http://cache.deadspin.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/deadspin.com.png http://deadspin.com/tag/minor leagues http://deadspin.com/tag/minor leagues

Last week we brought you the peculiar odyssey of the Lake County Fielders, a minor league baseball club in Zion, Ill., owned in part by Kevin Costner. The Fielders' manager — former Blue Jays skipper Tim Johnson — resigned over team-wide pay disputes, many of its players refused to play, and the opposing manager, Jose Canseco, penciled himself in as a starting pitcher and won. More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5822402&view=rss&microfeed=true

One wishes there were a way to succinctly explain what the hell went on this weekend in the North American Baseball League. There isn't, but "mop-up catcher Joey Gathright" gets us pretty close to explaining the weird story of the NABL's Lake County (Ill.) Fielders, owned in part by Kevin Costner. More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5820671&view=rss&microfeed=true

You can take Jose Canseco out of the big leagues, but you can't take the big league out of Jose Canseco. Just hours after his victory in the Golden Baseball League's home run derby, Jose Canseco was involved in some kind of an incident with a woman outside of an Oxford Suites hotel room. No one was arrested, but Canseco and the woman were having a heated argument, and their hotel room was damaged. More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=189198&view=rss&microfeed=true

Matt Bender has done a lot of things. He's had guns pointed at him while covering the "Freeman Standoff" in Jordan, he's sold laminate flooring, bedazzled leather cowboy outfits, been a bouncer, and scored games for the minor league Billings Mustangs. He's now ascended to the position of assistant general manager of the Mustangs. More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=181504&view=rss&microfeed=true

The Class A West Michigan Whitecaps held an exciting promotion after their game yesterday. They took a bunch of kids, some as young as 5, and some as old as 12, lined them up against an outfield wall, dropped $1,000 in cash, and turned them loose. What could go wrong there? More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=167567&view=rss&microfeed=true

If you weren't one of the lucky ones who got their Runaway Bride bobblehead doll on Sunday, good news — they're available on eBay. The Gwinnett Gladiators, a minor league hockey team in Georgia, had a, um, unique idea for a promotion last week: They gave away bobbleheads depicting Jennifer Wilbanks, the Georgia woman who disappeared just days before her wedding. The first 1,000 fans in attendance for the Gladiators' game with the Pensacola Ice Pilots got a doll (no word if the real Wilbanks was among them). The rest had to be content watching the odd yet lovebale antics of the Gladiators' mascot, Maximus, who is a lion in a toga (we stopped trying to make sense of mascots last week, so don't ask). More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=159402&view=rss&microfeed=true

Longtime readers know of our affection for minor-league promotions, including our favorite, the Charleston (S.C.) RiverDogs, which planned to give out free vasectomies on Father's Day (until the Catholic Church complained). More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=154680&view=rss&microfeed=true

We're still about a week from pitchers and catchers reporting — it is so close, yet so far — but it is good to know that the great sports war of our century is still alive and well ... and thriving. You know what? We've missed the Yankees-Red Sox bloodfeud. More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=153782&view=rss&microfeed=true

You can always count on the sports world to find a way to take advantage of kids. In the wake of last week's news that a Marlins batboy was suspended for speed-drinking a gallon of milk, various folks are stepping up to promote their own agendas, in the guise of "helping out the kid." More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=122718&view=rss&microfeed=true

We don't mean to overstate our case here, but we'll just say that tomorrow's EXCLUSIVE WEB CAST! of the New York-Penn League All-Star Game is likely to be watched by the relatives of those playing, and that's about it. And, honestly, that's probably being generous. More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=118721&view=rss&microfeed=true

Sad news from the minor leagues: The Kansas City T-Bones, the Northern League team which announced it would allow schoolchildren to play the first two innings of a game in August on a video game, have been thwarted in their plan. Northern League Commissioner/Killjoy Mike Stone said the game had to be played all regulation-like to be it all "official" and a "real" "game." (Bah!) The game will now be played in its entirity, and the kids will play two innings on the big board once the game is over. The T-Bones brass was crushed. More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=111499&view=rss&microfeed=true

The Bowie BaySox, the double A minor league affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, are celebrating the birth of our country in the way our dad probably would, if he owned a baseball team: By farting. The BaySox, on July 4, are attempting to break the world record for fake flatulence, handed out whoopie cushions for the first 4,000 fans. Immediately following the BaySox-Harrisburg Senators game, fans will enjoy fireworks and then, as the club press release puts it, "release." You know what's funny? This is actually the third time the team has tried to break the Guinness World Record for fake farting. It has to be depressing to try to break such a record, and fail. Twice. More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=110358&view=rss&microfeed=true

Minor league promotions are always fun — we were a big fan of the team that gave out free vasectomies for Father's Day a few years back — but the Northern League's Kansas City T-Bones have come up with a great one. In July, the first two innings of the game will be played by two kids on an XBOX on the center-field scoreboard. When the two innings are completed, the third inning will start with the exact score of the kids' game. More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=109579&view=rss&microfeed=true

We haven't talked much about the return of Oil Can Boyd, mainly because we haven't really found a story that adequately captures all this is Oil Can-y and Boyd-y about him. We have now found that story. ESPN's Tim Kirk ... (pregnant pause) ... JUN details the best parts of Boyd's comeback with the minor-league Broxton Sox. Here are some highlights: More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=108950&view=rss&microfeed=true

Rickey Henderson might be plying his trade with the San Diego Surf Dawgs, but his former team, the Newark Bears, are still playing their games in one of the country's worst hellholes. The blogger Extrawack went to a Newark game this weekend and came away depressed and terrified. More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=108928&view=rss&microfeed=true