Beer batters, cheap seats and baseball

It’s hard not to love minor league baseball, it really is. I took in a game at PK Park on Sunday, watching the Eugene Emeralds take on the Vancouver Canadians. The Ems are the short-season single-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres, which, for those of you who don’t speak baseball, means their players have a long way to go before they make it to the major leagues.

But the quality of play isn’t what makes minor league baseball so great, which is a good thing considering how poor the quality of play is in the minors. It’s the atmosphere. Ridiculous promotions–months after news of the Michael Vick dogfighting ring broke, a team in SouthernCalifornia held Michael Vick Animal Awareness Day, where dogs–and fans that brought Vick jerseys for the dogs to …er, relieve themselves, on–were allowed in for free.

PK Park may not offer anything quite that fantastic, but the break between every inning still features some ridiculous promotional game between kids: a “horse race” where two teams of two have to race halfway down the first baseline on inflatable horses, a race where teams of two must make a human hamburger by arranging giant plastic patties, lettuce, cheese, bacon and a tomato before belly flopping to close the burger–each competitor is a bun and many more.

Undoubtedly the Ems greatest promotion is the BeerBatter. At least one player from the visiting team is selected as the “beer batter”. Every time they strikeout, beer is just $3 for the next 15 minutes. That’s not limited to domestics, either, and any team that’s sponsored by both Oakshire and Ninkasi is doing something right.

To go with all of that beer, Sundays are $1 hot dog days, but don’t get carried away. That discount is limited to eight hot dogs, per person, per order. I don’t even want to think about how that could ever be a problem for somebody.

As noted before, the actual quality of play leaves a lot to be desired. At one game earlier this year, the Ems committed five errors within three innings–defense so bad it’s almost hard to measure. But fans get what they pay for. The most expensive seats in PK Park are $13, and $10 can still get you right behind the dugout.

Not bad seats for $10

Anybody sponsored by both Ninkasi and Oakshire has got to be doing something right