A Major Rivalry in the Minor Leagues

How do you define the greatness of a sports rivalry? How does the sports rivalry between the Brooklyn Cyclones and the Staten Island Yankees stack up against the major league series between the Cyclones parent team, the New York Mets, and the Staten Island parent team, the New York Yankees?

Is it possible to create as much animosity between boroughs and excitement for fans when names like A-Rod and David Wright are not printed on the score cards or the pitchers do not have the combination of control and power as aces C.C. Sabathia and Johan Santana? Can the minor leagues ever be more than a minor excitement with the majors a few miles away? Is the greatness of a rivalry marred by baseball tickets that cost a fraction of entry to a major league ball game?

Over the last few years minor league baseball has been become an increasingly attractive option because of that very difference in price. The prices for tickets at stadiums like the New Yankee Stadium and the Mets new field, Citi Field, have made watching a game at a smaller stadium with room for less than 10,000 significantly more enjoyable than paying a few hundred dollars for seats, a couple hot dogs and couple beers.

However, just because a game is more financially sound decision at the Class-A levels it does not mean that the game is a sub par substitute for real baseball. The players here are playing for their life. They are not making an average person’s salary each at bat. They may not be as skilled as those players or they may not be as polished, but they are definitely not turning in a lackluster effort.

We have all seen the star dog it a few games or more a year. They may not have really tried to run down the shallow fly ball lingering in the air down the left field line. They may not have really tried to get home from second on a single to right. They may not have even cared about hitting the cut off man from center.

It may actually be more advantageous for a rivalry in a smaller venue. It’s kind of like getting concert tickets to see a huge act like the Rolling Stones on a giant stadium tour versus seeing the same band in a small dive bar. The giant stadium may bring in more revenue, but the performance is hindered from a fan’s point of view in the upper deck a hundred yards away. They are listening to what makes it out that far and watching Mick Jagger on the Jumbo-Tron.

In a smaller venue you simply feel more of the concert. You are a part of the atmosphere, reveling in the reverberation of Keith Richards’s drug-induced guitar riffs bouncing off the cement walls, bombarding you with rock and roll.

Similarly, a smaller baseball field let’s you see ever step the shortstop takes in every in field shift. You get to hear the crack of the bat for every tipped ball and the whiz of the baseball from the pitchers grip to the plate.

The Cyclones and the Yankees may not be as big as the Mets and the Yankees- they will never make it to the front of the sports page in the Times or the Post or be mentioned on Sportscenter- but you cannot see and feel the whole game from 300-level seats in the upper deck.