October 18, 2019: Minor-League Baseball Is Reorganized -- For the Worse

The new Minor League Baseball logo

October 18, 2019: Major League Baseball reorganizes Minor League Baseball. It had the right to do this. It did not have a mandate to do it. And it made things much worse.

The old minor leagues were scrapped, and new ones were organized. The number of full-season MLB-affiliated minor leagues with teams in the U.S. and Canada was reduced to 11, with a total of 120 teams: 4 for each of the 30 MLB franchises.

There are also 2 affiliated "rookie leagues" based in the U.S., with teams based at the parent clubs' Spring Training complexes in Florida (the "Grapefruit League") and Arizona (the "Cactus League"), an off-season Autumn league, and one affiliated rookie league in the Dominican Republic. Additionally, 4 independent leagues are in association with MiLB.

Cutting the minor leagues back was an idea so bad, it must have seemed like Donald Trump, then occupying the White House, had thought of it.

All this was complicated by the COVID pandemic shortening the 2020 season: The majors didn't start until July 23, and the minors didn't play at all that year.

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October 18, 2019 was a Friday. The Boston Red Sox won the American League Pennant, beating the Houston Astros, 4-1 in Game 5 of the AL Championship Series. J.D. Martinez and Rafael Devers hit home runs in support of David Price.

The National League Championship Series was between Games 5 and 6. The Los Angeles Dodgers went on to beat the Milwaukee Brewers in 7 games, before losing the World Series to the Red Sox.

There were 4 college football games played:

* The University of Pittsburgh beat Syracuse, 27-20 at the Carrier Dome (now the JMA Wireless Dome) in Syracuse, New York.

* Marshall beat Florida Atlantic, 36-31 at FAU Football Stadium (now Flagler Credit Union Stadium) in the Miami suburb of Boca Raton, Florida.

* Number 4 Ohio State beat Northwestern, 52-3 at Ryan Field outside Chicago in Evanston, Illinois.

* And Fresno State beat Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV), 56-27 at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California.

The NBA season had yet to begin. There were 6 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Washington Capitals, 5-2 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.

* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Florida Panthers, 5-4 at the BB&T Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Dallas Stars, 4-2 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-2 at the United Center in Chicago. Jonathan Toews scored the winning goal, 46 seconds into overtime.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1 at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

* The Anaheim Ducks beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-2 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

And in New Jersey high school football, my Alma Mater, East Brunswick, beat neighboring New Brunswick, 17-14 at Memorial Stadium in New Brunswick. The home team was gaining in enrollment again, after many years of decline that ended the rivalry between the 2 schools, which lasted from 1964 to 1974.

June 15, 1988: “Bull Durham” Premieres

June 15, 1988: Bull Durham premieres. At around this time -- unusual for me, I can’t remember the exact date, but it was in May -- I got a job as an usher at Movie City 5 in East Brunswick.

So I got to see Susan Sarandon naked and get paid for it. In 1988, that was a big deal. But after 2016, when she joined the group of people stabbing Hillary Clinton in the back, I now feel dirty.

Sarandon met Tim Robbins on the set, and were together for 21 years, longer than most Hollywood couples that actually have gotten married.

In one night game scene, it looks like Robbins and Kevin Costner were smoking (or vaping) on the mound. The movie was filmed in the Winter, and it was cold in Durham, North Carolina.

The movie inspired a few catchphrases, from Kevin Costner as Crash Davis telling Robbins' Ebby "Nuke" LaLoosh, "Don't think: It can only hurt the ballclub"; to Trey Wilson as manager Jim "Skip" Riggins' rant about the players being "Lollygaggers!" Robert Wuhl as pitching coach Larry Hockett spouting faux wisdom and near-gibberish baseball jargon almost certainly inspired Daniel Stern's character in the 1993 baseball film Rookie of the Year.

And a few months later, Major League would be almost the same movie, with a banged-up old catcher, his intellectual girlfriend, a wild pitcher, a holier-than-thou player (although, unlike in Bull Durham, the Major League one was a hypocrite), and a player practicing voodoo. One big difference: Major League ends with a Playoff game, as the Cleveland Indians put together a late surge; while Bull Durham ends ambiguously, as the last time we see the Bulls, they're rained out, the season appears to still be in progress, and where they finish in the standings is never mentioned.

The movie gave a big boost to the minor leagues. Several teams, including the real-life Bulls, saw their attendance go way up. New ballparks were built to replace unsafe old ones. In New Jersey, for example, there were zero minor-league teams in the 1993 season, which didn't seem all that odd, given that there were 2 major-league teams in New York City and 1 in Philadelphia, plus a Class AAA team in Scranton, 53 miles from the State Line. But in 1994, Trenton got a Class AA team, and Sussex County a Class A team. By 2001, there were 8 minor-league teams in the State -- although that would be down to 4 by the 2016 season, as the minors' boom finally fizzled out.

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June 15, 1988 was a Wednesday. Football was out of season. The NHL season had been over for 3 weeks, as the Edmonton Oilers swept the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Finals. The NBA Finals were between Games 4 and 5, and the Los Angeles Lakers went on to beat the Detroit Pistons, 4 games to 3.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 8-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Bruce Hurst was the winning pitcher, while Al Leiter didn't get out of the 3rd inning. Ellis Burks and Spike Owen hit home runs for the Red Sox, Dave Winfield hit one for the Yankees. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Don Mattingly did not play.

* The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-4 at Shea Stadium. Ron Darling was the winning pitcher. Darryl Strawberry hit 2 home runs.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Montreal Expos, 6-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 7-5 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Cleveland Indians, 15-3 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros, 5-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 1-0 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Jeff Robinson pitched a 5-hit shutout, outpitching Mike Boddicker. The only run came in the bottom of the 2nd inning, when Dave Bergman hit a sacrifice fly to score Luis Salazar.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Barry Bonds went 1-for-4.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Paul Molitor went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres, 4-2 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-4.

* The Texas Rangers beat the California Angels, 6-3 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). The Rangers got RBI singles in the top of the 10th inning from Larry Parrish, Pete O'Brien and Cecil Espy.

* And the Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics, 2-0 at the Oakland Coliseum. Charlie Leibrandt pitched a 2-hit shutout, outpitching Bob Welch. George Brett went 2-for-2 with a walk and an RBI.