The Minor League Contraction: An Aquasox Season Ticket Holder’s Perspective
Here at Off the Bench, Daniel R. Epstein has detailed the ongoing saga of MLB’s proposal to eliminate 42 minor league baseball teams in an informative two-part series. With that in mind, I thought I would give my take as a season-ticket holder of the minor league Everett Aquasox, which is the short-season, Class A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.
The Aquasox play in the Northwest League, which is comprised of eight teams spread across three Pacific Northwest states and two countries. The Aquasox play in the North division, along with two other Washington state-based teams—the Spokane Indians and Tri-City Dust Devils—and one Canadian-based team, the Vancouver Canadians. The South division has one team in Idaho, the Boise Hawks, and three Oregon-based teams—the Hillsboro Hops, the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, and the Eugene Emeralds.
The Northwest League has existed in some form since 1890. The current iteration of the league dates back to 1955, when it was a Class B League, back when there was such a thing as Class B. The league has a rich history, including a little-remembered Seattle team that bridged the gap between the Seattle Pilots in 1969 and the Seattle Mariners in 1977.
For those who don’t remember, the expansion Seattle Pilots played one season in the American League in 1969, then were whisked away to Milwaukee by Bud Selig. That Pilots team was the one that Jim Bouton wrote about in the tell-all book, Ball Four, which we’ve written about extensively here at Off The Bench.
Seattle would sue MLB and eventually get another major league team, the Seattle Mariners, who began play in 1977. In the meantime, they didn’t have a professional team at all in 1970 and 1971.
In 1972, the Seattle Rainiers came into existence as part of the Northwest League. Technically, this iteration of the Rainiers could be linked to the much-beloved Seattle Rainiers team that played in the Pacific Coast League until 1968, but they were not nearly as popular. The new Seattle Rainiers team lasted five seasons and played the last game ever at Sick’s Stadium on September 1, 1976. In that final game at Sick’s Stadium, the Rainiers beat the Portland Mavericks, who have a wonderful and colorful history of their own, as detailed in the highly-entertaining Netflix documentary, “The Battered Bastards of Baseball.”
The Mavericks were an independent team that played in the Northwest League from 1973 to 1977. They were owned by Bing Russell, the father of actor Kurt Russell. Jim Bouton was a pitcher for the Mavericks. It was during his time with the team that Bouton and teammate Rob Nelson came up with the idea of Big League Chew, the shredded gum in a pouch that kids have been chewing ever since.
The Mavericks were aptly named. As an independent team, they were definitely mavericks. A similarly maverick-like team in the Northwest League later in the decade was the 1978 Grays Harbor Loggers, who have been referred to as the Bad News Bears of the Northwest League. The Mavericks won their division four times in five years, but they never won the league title. The Loggers won the title in 1978, but they’re remembered more, if they’re remembered at all, for being the team that actor/comedian Bill Murray had a couple at-bats with. He even has a page at Baseball-Reference.
At the time, Murray had already become a cast member of Saturday Night Live, but he wasn’t yet a big star. He traveled with the Loggers for part of that summer of 1978 so he could shoot an offseason sketch for SNL called “Things We Did Last Summer”. He also had those two official at-bats in the league, getting a clean single to left his first time up and making an out the next time, for a .500 career batting average. Then he went off to shoot the movie “Meatballs,” which became a breakout hit. Even now, Murray is a part-owner of multiple minor league teams around the country and is a member of the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame as an owner and investor.
Like most minor leagues, the Northwest League has a rich history, with notable players who went on to bigger and better things. These players include Reggie Jackson (1966 Lewiston Broncs), Rickey Henderson (1976 Boise A’s), Ozzie Smith (1977 Walla Walla Padres), and 2019 Hall of Fame inductee Edgar Martínez (1983 Bellingham Mariners). Mike Piazza played for the Salem Dodgers in 1989. Tony Gwynn was the Northwest League MVP as a member of the Walla Walla Padres in 1981.
Ken Griffey, Jr. hit his first professional home run with the Northwest League Bellingham Mariners in 1987. The blast came in the second game of his career in a game at Everett Memorial Stadium (now Funko Field). There’s a bronze plaque embedded in the sidewalk where the ball landed.
Professional baseball had just come to Everett a few years earlier, in 1984, when they played their inaugural season in the Northwest League as the Everett Giants. They were the San Francisco affiliate from 1984 to 1994, then switched allegiances to the Seattle Mariners and took on the name Aquasox before the 1995 season.
I grew up in the Seattle area in the 1980s, but only went to a few games in Everett at the time because I spent most summers playing baseball. One thing that was particularly memorable about Everett Giants games during that time was a pot-bellied pig who delivered baseballs to the umpire. The fans loved that little pig.
I also vividly remember going to a game in 1992 because one of the pitchers that day was Mark Peterson, who was a member of the 1982 Kirkland, Washington, team that famously won the 1982 Little League World Series behind ace pitcher Cody Webster. I was the same age as those guys and played against them in high school and summer ball, and later with one member of that team while in college. Peterson was playing in his first of seven professional seasons in 1992 and it was a great experience watching a local kid play for the nearby minor league team.
I started attending Aquasox games more regularly about ten years ago and have gradually increased the number of games I go to each summer since. A couple years ago, my sister started working as an usher at Aquasox games. She’s a teacher during the school year, so working as an usher at those games is a terrific summer job because the season runs from mid-June to early September, which coincides perfectly with the end of one school year and the start of another. She’s not the only educator who works there in the summer. Also, many of the stadium workers are high school or college students working summer jobs while school is out.
Baseball is the big draw for me, of course. I’ve loved the game since I was a little kid and I still enjoy watching baseball at all different levels, from the major leagues down to little league. I attend University of Washington baseball games in the spring and Mariners and Aquasox games in the summer. Last year, I attended a Bellingham Bells game for the first time. They play in a collegiate summer baseball league. On dreary days in the winter, I’ll watch Australian League Baseball if I can find it on my TV.
As much as I love all baseball games, there’s something special about the minor league Aquasox, particularly during the last couple seasons as I’ve attended most of their home games. I’ve come to know the fans who sit near me and the workers at the stadium and in the front office. The team has events during the offseason where season ticket holders can get together to watch the World Series or a local minor league hockey game. They do a great job of building a little baseball-loving community.
This offseason, sadly, a longtime Aquasox fan died in December. She and her husband were fixtures at the ballpark, well-liked by the Aquasox staff, from the parking lot attendants to the college students working as servers in the Diamond Club to the team’s general manager. My sister and I attended her memorial and fellow Aquasox fans and employees, including the GM, were there to remember her and lend support to her husband.
When it comes to minor league baseball, it’s clear to me that minor league fans are, first and foremost, fans of their local team. Aquasox fans, for example, are Aquasox fans first, and Mariner fans second. They wear Aquasox hats and jerseys, sweatshirts and socks. Some are host families who allow these young players to stay in their homes for the summer. It’s an incredible connection to make, especially for families with children who get to know young professional baseball players, some from foreign countries who are playing in the states for the first time, as they try to make their way to the big leagues.
The connection to the major league team is still important, though. Over the last few years, we’ve seen young players like Evan White, Cal Raleigh, and George Kirby, all of whom are among the top prospects for the Mariners and should reach the major leagues sometime in the next few years. We were excited when Kyle Lewis made his major league debut with the M’s in 2019. We remember him tearing up the league with the Aquasox back in 2016, before the gruesome knee injury. These players mean a little more to us than the Mariner prospects who never played with the Aquasox.
It’s also a big deal when a star Mariner player comes down to play with the Aquasox on a rehab assignment or, as was the case with Robinson Cano in 2018, returning from a suspension. Cano played a few games with the Aquasox before being reinstated that year and the stands were packed for every game. Watching the major leaguer on the field with the minor league guys was a big draw for the fans and a great experience for the young players.
It was the same story last summer when Felix Hernandez made two rehab starts with the Aquasox in August. In the case of Felix, it was particularly meaningful because he had pitched for the team as a 17-year-old back in the 2003 season. Even at the tender age of 17, it was clear that Felix was something special. In fact, it was during that season with the Aquasox that he was first referred to as “King Felix” in a blog post at USS Mariner on July 17, 2003. The nickname eventually led to the King’s Court cheering section during his home starts with the Mariners.
Minor league baseball is particularly important for certain groups of fans, like older fans or families with young children. I know many older fans no longer want to battle Seattle traffic to make the trip downtown to watch the Mariners. A minor league game is a much easier option. Economics come into play also. Some families simply can’t afford to go to many major league games these days when you consider the cost of tickets and parking and concessions.
MLB’s initial proposal would affect the Northwest League in multiple ways. According to JJ Cooper of Baseball America, the Northwest League could change from a short-season schedule to a full-season schedule. Currently, the short-season schedule runs from mid-June to early September, when the weather in the Pacific Northwest is quite nice. It’s not so nice in April and May, especially for teams on the western side of their states, like Hillsboro, Everett, and Vancouver.
Also, some of these teams share their stadiums with other leagues. The stadium the Aquasox play in is owned by the Everett School District. Everett Community College plays games there in the spring, along with local high schools. Their seasons run through April and May, which would be during the Aquasox season should they become a full-season league. It would be a scheduling nightmare. The Eugene Emeralds would face a similar situation because their home games are played at PK Park at the University of Oregon and would coincide with the college season that runs through May.
A full-season schedule would also affect the team’s workforce. As mentioned above, many of the Aquasox stadium employees are in high school or college. Playing the schedule in April and May and extending it through September would make it difficult for a team like the Aquasox to field a consistent work staff for the entire season.
MLB’s proposal calls for the elimination of the Tri-City Dust Devils and the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, two teams that have been a part of the Northwest League for more than 40 seasons each dating back to 1955. The Tri-Cities franchise has had three stints in the Northwest League: 1955-74, 1983-86, and 2001 to the present. The Salem-Keizer team is shared between the two Oregon cities. They played in Salem from 1955-65, then from 1977-89, and have been the Salem-Keizer team since 1997.
Fans of the Dust Devils and Volcanoes, like my fellow Aquasox fans and so many others across the country, just want to watch the game we love and be a part of a baseball-loving community. It’s possible that eliminating minor league teams makes sense financially in the short-term for MLB (a $10 billion business), but they should consider the long view. Minor league baseball encourages young people to fall in love with the game. It cultivates future fans. Why would you want to eliminate that?
