Plus, riding dirty with the Best New Alt. ID winner
Thursday, October 01
It's all over. The Oklahoma City Comets defeated the Rochester Red Wings in Saturday's Triple-A National Championship Game, bringing an end to the 2026 Minor League season. Welcome to th_e Baseball Traveler newsletter. We've only just begun._
The below is adapted from my segment on the 2026 MiLB Awards Show, which aired Monday on the MLB Network.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the course of a 21-year career covering Minor League Baseball, with 192 ballparks visited along the way, it’s this: On and off the field, you never know what you’ll see at a Minor League Baseball game.
You might witness a wild 19-18 game or watch a team with a 19-letter name: The Semiquincentennials, a Somerset Patriots alternate identity celebrating America’s 250th birthday.
Semiquincentennials was a new jersey and, hey, we’re talking about New Jersey here. The Patriots also staged Sopranos Night this season. Johnny Sack and Furio were the guests of honor. Another highlight was a Dizzy Bat Race where contestants made like Tony Soprano, wearing bathrobes and picking up a newspaper on the way to the finish line.
There were no between-inning contests for the Louisville Bats on Nothing Night. There was… nothing. No ad reads. No videos. Just organ music and good old-fashioned baseball. Embrace the void!
We move from the Bats to a team named the Brats. Have you ever sausage a thing? When the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers played as the Brats, Brewers reliever Abner Uribe made a rehab appearance. Both his fastball and his jersey had some mustard. Uribe's Brats jersey was later auctioned off for $7,505. I’ll send you a link.
For a truly priceless Timber Rattlers moment, check out Sawyer Strosnider’s first professional home run. The ball was caught by his dad, Scott, who crashed a private party in order to be in just the right place at just the right time.
In just the right place at different times were the Ebel brothers. When July 19’s game between the Wilson Warbirds and Hickory Crawdads was suspended due to rain, Wilson’s Brady Ebel was at the plate with a 2-0 count. Brady was promoted before the game resumed on Aug. 25, but the Warbirds had the perfect replacement: His younger brother, Trey, who finished the at-bat with a walk.
Rain leads to weird things in baseball. The Dunedin Blue Jays saw so much of it that they unveiled their own "rain delay" jerseys featuring a radar map of the area. That’s life in the Florida State League for you. Dunedin is the raining champion.
Dunedin? Not quite. Fans of the Wilmington Blue Rocks received a healthy treat every time the home team scored a run, as that's when Mr. Celery emerges from his lair to runs onto the field to pump up the crowd. No one seems to know who he is or where he came from, but who cares? Join the "celerybration."
Perhaps you'd like something tastier. How about a biscuit? Butter up: Austin Overn of the Montgomery Biscuits hit the strangest inside-the-park home run you’ll ever see, rounding the bases after Biloxi right fielder Damon Keith slid over the ball, burying it in the grass. There was then a delay in the game, so that the ball could be extracted from its home.
And, hey, dig this: Yehizon Sanchez of the Cedar Rapids Kernels threw an immaculate inning and, thanks to a pitch timer violation, it only took him eight pitches to do it!
It just goes to show that you can improve on perfection, and that you never know what you’re going to see at a Minor League Baseball game.
To watch the entirety of the 2026 MiLB Awards Show, click HERE.
The Utah Dirty Sodas, employed by the Salt Lake Bees for every Wednesday home game, is a tribute to the customizable soft drink trend that originated in Utah.
It triumphed over six other nominees (chosen from dozens) in an online fan vote, finishing with 25 percent of the total and barely edging out the Columbus Scrambled Dogs (24 percent) and Louisville Humidity (23 percent).
READ ABOUT THE BEST MINOR LEAGUE ALTERNATE IDENTITY OF THE YEAR HERE
I have the time to be a bit more reflective. For instance, I had never heard of dirty sodas until the first time I visited the Salt Lake Bees in 2017. The Bees played at Smith’s Ballpark then, in downtown Salt Lake City. As you can see from the above photo, the view of the Wasatch Mountains was phenomenal.
Smith's Ballpark was home to a Swig soda bar in center field, and the menu was as follows:
Garrett McClintock, my Designated Eater, opted for a "Bloody Wild" (Mountain Dew with mango and raspberry puree). I, meanwhile, ordered the Missionary (Sprite, coconut, Tiger’s Blood). What a moment.
In 2022, Swig was acquired by the Larry H. Miller Company, which also owns the Bees. It goes without saying that the Ballpark at America First Square is also home to an onsite Swig.
Smith's Ballpark was also home to an onsite Balloon Granny. She "lives for tips," and suggested a modest contribution of $5,283 per balloon.
A final highlight from my evening, and one that now seems bittersweet, was meeting longtime Bees broadcaster Steve Klauke. I interviewed him about his quest to visit every restaurant in Pacific Coast League cities that had been featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives."
Klauke was with the Bees from their inaugural 1994 season through 2023 and died tragically the following year (listen to his fellow broadcasters speak about him HERE).
RIP
Name a Minor League Baseball ballpark that was in use between 2010 and 2025 and, guess what? I visited it (192 ballparks overall). Now it's time for me to share some memories, as I did with Smith’s Ballpark above. Email me any requests in this regard and as always feel free to share your own memories as well.
Get in touch anytime via email at benjamin.hill@mlb.com and please follow me on Instagram (@thebensbiz), X (@bensbiz) and Bluesky (@bensbiz.bsky.social). I enjoy hearing from you.
Contact Benjamin Hill
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