Cleaning out the Inbox

    The inbox cleaning starts with WTOP reporting that affiliated baseball could be returning soon, perhaps as soon as the 2026 season, to Frederick, Maryland, and Harry Grove Stadium.

Frederick lost their High A team after the great minor league implosion of 2021, despite leading the Carolina League in attendance for years.

MLB insisted that Frederick would not retain their team due to its stadium amenities or lack thereof, but I've been to worse stadiums that retained their teams (Lynchburg, VA).

Recent renovations to Harry Grove Stadium have apparently pleased the powers that decide these things and have given the thumbs up for a return to affiliated baseball.

The article doesn't mention any rumored teams that would move to Frederick, but if I had to place a wager on the likely franchise, I'd bet on either the Aberdeen Ironbirds (High A Baltimore) or the Wilmington Blue Rocks (High A Washington).

The Athletic writes of the ownership and support of Leeds United (English Football) by NBA player Larry Nance Jr., who calls himself the "Tallest Leeds United fan in the world".

Nance bought a small share in the team from their owners, the San Francisco 49ers, and travels to as many games as possible after the NBA season.

Nance looks at his ownership as a fan more than an owner and discusses how he doesn't have or want any pull in personnel decisions.

Nance currently plays for the Atlanta Hawks, and while on the sidelines, injured, during the Hawks' two play-in playoff games, he wore two different Leeds jerseys.

The Ringer has some thoughts on the streaming service Max changing its name to HBO Max.

The name change is very important since Warner Bros. changed the name to Max from HBO Max originally.

Like the Haslem's brain-dead idea to change the Cleveland Browns uniforms only to return them to their original design as soon as they could, Warner Brothers is the latest to learn that you can freshen things without screwing up what people like and remember about your product.

The change becomes official this summer.

The James Webb telescope recently saved images of auroras from the planet Jupiter, which are described as "Hundreds of times brighter than the Northern Lights seen on Earth".

This occurs as Jupiter (like Earth's version) receives high-energy particles that the sun ejects from solar storms, but Jupiter's are even brighter due to the planet capturing particles that are ejected into space from volcanoes on its moon Io. 

It's official- Sun (s) set in Hagerstown, Keys locked out in Frederick

        In what seemed to be the time that it took to send out a press release, but actually had been in the works for months, Western Maryland baseball fans saw themselves move from two pro teams within 25 miles of each team to having none as the Hagerstown Suns and surprisingly the Frederick Keys lost their affiliation with Major League Baseball. 

Hagerstown's fate was sealed last week when the Washington Nationals announced that they would not be returning to the Hub City in one of the worse kept secrets in years, but the Frederick Keys were thought to be returning despite being included on the original list to be consolidated.

Frederick was offered the token gesture of being one of the six teams in the new MLB Draft League, which will feature college players playing during their off-season and often using wooden bats for the first time.

The MLB Draft League will likely be similar to the Cape Cod League as one of the best leagues of its level in the country, but in my opinion, is still a full step below the High A level of baseball that has been present for three decades in Frederick.

While it's not difficult to see why Hagerstown wasn't retained for several reasons, I wonder what the major problem was with Frederick?

Frederick's Harry Grove Stadium is 30 years old and likely could use a facelift along with some of the player amenities needing some upgrades, but I've been to far worse facilities and some of those franchises were retained.

Combine that with the consistent level of support that the Keys received from their fan base, which usually sees Frederick battling for the Carolina League attendance championship with Winston-Salem, who has a newer and beautiful ballpark, and you would think the Keys would have been a franchise that should have had no worries about staying in the game as long as assurances were made for the improvements that major league baseball would ask for.

Instead, the Keys are bound for the MLB Draft League, which doesn't start until June, plays half the games of affiliated baseball, has younger and even more untested players, and has the feel of a consolation prize from Rob Manfred and company for taking baseball away from cities.

I'd even go a step farther and offer this as a possibility- the league may be looked at as a league designed to avoid lawsuits and should the fans in those cities ( the Applachian League is also now an MLB run league) not support these teams to their previous level, MLB can close the league up on a dime and claim that they offered baseball and those cities didn't support it.

Under some of the rumored terms of these teams in the new MLB-owned setup, it is more expensive to own a team now (for the right to own a franchise) than it was under the MILB sanctioned leagues and I would again consider betting that MLB never dreamed the Appalachian League would accept those terms (The New York/Penn League did not accept those terms) and leaving MLB to at least go through the motions for a few years.

The Draft League wasn't one that was rumored for Frederick as the whispers for Frederick saw the possibility for the Keys to join the top independent league, the Atlantic League.

The Atlantic League would have brought some bigger names from the past, but certainly not the future of the game as the Carolina League does.

Still, with older players on the field, an argument can be made that the Atlantic League offers a better on-field product and with the minor leagues already being called "developmental" as is, the Draft League is going to be even more about development.

I'm not saying that is wrong, just stating what it actually is.

What is the future for Hagerstown and Frederick baseball?

For all of the things that seem to be negative about the new major league-owned system, there is one positive- the old system of territories will no longer exist.

What this means is that should Hagerstown ever decide to actually join the new millennium (twenty plus years after it started) and build a new stadium, a team in Frederick could not stop a Hagerstown return to affiliated baseball.

I don't think that is going to happen as if the desire for that existed, it would have been built when they actually possessed a franchise, but it does leave the door open a hair for Hagerstown.

As for Frederick, I have a feeling that they are being used as a stalking horse, in the unlikely event that one of the teams that received invitations decides to go out of business.

In other words, they are going to wined and dining to scare teams into renovating or building stadiums as the alternative if they don't do what the bossman says.

Frederick could always build a new stadium and should they do so, they could perhaps fit into the AA Eastern League or the high A league without a name.

Frederick always had the fan support that makes a new stadium low-risk instead of Hagerstown's chicken or egg question on a potential new park.

In the end, this takes a lot of baseball out of my life for a while.

I don't really have any interest in the MLB Draft League and with Harrisburg and Altoona 90 plus minutes away as the nearest affiliated teams, I might be reduced to going to see the Indians and Giants farm teams and the Giants now have only Richmond on the East Coast for me to see.

I'm still planning a few trips a year to see new parks with my buddies, but I don't think I'll be doing much on those trips as far autographing goes.

This might be the end of a lot of that hobby for me.

Hagerstown got what it deserved.

Frederick did everything right and still got screwed.

You can love baseball, but baseball doesn't always love you.

 

Cleaning out the inbox

As I still attempt to clean things up after being so far behind, it's time to clean out most of the inbox!

We start with The Athletic and a lengthy oral history article on the 50th anniversary of the St.Bonaventure Bonnies and their run to the 1970 Final Four.
St. Bonaventure lost only one game in the 1969-70 season and won the East Regional, but lost their star center Bob Lanier in the regional final against Villanova to a torn knee ligament.
The injury to Lanier cost viewers a Lanier vs Artis Gilmore showdown at the Final Four as Gilmore's Jacksonville Dolphins would defeat the Bonnies on their way to a title game loss to UCLA.
Lanier would be the first selection of the 1970 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons and would eventually be inducted into the basketball hall of fame.
The article covers all four seasons of Lanier's time with St.Bonaventure and is very extensive in talking to all the key players of the time.

The Athletic returns with an article written by former major leaguer Lars Anderson on his attempt to use Adderall as a PED when he was playing in Japan.
Adderall is a drug used by baseball players legally only with a valid medical prescription and should you use it without one, a player would be eligible to be suspended.
Anderson, who writes an occasional article for The Athletic, writes about the MLB testing policies, the pros and cons of Adderall, and why it can help players, but not in a physical sense.
It's an interesting article from the players' point of view, which isn't often heard from other than when players deny the use of various outlawed drugs or in talks between baseball and the union.

Many times when writers from larger cities or even national media write about minor league baseball, they miss so many of the details because they already have decided the angle of their feature or they simply don't bother to dig into the facts and as a result miss so much of the actual picture.
I cannot say that about Washington radio station WTOP's website in their article about the campaign of MLB against minor league baseball.
The writer visited both Hagerstown and Frederick, talked to members of the front office of both the Suns and Keys, discussed the issues with fans, organizers of efforts to keep the two teams, and politicians that want to help teams stop the MLB barrage to eliminate 42 teams.
It's very well written and researched and is the type of article on the topic that you don't read very often.

The Athletic is back again with an article on Chris Petersen, who recently resigned from Washington after their Las Vegas Bowl win over Petersen's former school in Boise State.
The Stewart Mandel penned article talks about Petersen's rebuilding work with Washington, his role in building Boise State into its role as one of the group of five powerhouses, his work outside the game, and the grind of being a major college coach in the game today.
Petersen has been overlooked a bit as one of the better coaches in college football over the last decade and as I read more about Peterson the person, I'm not sure that we'll see him on the sidelines again.

The Detroit Free Press writes of the plight of former NHL star Joe Murphy, who lives on the streets of Kenora, Ontario, Canada after an NHL career that ended with what some believe will eventually be diagnosed as CTE.
CTE cannot be diagnosed until after death, so it is suspected and not confirmed in the case of Murphy, but the personality change, drug use, and a lack of life structure certainly point in that direction, especially when you discover that Murphy suffered from concussions many times during his NHL career.
Even if CTE isn't the eventual reason for Murphy's problems, there does seem to be some sort of mental illness issue with Murphy, who like so many in the homeless community, sees "angels and ghosts" and talks to people that aren't there.
Author Jeff Seidel traveled to Kenora and followed Murphy around to see what an average day is like and got a feeling for Murphy's routine or lack thereof.
Murphy was the first overall selection in the 1986 NHL draft by the Red Wings and played for seven teams, scoring 233 goals with his best seasons spent with the Blackhawks.

That cleans out the regular articles from the inbox, although sadly there are plenty of passings still to note.

A new memory in Frederick

Baseball is a funny game.
Especially when you see as many games as I do, they tend to run together and if I see just a little bit before I have to leave or an entire game, usually what you see is unremarkable or memorable for other reasons.

Then again, there are those few nights that catch you off guard and leave you with something indelible in the memory banks.
There was the night that Suns manager Darnell Coles threw his own player (Stephen King) off to the side to keep the player from arguing with an umpire so that HE could argue with him and after being ejected, threw a bucket of balls on the field with some bats to boot!
The Suns opening series against big bonus baby Stetson Allie of West Virginia, who then pitched an inning that would have made Nuke LaLoosh blush with wild pitches that would have killed a batboy had one been in their normal spot, 100 MPH radar clockings and a dugout meltdown has stuck with me as has the night that Juan Soto snapped his ankle avoiding the batboy (that somehow missed the media report, yet if you were one of the 100 people there-you saw how it happened) and Cleveland prospect Dylan Baker throwing five perfect innings on a Frederick home opener for Lynchburg and watching him leave the game warming up for the sixth to miss the rest of the year with a torn elbow ligament.
There have been other nights that have been better remembered for off the field incidents than anything that remembered on the field, but I was able to see something Tuesday night in Frederick with Bill Cover that I hadn't seen before and I'm unlikely to ever see again.

I've never attended a no-hitter in person and we almost saw one on Tuesday,
Instead, we may have seen something more memorable.
Frederick's Michael Baumann was unhittable and that word is often used lightly, but in this case, it's true.
Baumann struck out 12 and walked only two without allowing a hit over six and two-thirds innings, but dominance goes beyond the numbers and Baumann never even had balls hit hard or needed to have his fielders make plays behind him.
Baumann was that strong and you had the feeling if the pitch count didn't exist, he could pitch all night and Wilmington wasn't going to hit him!
Baumann was the Orioles third rounder in 2017 and split last season between Delmarva and Frederick, so he is someone to keep an eye on.

Fast forward to the ninth with Frederick holding a 4-0 lead and the no-hitter intact as Travis Seabrooke took the mound after getting the final out of the seventh and the three in the eighth without allowing a hit.
Wilmington manager Scott Thorman clearly was trying to avoid his prospect-laden squad being no-hit and began to send pinch-hitters to the plate, which in A level baseball usually only happens if a player is injured or you see a cow flying over the moon in mid-game against Seabrooke.
Pinch-hitter Marten Gasparini was called out on strikes- two outs away.
Next, former Hagerstown Sun Blake Perkins was the chosen pinch-hitter and drew a walk.
One out, no-hitter still alive.
Nick Pratto was the next pinch-hitter and as a touted prospect that had the evening off, loomed as a dangerous impediment to the no-hitter, and Pratto drew a walk.
Two on, One out, No-hitter intact.
Seabrooke is removed by Frederick for Luis Perez with Perez facing Seuly Matias, who at Low A Lexington hit 31 homers in 2018 and walked only 24 times.
So of course, Matias draws a walk.
Bases Loaded, One out, No-hitter still intact

At this point, this is where I screw up, I turn to Bill and say "this is about the time someone kicks one".
Sebastian Rivero raps a routine hopper to Keys shortstop Yeltsin Gudino-perfect double play ball to end the game.
Gudino kicks it, Perkins scores, the score is 4-1 Frederick with the shutout gone, but the no-hitter still in play with the bases still loaded.
Catching prospect and 2017 second rounder M.J.Melendez strides to the plate with a batting average of.138. Perez walks him.
No-hitter still on the line, the game is 4-2, bases once again loaded.

Infielder Dennicher Carrasco bats next and with Carrasco at the plate, Perez throws the ball past catcher Stuart Levy and Matias scores.
Now the score is 4-3, the tying run is on third and the lead run is at second and Wilmington STILL doesn't have a hit!
Carrasco won't stop that string either as he pops out to first baseman Trevor Craport, who makes a nice catch near the stands for the second out.
Two on Two out- no hits and shortstop Cristian Perez at the plate.
Perez finally drills a hit as he smacks a line drive by the diving third baseman Willy Yahn down the line to score Rivero and Melendez (the ball wound up being called a ground rule double as it was stuck around the fence.
No-hitter ruined and Frederick is actually losing, Perez then fans Angelo Castellano to finally finish this inning from hell.
Frederick did put the tying runner on base, but Wilmington held on for a stunning 5-4 win off one hit with two out in the final inning and under crazy circumstances.

I've still never seen a no-hitter live, but this meltdown will be just as memorable as if the Keys had polished off the Blue Rocks and completed it.
Baseball indeed is a crazy game.

The evening wouldn't be complete, if not for a graphing story.
I wrote yesterday about graphing the Blue Rocks in Lynchburg and the work getting a few of their prospects.
That enabled me to just enjoy the evening for the most part (I did add a few players from last season's Lexington set) and if I was able to finish any of the cards for Brett Shaw, that's an added bonus.
I decided I would forego my card if Brady Singer or Jackson Kowar signed and try to get them for Brett.
Kowar did sign for others after the game as I was getting two other players, so he signed, but I was unable to nab his card for Brett.
Here's the funny story, the few remaining people after the game (a rain shower delayed the start by an hour) waited for players at a spot near the stadium exit, to the left of the locker room exit, a short walk away.
A player opened the door, looked to the right of the door (not the left) towards the stadium, saw no one and audibly said: "Brady, the coast is clear".
Singer and this player quickly left to walk down the concourse and around most of the stadium to reach their bus all to avoid five or six people.
It was a small walk away for us, to be near our cars and exactly where they had to walk by us anyway.
Singer did stop and sign one for everyone, so I was happy to have Brett's card signed, but I wonder is it that hard to do that all the avoiding and the hassle that's done, all of that is easier than signing one card?
I think about that sometimes, what goes through the mind of someone to go to all that trouble to avoid a few people?
I might understand Tom Brady avoiding 300 people in Boston to be worth the problems, but for a minor league player to go through that to dodge five people in Frederick Maryland?
I thought it was funny- "The coast is clear, Brady" like they were casing the joint in an old Western!

A fun and memorable night in Frederick that between on the field and off the field won't be forgotten anytime soon.

I moved my day in Salem back a day to write this story and I still need to write about the Browns final day draft picks so those will be on their way soon.

First Week-On the Signing Front

Wow.Week one of the minor league season is now in the books and I figured I'd make a quick rundown....

Before I begin,I'll be doing another Q and A in the next day or two-drop me questions here,Facebook,Twitter or if we are actual friends- email.
I love the Q and A sessions and I have received some minor league baseball questions,so look for that soon!

I have three podcasts set for the baseball downtime,so the podcast will be back soon with three great guests-two returning and one new!

With all three teams that are close all opening their seasons at home in week one with one or two series,there was plenty to do and see,but the downside was that there will be eight days in between the last game and another game.

Let's start with the local bunch with the Hagerstown Suns.
I only attended one game for each series of the homestand-1 against the Asheville Tourists (Colorado Rockies) and the final game against the Lakewood Blue Claws (Philadelphia Phillies),as to be frank,I had games/teams in other locales that I wanted to do as well.

The chronically understaffed Suns didn't really change much at the Muni,but I didn't see anything to complain about as far as changes go,so things weren't that bad.
The Tourists featured two first round picks in 2015 (Compensation round) third baseman Tyler Nevin (son of former big leaguer and current Giants coach Phil Nevin) and 2016 first rounder (4th overall) fireballer Riley Pint.
I decided to go the Frederick Keys route on the Sunday,which was far more fun due to a great meal with Doug Hopkins afterwards,but in doing I missed seeing Pint,who reportedly was hitting 100 MPH on the radar gun against the Suns.
Earlier in the series,Pint signed all three cards that I had,but Nevin was missed as a grapher with a pile of cards and other items nailed Nevin and left the rest of us grasping for air.
Luckily for me,there was always Derreck Chupak,who in his visit later in the series,helped me with Nevin and was able to get him on all my stuff...
Other interesting additions was 2016 fourth rounder Colton Welker and former Ohio State Buckeye Jacob Bosiokovic,who chatted with me about the Buckeyes...

As noted,I attended just one game against Lakewood and the top overall pick in 2016 Mickey Moniak.
I suspected the Moniak show would attract graphers from the circuit for a crazy environment and I go to games for fun and relaxation-that didn't seem like fun to me.
I passed on Monday in order to do Fightheads and I thought Harrisburg with Bill Cover on Tuesday would be more fun even with a lesser team (Hartford) than battling graphers.
I hit the final game of the series with a grand total of just five cards-1 for the aforementioned Moniak and 4 for a reliever named Harold Arauz,
I had gotten quite a bit of the Blue Claws last year at Williamsport,the short season affiliate of the Phillies and with a few more additions from Doug Hopkins ( I did stuff for him in Harrisburg),I was left with just five cards.
I told Arauz that he was the main player that I needed tonight and he quizzically looked at me and said "Moniak?".
I said I had more for him (Arauz) than anyone and when he signed,my night was just about finished,
I wondered whether it was worth trying to join the crowd for Moniak (the graphing crowd was there for him,the actual crowd-not so much) and decided why not and he was quiet,but efficient and knocked my Bowman's Best card out.
I watched the game and enjoyed the quiet as noted earlier,the undermanned Suns staff wasn't able to do as many of the on-field skits as normal.
I decided to skip the bus crowd and went home as I had to leave for work within the hour.
The Suns early season six o'clock starts allow me to stay a lot more than later in the season when the games start at seven.
I'm planning on a different plan of attack for the hometown team this season.I'm going to try keeping things to just one or maybe two games a series,
I'm hoping that a small reduction in games will allow me to have more fun in Hagerstown...

I spent Sunday with the Frederick Keys and the visiting Carolina Mudcats.
The Mudcats are in their first year with the Milwaukee Brewers,who are new to the local circuit.
As a result,almost all of us have tons of cards for the Mudcats.
Mike Landucci had earlier added Trent Clark on his 2016 top 100 (Clark would be the only top 100 pickup of the opening week) for me,so I was able to add Clark on his Midwest League top prospect card.
I always love doing the league top prospect sets and except for the top 100 sets,those are always my top of the list to have signed.
2014 first rounder Kodi Mederios was very nice in signing a few different cards with the best additions being his 2015 Midwest and 2016 Florida State prospect cards and also nice was former sandwich pick Jacob Gatewood,who signed all 4 cards that I had.
The best get might have been promising hurler Marcos Diplan,who is fast moving up the top prospect charts.
Diplan signed his Midwest prospect card and his Pioneer league All-Star card and stopped to do it-very nice.
After a dinner with Doug Hopkins,I went home to watch the end of the Masters and skipped the Suns.
I always enjoy the Frederick Keys,the graphing access is usually great,the employees almost always friendly (there was one usher a few years ago as the exception) and I usually have a good time there,although I don't get to watch games there as much as I wish that I could.

Tuesday was spent with Bill Cover for the Hartford Yard Goats and we were met there by Fred and Mike Landucci.
I've never had a bad experience in Harrisburg and of the three stops,it's likely my favorite to watch a game in.
The AA game is a better quality game and moves faster as a result.
Harrisburg also has one other factor-my man Nate DeFazio.
Nate is my favorite employee among my minor league stops,always thanks me for coming to Harrisburg,talks for a bit and is pleased to see me (and Derreck when he is able to come),which is a welcome change from another spot-Ha Ha!!!
The Yard Goats weren't loaded with prospects,but a few interesting cards were inserted into the finished collection for mine (and Doug's)
Outfielder Omar Carrizales was extremely nice in signing three cards,starter Ryan Castellani pitched well in his start and signed two cards,before joining what appeared to be his family and former Texas Longhorn Parker French signed five cards (combined between Doug and mine).
I always like my Harrisburg trips and look forward to more as the year goes by.

I now have eight days off and after looking forward to the return of the game for the fall and winter,this break is a little longer than preferred.
Upcoming teams
Delmarva visits Hagerstown (Unsure on this,a very light prospect team,they make several trips to Hagerstown and not a lot of cards combined with other stops)
Salem visits Frederick-Will definitely be doing the Red Sox after missing many of those players at Greenville last year.
Lakewood and Charleston in West Virginia-First long trip of the year sees the Blue Claws again,a early chance to do the West Virginia Power and Blake Rutherford with the Yankee affiliated RiverDogs.
Reading visits Harrisburg-More cards than expected for the Fighting Phils with young outfielder Carlos Tocci and second baseman Scott Kingery.
Kannapolis visits Hagerstown-This one will be a missed series as I'll be in Charleston and Harrisburg before missing a 10;30 am game due to a work meeting.
Doug Hopkins is swapping his Reading cards for me to do as I give him my Kannapolis cards to work on...

Those games will take care of April and set the stage for May....

Finishing in Frederick

I usually like to save graphing talk for on the signing front,but this was a rare night for the TRS Family as the vacation entered its final night.

Sorry about the glare from the stadium lights from Frederick's Harry Grove Stadium,but this was our first and one never knows maybe only chance to get our two biggest supporters in the same picture as Fred Landucci (with son Michael in tow) and Big Don both were at the game.
Big Don loves pictures as much as I do,but he graciously allowed me to take this one for the blog's posterity.

The Lynchburg Hillcats (Indians) were in town for their last visit of the season and I had plenty of cards.
Between their team set,prospect cards and some recent callups,I had enough cards that I would need two visits during this series (I'll be going there Thursday) and having plenty of collectors there didn't help much.
I'll keep the graphing talk basic,but two pretty cool things happened with players that were neat enough to mention-both after the game.

First,top Cleveland prospect Clint Frazier was signing at the field level and I had 2 cards left for Mike Oravec of his.
I decided to go down and finish them off,because of the long known first rule of graphing-don't wait until next time,if you can do it today,so I walked down to get Frazier.
I was the last person there and handed him the two cards and Clint said "let me ask you something".
I gulped, mainly because my experience in the hobby was telling me that Frazier might be responding with something along the lines of "I got you earlier" or "Don't you guys get tired of this stuff"?
Instead,Frazier asked "how do you move up on these prospect cards"? I wondered and he said "I mean,(Bradley) Zimmer's gone now (AA Akron) and I want to be the best prospect in this league".
I explained to him that the league prospect set is usually decided by the radio announcer or someone in each teams front office to select the player back in April.
Frazier smiled,said thanks and then said "I am going to work double hard to be the best prospect for next season over the winter".
Wow.As an Indians fan to not only see that someone appreciates his fans (Frazier signs a lot),but wants to work hard,improve his craft and pays attention to his surroundings,I'm a Clint Frazier fan whether he makes it or not,but it's great to see someone willing to bust his hump to make it big,rather than relax on his first round laurels.
I don't do many 8 x 10's of athletes,I save those for celebrities because of their lack of cards,but I've become such a fan this year of Clint Frazier and Tyler Beede (Giants),that I hope to get one,if not now,in the future.

The other cool thing was when Levon Washington (Hillcat outfielder) signed a card for me that is headed for Mike Oravec after signing for me earlier.
I told Levon that he signed for me earlier (3 cards) and if he didn't want to sign that would be OK.
Washington and said that it's no problem and then told me how much he liked my sunglasses!
Very cool!

The graphers were out in full force,but having my two most loyal readers in town made up for the graphing aggravation.
It is always a big deal with Big Don hits town for a visit,but the chance for the above picture with Fred was well worth the drive.
I enjoyed the chat and camaraderie with them,Michael and the lovely Cherie,but also enjoyed a respite as our friend Denise invited us to check the view from a Frederick suite box for an inning.
It was the first time I had ever been in one at Harry Grove Stadium and it was fun to see the field from an angle that I had never seen before.

All and all,with plenty of laughs,humor and good cheer even if the graphing had been awful-it was a great way to wrap up vacation with friends.
Thanks to everyone!

I hope to get a podcast done soon and remember I'll be doing many more podcasts once the baseball season ends!!!!

Grading the circuit-Frederick Keys

Today is the start of an occasional series that will look at what I like and dislike on the various stops on my travels on the minor league baseball circuit.
Future post will deal with Hagerstown,Harrisburg,Reading and Altoona along with possibly others,but today we will start with the Frederick Keys.

The Keys have usually been the gold standard in my experiences from top to bottom through the years and they continue to lead in most areas.
Frederick is easy to graph at,as I've noted in the past and the park offers easy access to the field at any spot on the concourse.
The park is beginning to show its age a bit,but still offers a close view to the field and was among the first of the 90's parks to offer a view of the game while waiting in line at a concession stand.
Now,many parks have more stands or have television's showing the game while you wait,but Frederick still has the advantage of simply turning around to watch the game.
The lines usually go slow as the team won't be able to add lines until the day comes that the team is able to add some areas for renovation to Harry Grove Stadium,but at least you can watch while you wait.

The Keys also get high marks for the lack of obnoxious games that used to be a staple in Hagerstown (More on them on the Suns post) and when they do play various on field games,the microphone isn't turned on high and drown out every persons conversations.
I understand that the casual fan is the fan that teams have to draw from to make money,but the Keys also seem to get that baseball is the draw and that leads to a toned down experience that allows everyone to enjoy the game and the entertainment surrounding it.

Harry Grove is a solid park to watch a game at,nothing spectacular,but solid.
I wish that the Grove had an outfield area to sit as stadiums that have that tend to spread the crowds out a bit,but it is what is and there really isn't what I would say is a bad seat in the place.
The sightlines are good and the seats are close to the field,so you'll enjoy your game viewing,but pay attention-foul balls tend to get to the stands FAST and more than once,I've seen fans get smoked by foul shots.
Two times,I've seen fans leave via ambulance so please pay attention to the game,even if just enough to know where the ball is going.

The Keys usually get top marks for customer service too.
The employees in the ticket office are quite accommodating and the front office folks are helpful as well.
I only added the word usually because of a bad experience with a Keys usher at a recent game was my first bad one ever in Frederick.
I'm not going to give play by play of this experience,but suffice it to say "Daniel" won't be winning any All-Usher team spots any time soon.
Frederick is not alone with this as one of the regular stops has constant issues with rude and downright mean ushers as we will discuss this when we reach that particular team.
I'll never understand why ,with the importance of customer service, that teams employ these types.
But it's just our opinion and if you have one problem over eight or nine years,that's a pretty good ratio for the Frederick Keys when you consider how many games I get to.

The Frederick Keys do a good job and I rank the Keys experience near or at the top of the teams that I see regularly.
I'll be ranking these in order as we go along so as you read a new post,I'll have the new rankings.

1) Frederick Keys