this achievement is and something any baseball fan should not take for granted, and in the age of the "all or nothing" approach to hitting, it sure seems like this milestone did not get the recognition in sports media it deserved.  I heard a conversation on an ESPN podcast that Cabrera might very well be the last player to ever reach the 3,000 hit plateau - barring another major change or shift in the game itself - and that is the most unbelievable part of all of this.  With the release of Robinson Cano by the Mets last week, the next closest active player to 3,000 hits now falls to Yadier Molina with 2,126.  Molina is a soon-to-be 40-year-old catcher whose total is mostly the result of accumulation and not skill, so he will definitely not be collecting another 874 hits.  Then comes Votto and Nelson Cruz who are both about 1,000 hits away and also nearing retirement on bad teams, so they're a no.  Sidebar: I was surprised to see Brewer newcomer Andrew McCutcheon at 8th on the active hits list with 1,850 (including Pujols and Cabrera).  I think you have to start looking down to the players that started their careers as teenagers and are in the middle of massive contracts to find anybody that has a realistic chance - namely, Manny Machado (1,468 age 29), Mike Trout (1,448 age 30), Bryce Harper (1,302 age 29), and I'll throw Juan Soto into that group too since everybody expects him to get the same type of contract next year.  This all speaks to taking the milestone for granted.  So many of the great players from my era - Pujols, Jeter, Ichiro, A-Rod, Biggio, I could go on - have reached that number that I have just grown accustomed to believing that all great hitters will eventually just stick around long enough to get there.  But the reality is that the game is so different now with so little emphasis being placed on the base hit, that we should all take a moment to remember Miguel Cabrera for the great player he was/is, and potentially one of the last of a very exclusive club, not just in baseball but all of sports.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 5/9/22:

Brewers 19-10; 3 @ Reds, 3 @ Marlins, 3 v. Braves, 3 v. Nationals

Twins 18-11; 3 v. Astros, 3 v. Guardians, 3 @ Athletics, 3 @ Royals

2022 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1

Peter - 4