Since my last post 56 games ago, the Mustangs won the first-half-season title, knocked out a ten-game winning streak and our shortstop went on a hitting tear that broke the Pioneer League consecutive games record.
Off the field we’ve been threatened with two lawsuits (one of which was over the amount of juice on a $1.25 sno-cone), ejected three “fans,” postponed a game because our ancient stadium could not sustain 60 mph winds and one of my ushers was nearly killed by a foul ball.
So I’ve been busy, but all is well at Cobb Field.
As I write this, the Mustangs have the best record in the Pioneer League at 49-25. Our first-half record of 23-15 was the best in the Northern Division, which means we clinched a spot on the Pioneer League playoffs and could be playing baseball until Sept. 15.
Assuming our stadium holds up.
Today, one of my primary tasks is delivering the Mustangs lineup card to the opposing manager in the visiting “clubhouse,” which is a square little room with a small shower, a toilet, a urinal that always runs and a sink that won’t shut off. It’s always at least 100 degrees in there and feels like it’s going to rain. I was delivering the lineup to former Detroit Tigers All-Star catcher Lance Parrish, currently managing the Ogden (Utah) Raptors this year, when I heard one of the 30-plus players packed into the tiny clubhouse say, “This reminds me of Hoosiers.”
Good news, Jimmy Chitwood, hopefully won’t be playing at Hickory High for too much longer. On the same night we clinched the first-half title, the Billings City Council approved a bond issue that will be voted upon in November. If the bond issues passes, we will have just one more season here at Cobb as work begins on a new stadium. Next year, we would play at Cobb as workers tear out the old city pool that sits behind our current grandstand and begin laying the groundwork for a new grandstand. When we finish playing in 2007, Cobb Field would be leveled and the new park should be ready for the 2008 season. That’s for future seasons, though, for now we dance with the ballpark that got us here.
On three different occasions this season, some of the power has gone out at Cobb Field. Because parts of the electrical system were constructed before the Mustangs first season in 1948 and have been rewired and remodeled over the years, we never lose all power. We just lose some of it. Such was the case on July 12, when the wind knocked out our field lights, scoreboard and the lights in our concourses underneath the grandstand and bathrooms. I sent one female usher into a women’s bathroom and a male usher into a men’s room with flashlights. Their lovely task was to shine light on people relieving themselves in the dark, while my boss determined whether we would play that night.
We didn’t. And in true rookie league fashion, the game against the Idaho Falls Chukars (a pheasant-like bird, so I’m told) had to be made up on the road.
The next night, the wind came again, destroying what was left of the net that protects people ordering at the Cobb Field Grill outside the grandstand behind home plate. Nobody got brained by a foul ball as we got a complete game in, but we also had our first “fan situation” of the season. It was supposed to be an easy night for me, no game sponsor, no promotions.
Of course, I had a few pre-game problems to solve. First off, I had to escort former Billings Police officer Don Vegge onto the field, where he would be playing the National Anthem on his carpenter’s saw. It’s always a big hit with the fans and draws puzzled looks from players who have never seen anyone “play” something found at a hardware store. After that, I really didn’t have anything pressing, minus the typical tasks like getting the Papa John’s pizza to the lucky winners of the La-Z-Boy “Best Seats in the House” recliners perched atop the third-base dugout.
I was relaxed and looking forward to settling in on the first-base concourse to watch baseball for the first time this season….just a simple Thursday night at the old ballgame.
Five minutes later, I realize we have a problem.
There is one guy in sweatpants, sleeveless Reebok t-shirt, cowboy hat and white high-top sneakers. His “crew” also includes a little squirrelly guy and a white girl with dreadlocks. After each pitch, regardless of which team is batting, Squirrelly Guy is yelling, “Strrrrrike” at the top of his lungs and then laughing a lot like a rodent would laugh if it was human. By the bottom of the first, we already have a dozen complaints.
So, with a smile on my face, I head over to the seats just behind home plate to greet our new “fans.”
I instantly recognize that the kid in the cowboy hat has about half the enamel worn off his front teeth. It’s a telltale sign of meth use, which has been a problem in Billings for years. In addition to the enamel issue, what is left of his teeth are so crooked that he could “eat oats out of a Coke bottle,” or, “eat an apple through a tennis racket,” depending on which Montana saying you prefer.
In addition, Dreadlock Girl appears to have smoked some left-handed cigarettes, while Squirrelly Guy is one of those clowns you look at and know he’s so dumb it’s a wonder he hasn’t forgotten how to breathe. All three members of the Sweatpants Crew get in on the fight.
“It’s a baseball game, you’re supposed to yell,” Squirrelly Guy barks at me.
“There are 2,500 people here and I’ve only had complaints about three people,” I said. “Look around. Just do what everyone else is doing and you’ll be fine.”
It didn’t take.
Not ten minutes later, I paid them another visit after receiving more complaints. I inform the Sweatpants Crew that the next time I come back, the two Billings Police officers who work our games would be with me while they’re ejected.
The three geniuses continue their behavior after cleverly moving down the first-base line. Of course, there are more complaints, so I go get the heat. The two cops eject Squirrelly Guy and Bad Teeth. Dreadlock Girl gets to stay because she is guilty of nothing, other than having bad hair, bad friends and burning trees before the game.
You’d think I’d be a hero. Nope. The Sweatpants Crew has gained a very small cult following that finds them funny. Now, I’m the bad guy.
An Asian hip-hop kid with a backwards Kangol hat starts chirping at me for booting people for yelling. The Kangol Kid also informs me that he’s been to Yankee Stadium. I briefly try to explain that he’s represents a small group of people in attendance who don’t want to kill Squirrelly Guy and Bad Teeth.
That didn’t take either.
I spend about an inning in a stare-down with Kangol Kid, who is loudly is challenging me to a fight. I’m very interested.
After realizing I am becoming part of the problem, I leave crowd control to the experts. Kangol Kid starts lipping the cops, so they go back into the stands. I see what’s happening and decide to return. Upon my arrival, one of the cops asks Kangol Kid, “Are you trying to get arrested?”
“Go ahead,” he says.
So they do. As Kangol Kid is escorted out of Cobb Field, he requests my name and the names of the arresting officers with the threat that, “My lawyer will be getting a hold of you tomorrow.” Kangol Kid informs us that since he’s Asian, we will all be named in a discrimination lawsuit.
At the exact same time, my handheld radio crackles that we need the cops at the main concession stand because the Kangol Kid’s running mate is making a fuss because he wants extra juice on his sno-cone. He too announces a discrimination lawsuit against the Billings Mustangs after the sno-cone maker told him to get bent.
The Sno-Cone Guy disappears while his boy is hauled off to jail. Turns out Kangol Kid was only twenty years old and other people -- possibly Squirrelly Guy and Bad Teeth -- were buying him beer. He’s booked for disorderly conduct and minor in possession of alcohol.
After that bump in the road, things go relatively smoothly until Aug. 11. On that evening, one of my ushers, Katie, was text messaging on the end of the first-base line when Mustangs catcher Justin Tordi (#29, above) was late on a fastball.
You may remember Katie as the girl throwing Hershey’s Kissables into the crowd at about 80 mph. She’s an athlete and she’s tough, but I didn’t know how tough she was until that night.As she was texting, I was making my way up the stairs with barbeque sauce for some boneless chicken wings awaiting me in the press box. I heard the sound of a very sharply hit ball. It was crushed and sounded like a home run.
The audible gasp from the crowd indicated otherwise. I turned just in time to see a line drive hit Katie in the head. She bent over and sat down. I got there thirty seconds later and Katie already had a huge bump above her eye and blood running down her face.
“I can’t believe I got hit by a ball,” she said as people gathered around her.An ambulance and firefighters showed up, but she walked out of the stadium to cheers. I drove her to the emergency room at The Billings Clinic across the street. Fortunately, she checked out OK and never missed a game -- despite a nasty black eye.
The ball hit her forehead so square that it dropped straight to her feet. Tordi signed it, and one of his bats, for Katie.
She was there for the next game on Aug. 16, which started a seven-game homestand with the Orem Owlz and the Ogden Raptors, two of the best teams in the Pioneer League’s Southern Division (we’re in the Northern). Going into that game, the Mustangs had won three straight on the road and our shortstop, Chris Valaika (#11, below), was in the middle of a hitting-streak that started on July 22. The Mustangs won all seven games against their Southern Division foes.
Valaika hit in every game, which meant we got as close to a media circus as we ever get. Each day, I got interview requests from the two local television stations, the Billings Gazette, Minorleaguebaseball.com and the 
random news radio guy.
Valaika is a solid kid, so he obliged. But he always said the same thing.
“Streaks are nice, but it will end,” he would say. “When it ends, I’ll start a new one.”
He said the exact same thing everyday for seven days -- but they still kept coming back --- until it officially ended on Aug. 27 in Ogden. He finished with a 32-game hit streak, a league record and the longest in the minors since 2004. He has since has been named the Pioneer League MVP.
Our last homestand ended with a rare afternoon game. We usually can’t play afternoon games because about a dozen foul balls are hit into Athletic Pool during a game. Since the pool has been closed for the summer, we decided to give it a shot. Sponsored by the Billings Chamber of Commerce, it was billed as “Business Appreciation Day.” We did all right for a day game on a Tuesday, drawing 2,341 fans who presumably, appreciate business.
After the game ended, I again found myself in one of those surreal scenes that seem to only happen at Cobb Field.
I was playing catcher as a guy in a giant bear suit took batting practice.
It takes a bit of explaining, but it actually makes sense.
Our radio broadcaster this year is Andy Price, who used to work here in Billings as a barely tolerable sports television personality at KTVQ, known as Q2: Montana’s News Station, or simply, “The Deuce.” Andy left the Magic City and ended up working for the Minnesota Twins.
In the summer of 2006, the Twins gave him a sabbatical to live out his dream of making fifty bucks a night calling every home and road game for the Billings Mustangs.
Three of his friends/co-workers came out for a couple of games, one of whom is TC, the bear mascot of the
Twins. TC agreed to bring his costume to Billings and perform at our final game of the homestand, which prompted questions from an Ogden Raptors pitcher. “Why is your mascot a bear? And why is he wearing a Twins uniform?”
As part of his pre-game show in Minnesota, TC hits softballs in his bear suit from second base into the seats of the Metrodome. We decided, for liability reasons, not to have him hit softballs into the streets just beyond our outfield fence. But TC is “the Babe Ruth of Bruins,” and he wanted to take his hacks. We compromised. After the game, Andy pitched and I served as the catcher. From home plate, TC was not able to get any out of the yard, but overall, he hit pretty well for a guy in a bear suit.
Andy wanted to take his cuts as well, so TC pitched and I caught. As I was looking out at a left-handed bear winding up and throwing from the mound at an empty Cobb Field, I was struck by how bizarre/unique/awesome my job can be.
The fun stuff is almost over, though, because the playoffs start on Sept. 8. We open up the best-of-three Northern Division Championship on the road in Missoula, followed by games in Billings on Sept. 9 and, if necessary, Sept. 10. If we prevail (here’s me, knocking on wood) in the Northern Division Championship, we will host the first game of the three-game Pioneer League Championship on Sept. 12. I would then go with the Mustangs as they travel to the Southern Division champion – either Orem, Utah or Idaho Falls, Idaho – for games on Sept. 14-15.
I’ll be back after the season, hopefully with news of a successful Pioneer League Playoff run.
Matt Bender
Assitant General Manager
Billings Mustangs Professional Baseball
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
(TC photos courtesy of Minnesota Twins. All other courtesy of Paul Hartman.)
(Except Katie's photo, she was cool enough to send that along herself.)
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