I am hardly a sports expert, but I am fairly familiar with the culture of going to minor league games.  To some of you, the idea of taking your family to a game, in whatever sport, might seem like a great idea.  However, maybe you are a little nervous.  Maybe you don’t really understand what all of those terms are that I write about.  Perhaps you have been to a ton of different major league games and some of the terms I have used so far just seem strange.

Well, I thought I might try to come up with a list of some definitions.  These are hardly Webster-quality definitions, but they might help explain some of the things I have talked about.  This is also far from a comprehensive list, of course.  Like anything, the minor leagues have a seemingly infinite number of terms and phrases that get tossed around by the player, managers and fans.  Still, this should be a bit of a basic tutorial that might help you get around your first minor league game.

Independent League – The baseball teams of the Windy City Thunderbolts, Rockford Riverhawks, Gary Southshore Railcats, Joliet Jackhammers and Schaumburg Flyers all play in what is known as “independent” leagues.  Essentially, these are leagues that have no direct affiliation with Major League Baseball or any major league anywhere.  They are run independently of any commissioner who runs Major League Baseball.  They have their own governing bodies and make their own decisions apart from what goes on in the MLB.  Therefore, they all have their own drug testing and rules about DH and matters like that. 

However, this does not mean that these players cannot make it to the majors.  Major league scouts often come to independent league games to see what the talent pool looks like.  While players in independent leagues do not often get called up to the majors, it does happen and it happens enough to be noteworthy.  So, just because a player is in an independent league does not mean he is not worthy or on the same level as a player on a farm team associated with a Major League team.

Generally speaking, the players on the independent league teams play at about a Single-A level.  These are not semi-pro leagues.  These are real, professional baseball leagues and the players are real professional baseball players.

Affiliated Team – Conversely, teams like the Kane County Cougars, Chicago Wolves and, starting next year, the Rockford Icehogs, are teams that are known as “affiliated.”  This means they are the “farm” teams for major league teams and they are connected in some way to the major leagues.  For example, the Chicago Wolves are the farm team of the Atlanta Thrashers.  Therefore, they are controlled in some way by the NHL and subject to NHL decisions.

Affiliated teams are used by the major leagues to give younger players a chance to play and play regularly.  Talent is honed and harnessed.  Teams watch prospective players when they are in the minors and look for the players that appear to have real talent and big league potential.  Then they either move them up to the majors or up to a higher level of the minor leagues.  The highest level in Major League Baseball are the Triple-A minor league teams.

At the same time, with some minor league teams you might get a chance to see a big leaguer play.  For example, when Roger Clemens signed a deal with the New York Yankees, he had not played in some time and the season had already started.  This meant he could not go through the spring training that other team members had gone through.  As such, he got his chance to warm up by playing several games in the Yankees minor league system.

Also, major league teams use their minor league system to see if certain players who have been out for some time due to injury have rehabilitated and are able to play on a regular basis.  You see this a lot with pitchers.  So, you might get a chance to see a big leaguer playing with an affiliated team.

Northern League – The Northern League is the independent league that the Schaumburg Flyers, Gary Soutshore Railcats and Joliet Jackhammers all play for.  The league was originally started with predominantly Canadian teams and then slowly worked its way south into the United States. 

The league has teams in Calgary, Edmonton, Fargo-Moorehead, Gary, Joliet, Kansas City, Schaumburg and Winnipeg.  For information about the league you can visit www.northernleague.com.

Frontier League – The Frontier League is the league the Rockford Riverhawks and Windy City Thunderbolts play in.  The league was started in 1993 and was designed to serve the West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southeast Ohio areas.  They got that league off the ground and the league has been expanding steadily since then.   They now have a rather huge selection of teams across much of the country.

They have teams in Chillicothe, Ohio, Evansville, Indiana, Florence, Kentucky, Sauget, Illinois, Kalamazoo, Michigan, O’Fallon, Missouri, Loves Park, Illinois, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, Marion, Illinois, Traverse City, Michigan, Washington, Pennsylvania, Crestwood, Illinois.  For more information about the league and team locations you can visit the league website at www.frontlierleague.com.

Lawn Seats – This is a concept that many who are fans of baseball that may not understand what I am talking about when I talk about buying lawn seats to a game such as a Schaumburg Flyers game. Well, if you have ever been to an outdoor concert, then you already know what lawn seats are.  These are general admission tickets that allow you into a section of grassy area (normally on a hill), upon which people or families can sit and watch an event.

Not every team has these, but enough of them do to be worthy of note.  These are great areas for families to sit with their kids.  The kids always love rolling down the hills.  The seats are also generally out in the outfield, beyond the foul lines, in right and left field.  A fence usually separates the spectators from the playing field.  This is a great place to get a great view of the game and it’s about your best chance for getting hold of a foul ball.  If you get there early enough, for batting practice, then you are all but guaranteed of getting a foul ball.

Split season – This is a concept that even confuses me at times.  However, it is an important thing to remember, particularly if you wish you get involved with minor league baseball.  Minor league baseball divides the season in half.  So, you often hear people talking about winning the division after the first half but finishing third during the second half.

I believe this is done because in order to have compelling playoffs and a post-season, you need to try to get as many teams into the post season as you can.  Since there isn’t a national versus an American league here, you need to try and fill it with as many teams from, say, the Northern League as you can. 

So, it is possible for a team to come out of the gate going gangbusters and dominate the first half of the season and end up first in their division.  This now means they have a spot in the playoffs.  The same team could end up having a terrible second half and still make the playoffs due to their performance during that first half of the season.

There are a lot of rules about this that even I do not know.  If the same team wins the division during both halves, I am not sure what happens.  I do know that, essentially, after the All-Star break, the whole season essentially starts over from scratch again.

Games – You hear games talked about a lot in connection with the minor leagues.  This is because the teams are very fan friendly and want the fans to stay a big part of the game throughout the game.  So, during baseball games there will be games played by people from the audience between innings.  When it comes to hockey, they will be played between periods.  I am assuming the football teams have some kind of games as well.

Mascot – I have yet to attend any minor league game in any sport and not seen a mascot.  The Windy City Thunderbolts have a strange aardvark-looking creature in a baseball jersey with a helmet that has lightning bolts on it.  He also happens to be blue.  The Riverhawks have a giant bird.  The Flyers have Bearon the bear in aviator cap.  Again, this goes along with the fan and family-friendly atmosphere at these games.  The kids love these guys and often follow them around.

Giveaways (promotions) – Every minor league team seems to go out of its way to load the season up with promotions.  Given the smaller crowd sizes at these games, the likelihood of you getting one of those promotional items is substantially better than at a major league team.  Whether it’s bobbleheads or caps or calendars or T-shirts, the major league teams always have something to give their fans.  Don’t dismiss them.  I got a great Windy City Thunderbolts cap a couple of seasons ago that I still wear.

Sportsjuice – This is a term you will see on many a minor league team’s website and in their programs.  It has nothing to do with “juicing” or steroids.  Since these are small teams with a small budget and limited audience, they do not have standard broadcasting methods available to them for their games.  Most of them broadcast, therefore, online.  You do find an occasional team who has an actual radio station that carries the games, but that is few and far between.  In a place like Chicago, when competing against so many major league teams, you have to go online for your broadcasting and to keep up with your team.

Sportsjuice.com is a huge network of online sports events.  They are the refuge of many a minor league sports franchise for broadcasting their games.  They offer times and dates and there are often links on the various team websites to their site.  All you need is a decent internet connection and media software like RealPlayer or Windows Media (Windows Media gets my recommendation). 

If you are very lucky, you may even find a minor league team broadcasting a webcast with images. The Rockford Icehogs, for example, actually show their games online, just like a television show.
That’s a pretty good primer for now.  Mostly, it’s about having fun.  So, go out and enjoy a minor league game today and you won’t be sorry.

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