Minor league baseball is no different than any other business. They have to do different things to attract crowds, especially on Mondays. With the newer minor league schedules fewer games are played on Mondays (even Memorial Day and July 4th). Last night I made my first stop on my northern Ohio junket, in Toledo for a game between the Mudhens (Detroit) and the Columbus Clippers (Cleveland).

While waiting in line I found out the majority of fans were there for the Jamie Farr bobblehead (there was some confusion as to whether his Mudhens jersey would be a throw-in). One of the highlights of the trip so far was chatting with an older couple from the Dayton area and a younger couple+ boy who were from Flint Michigan.

The older gent was a minor league savant and we traded stories and experiences, and his lens was considerably larger than mine. We discussed the pitfalls of trying to get better shots in the prevailing conditions.

The younger family was embarking on a similar journey as I am and we discussed the highlights of the upcoming games and ballparks. They are continuing on to Pittsburgh and PNC.

How I got here

The drive from home to Casa Bob was one of the easiest rides on 90E I’ve ever made. Without breaking any land speed records, I was able to settle in at Casa Bob and explore Toledo, Ohio not Spain (although I’ve been there).

My first stop was the National Museum of the Great Lakes. This is an excellent hands-on experience that one could easily devote a couple of hours to. I especially enjoyed boarding the Col. James M Schoonmaker Museum ship and it was a primarily outdoor experience was terrific on a beautiful day.

My next stop was lunch at Tony Packo’s (only a mile away). The Toledo original embraces its Hungarian heritage. There’s also a Hensville location. I then headed to the Toledo Art Museum campus for a couple pictures as the museum is closed on Mondays and there weren’t any exhibits I was interested in seeing (I’ve been there before and loved it).

The museum is only about 7 minutes from Hensville and the ballpark. I got my ticket and walked the hood to see what had changed since my last visit 7 or 8 years ago. There wasn’t too much street action save for a few older guys hanging out waiting to get autographs five hours before first pitch.

180 minutes later, I had a quick bite at Frickers, a casual establishment on Fifth Third Field’s campus. A bar overlooks the right field concourse. Most of the diners were heading to the game heading to the bobble line.

Despite what some in the Chicago media would have you believe, some franchises still send their prospects through AAA. Not all of their better prospects are sitting in AA. Heading into last night’s contest, 10 of Cleveland’s top 30 prospects were on the Columbus roster, and 8 of the Tigers’ top 30 were at Toledo. However, none of the 18 shone last night.

Despite the fact that Fifth Third is one of my favorite minor league parks, last night wasn’t their best showing. I might be misremembering, but they don’t have programs and longer and the courtesy scorecards had numerous mistakes. Worst of all, the scoreboard wasn’t functioning at all until an 8th grade student got things up and running in the 4th inning. Their video board doesn’t show replays at all-even of good plays by the Mudhens.

While nobody (including a sportscaster on the local news) came out and said it was a bullpen game for Toledo. Ugh! Starter Andrew Vasquez took the loss despite only giving up two earned runs in two innings. Conversely, Columbus starter, Xzavian Curry pitched 5.1 innings, allowing 2 earned runs on only 3 hits (7 strikeouts). What was most interesting about his performance was that he threw 89 pitches, a rarity these days.

Columbus started the scoring in the second on a run-scoring double by catcher, Bryan Lavastida (he added a two-run single in the third(2-4). Toledo got on the board in the fourth when former #1 overall pick, Spencer Torkelson drove in a run with an opposite field double.

After an expedited run through the minors, Spencer hit 31 homers and drove in 94 runs with a .233 average in 2023 as a 23-year-old, but that ML success has been hard to maintain. Thus, his return to Toledo where he was hitting .261 with 4 homers and 14 RBI.

This being the first AAA game I’ve attended this year, I wasn’t expecting or aware of the major rule change specific to AAA ball. Not once, but twice did teams question a ball/strike call, and whether a batter had fouled off a called ball.

ln the first case, Estevan Florial’s called third strike was reviewed (and we got to see that on the scoreboard, but not who was batting) and overturned. It resulted in a walk instead of a third out. The inning was prolonged and Columbus tacked on two runs. The second instance was of no consequence because the called ball was overturned and eventually resulted in a put out.

The other hitting stars for the night were Clippers, Juan Brito (#6 prospect) was 3-5 with a run scored and first baseman, Micah Pries was 3-4 with a stolen base and home run.

Speaking of home runs, Mike Hessman, the minor league career home run champ (433) has his name and feat displayed in left field with a nice banner and seating section (actually a row of comfortable chairs with a rail).

The Clippers held on to defeat Toledo 5-3 before 5626 fans and a giant Jamie Farr and the game only took 2 hours and 43 minutes. I got back to Casa Bob before 10 and did not turn into a pumpkin. That’s one night game down and three to go. Wish me luck!