minorleaguebaseball Page 17 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Minor League Umpire Ejects Ballpark Music Guy For Playing "Three Blind Mice"
If there's one thing umpires love more than ejecting players, it's ejecting non-players. That goes for managers but also fans, mascots, and other ballpark patrons. Tommy Lasorda once complained to umpire Bob Davidson that Youppi!, the Montreal Expos mascot, was jumping up and down on his dugout. (Da...

Shaq Thompson Returns To Football After The Worst Minor League Career Imaginable
There is something unique about hitting a baseball: the assumption of failure. A batter can fail at his job two out of three times, and do it for 15 years, and he'll make the Hall of Fame. Baseball is a sport designed for only occasional success, even for its most skilled practitioners....

Minor Independent League Baseball Is Just The Weirdest
The New Jersey Jackals hosted the Gary South Shore Railcats for a double header yesterday that was suspended due to fireworks. Every Saturday is fireworks night at the Railcats ballpark and it was put into serious jeopardy because of the doubleheader and a local noise ordinance. Rather than run the...

Shaq Thompson Update: Shaq Has An At-Bat Where He Doesn't Strike Out!
Red Sox prospect and UW football recruit Shaq Thompson is putting together one of the all-time great stat sheets. Coming into today, Thompson was 0-for-37, with 36 strikeouts in his short career. (He'll start at safety for the Huskies in the fall.) We're committed to providing you the latest Shaq Th...

Shaq Thompson Update: Strikes Out Five Times, Is Now 0-For-37 With 36 Ks
We told you yesterday about Shaq Thompson, the UW football recruit who is giving baseball a go in the Red Sox system. His career stats, since being drafted by Boston in the 18th round, are incredible: Not a single hit, and all but one of his outs have been strikeouts. (To be totally fair, he has sev...

A Red Sox Prospect Is Putting Together The Most Amazing Season Ever
This afternoon, the Gulf Coast League Red Sox took on the GCL Rays. The Sox' starting center fielder, Shaq Green-Thompson, had a rough day, going 0-for-5 with five strikeouts. Yesterday, Green-Thompson pinch hit, and struck out in his only appearance. Back on July 13, Green Thompson went 0-for-2 wit...

Minor League Mascot Eats It In ATV Crash
Rip Tide, blue fursuited embodiment of the Triple A Norfolk Tides, was out for his usual four-wheeler cruise around the stadium when he took the right field turn a little too sharp. Rip Tide was unharmed but embarrassed (especially when he couldn't get his ATV running again), and I think The Oriol...

Minor League Team To Hold "Atheist Night"
We've got a whole tagpage of oddball promotions by the independent St. Paul Saints, but this is probably the first one that runs the risk of excommunication. It's not called Atheist Night—it's actually called "A Night of Unbelievable Fun"—but when the Amarillo Sox come to town next month, the home t...

Baseball Player Who Said He'd Never Live In Racist South Carolina Assigned To South Carolina Team
Outfielder Robert Refsnyder, who was born in South Korea, took some heckling from South Carolina fans at the College World Series last month when his Arizona Wildcats beat the Gamecocks. Refsnyder ran to Twitter and declared he "will never live in South Carolina because they can't accept Asians play...
![The World's Craziest Home Run Derby Was A Rousing Success [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/17sfwc5jdgdesjpg.jpg)
The World's Craziest Home Run Derby Was A Rousing Success [UPDATE]
We gave you fair warning about the world's weirdest Home Run Derby a few days ago, the one with the on-field party, live entertainment, and trampoline in left field, among other attractions. Well, lest you think that was all just bluster and hype, here's a photo of Ryan Petzar of 97.3 ESPN Radio try...

A Dispatch From "Williamsburg Night" At The Brooklyn Cyclones Game
Last week, we treated you to a lovely photo essay from the Brooklyn Cyclones' "Williamsburg Night."...

Royals Prospect Wil Myers Demolished An ESPN Camera During Last Night's Futures Game
The MLB Futures Game is one of baseball's hidden treasures; while officially part of the All-Star Break festivities, it's held the day before the break actually starts, and thus tends to be ignored by the baseball public. That's a shame, as it's a rare time ESPN puts analyst Keith Law—one of the ...

Get Ready For A Drug-Induced Minor League Home Run Derby
If you have five minutes to kill, watch this thing. It's a Home Run Derby, except I don't think you are supposed to hit home runs. Instead they are putting some kind of insane obstacle course or, like, a Dave and Buster's restaurant on the field....

Minor League Mascot Placed On DL With Third-Degree Costume Burns
Uncle Slam, mascot for the Class A Potomac Nationals, was placed on the 60-day disabled list and will miss the remainder of the season. The release, from the baby Nats:...

Instagram Photos From The Brooklyn Cyclones' "Williamsburg Night"
It was Williamsburg Night at MCU Park, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, a hipster-friendly mashup of the usual minor league quirkiness and a particular local flair. (And probably super-familiar for attendees, since they all moved to Brooklyn from the Midwest three years ago, amirite?) Among the promot...

Minor League Coach Banned For Full Year After Intentionally Losing 18-Inning Game
Two weeks ago, the Stockton Ports lost 7-6, in 18 innings, to the Modesto Nuts. It wasn't a typical game for the Athletics' Single-A affiliate. For one, the regular manager was on vacation, leaving former MLB player and current Oakland hitting instructor Todd Steverson in charge. For another, it wen...

Pitching Prospect Stops Line Drive With Face
Scary moment last night for Gerrit Cole, the No. 1 overall choice in last year's MLB draft. Cole was making just his second start for the Altoona Curve, the Pirates' Double-A affiliate, when what you see in the video above happened in the first inning. Cole somehow finished the inning by facing th...

Game Ends As Raul Mondesi Jr. Forgets To Touch Home Plate After Game-Tying Home Run
Yes, that Raul Mondesi, Jr. He's in the Brewers organization, at Rookie League Helena. Mondesi came to the plate in the bottom of the 10th with the Brewers down 2-0 to the Missoula Osprey, the Diamondbacks' affiliate. With one on and two out, he cranked the pitch over the left field wall for what ...

The New Best Place For A Home Run Derby: An Aircraft Carrier
This morning I lamented that our country is falling woefully behind in the "playing sports where sports aren't meant to be played" arms race. Several readers were quick to point out that I was wrong, and America continues to rock faces. Yesterday, the Class A South Atlantic League held the first r...

Heavy Wind Nearly Propels Grounds Crew Worker Into Orbit
Keep your eye on back row of grounds crew workers in the video above, specifically the fourth person from the left. Even if you can't find him right away, you certainly will by the six-second mark, when the wind launches him several feet off the ground. That's Kyle Smith, the general manager of th...