Cubs got you down? Try going to a minor league game instead...

CICL is basically what college players do during the summer to play, but not burn their eligibility.

$5 a ticket. $1 a beer.

Out of all 18 starters, maybe one of them will make it to AAA ball. But it wasn’t a bad night.

The Chiefs are in town to face the hometown West Michigan Whitecaps. Going to two out of the three games this weekend. I love the fact that I can wear my Cubs gear to the game and NOT get harassed about it. 11 bucks to sit second row box seats? I’ll take it any day.

to a night at the ballpark, it was the Cedar Rapids Kernels vs. the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. We had a blast and the Kernels won with a walkoff single after being down 2-1 most of the game. That was last Friday, which means we only missed seeing the Chiefs by one day. The Kernels have a nice field and they’re the A affiliate of the Angels, so it’s not hard to get behind them and enjoy the game. Our other option is the Quad City River Bandits, but um, yeah. That’s the Cardinals A club.

this is why I love minor league games.

in the Chicagoland area? All the teams as I remember are in the far suburbs and beyond.

South Bend Silverhawks is the closest here – just took two of three from the Chiefs. Great fun, there are always bogo coupons for tickets which are less than $10 anyway. Twice, I’ve had people hand me free tickets before I got to the ticket window. There are always promotions for giveaways and cheap food/drink. Fun way to see some baseball. Highly rec’d.

I’m from Bartonville, just outside of Peoria, and I’m about 10 minutes from O’Brien Field, home of the “baby” Cubs, the Peoria Chiefs. Great ballpark…great food…$10 for excellent seats…parking sorta sucks, but, you really don’t care. You’re right, tho…they play baseball the way it should be played. I attend probably 25-30 games a year. I got friends from northern Illinois, where I grew up, and they’re always asking me “Why don’t you go to more Cubs games…it’s not that far?” My reply is, “Why not go to a minor league game for about 1/4th of what you’d spend at a big league game?” Atmospheres are so much better than a major league park, in my opinion.

where they played by 1858 rules. We were just talking about trying to find another game like that in our area. If I find anything I’ll post some info in case others are interested. The game we went to was fun. Really interesting seeing how different it was.

I like it.

…on Monday night in Des Moines:

Players that had gone thru Madison on their way to the big leagues. Paul Molitor was there. He signed autographs for hours. Game itself was fun to watch. The regular Mallards games are also fun to watch.

I live in the Quad Cities, and though I realize the River Bandits are a Cardinal’s affiliate, I do frequent their games. I’ve been to 7 so far this year, and they’re 6-1 with me in attendance! In all 7 games, I’ve paid a combined $5 for tickets, as they always have free ticket giveaways, and several of my friends get them free from their employers. It’s fun to see young players start their careers here and watch them advance through the system. Jim Edmonds once played here, as well as JR Philips, Nick Punto, and several other MLB players.