American Association SUNDAY Insider: The underpaid, overworked liaisons of the American Association

Kevin Luckow

(non member of IBWAA) 

The idea of this Insider came to my head on Thursday night as I was watching a game in Cleburne. It was the 750th American Association broadcast for voice of the Railroaders, Brad Allred. The Railroaders produced a video for Allred with numerous colleagues from the past, former players and current players paying tribute to Allred. 

It got me to thinking just how important the play by play men are to the teams which they are employed. Teams in the AAPB do not have local newspapers following the teams on the road. Often times it is the play by play guys that may put a game story on their team website that the local newspaper picks up to condense into a tiny part of the newspaper. Not to discount the media relations director who also do gamers with no byline given if the newspaper picks it up. 

For myself this goes all the way back to the Northern League. Although St. Paul had great coverage from Mike Augustin (mentioned a few weeks ago in the Insider), often times it was required to listen to the game to hear about team news. I can remember the shock having to get the news from Saints broadcaster Dave Wright when the Saints made a major move after winning the first half of the 1996 season. Along with the big trade came the news that Jack Morris had called it a career. 

The 10th Inning Stretch Blog got its wheels going in part to myself becoming the lightning rod for some disgruntled fans. When I addressed a concern from a fan about a decision George Tsamis made in a game, it opened up a door for me to make a connection with Tsamis and broadcaster Sean Aronson who are both dear colleagues of mine. If fans are at the ballpark, they don't listen to a pregame show where pressing questions can be asked. Now we are seeing broadcasters being interactive with fans on social media where fans can actually get answers to their questions instead of having to ask a simple blogger. 

Through such channels along with others, broadcasters also become the de facto faces of the team. Players come and go, but when you hear Brad Allred you think Cleburne Railroaders, Tom Wynn (who I wish did road games) voice lets you know you're watching Milwaukee Milkmen baseball. Dan Vaughan's distinctive style welcomes you into the ballpark in Sioux City and you're liable to learn something about the history of Sioux City baseball. Tanner Hoops and his blessed vocals pulls you in, waiting for a viral line to come out. Allred and his filler one night had me pulling into a Walmart to buy cereal after an inning of talking breakfast cereals on a less than stellar night for his club. Aaron Shelan has handled the transition from Sam Brief wonderfully, the "Flight Number __" has turned into one of the better home run calls in the league. Conor Clingen has been one of my favorite people to banter with about baseball. I was pleased when Clingen and Colin Rudicil made the trip to Sioux Falls for the Miles Wolff Cup Final last season. The rest of the broadcast crews do exceptional work when you consider the actual broadcast is the culmination and possibly the easiest part of their long day. 

We are lucky that we have the broadcast crews we have. With every season they are in the league, they hit a milestone as they do at least 100 games if they go on the road. I wish there were fewer milestones if it meant they were offered a job doing minor league baseball or anything else that would be considered a step up.

My 10 cents on the York Revolution 

If you follow baseball, and that's not even a question if you read this blog, you all know what happened in York last week as the Revolution had to forfeit a game due to players exercising their right to not wear a jersey they felt went against their beliefs. 

I've read arguments from both sides of the table. LGBTQIA fans are upset with the players for not playing. They were also upset with the Revolution with not forcing the players to play. "The players should be required to play with whatever jersey they are told to". Well, that may hold water in some places, but not in Independent Baseball (I just can't call it Partner League). 

Players hold the power. If the Revolution forced the players to play against their will, they may grin and bear it, but there would be lateral damage down the road. There is such a dearth of quality players for Independent teams to choose from, that if word gets out that Revolution players are forced to do things they are not comfortable with, rival teams can and will use that as to their advantage in recruiting players. 

The St. Paul Saints used to have "A Night of Unforgettable Fun" in cooperation with a local Atheism chapter. They wore jerseys that said "Aints". Saints management told players that anyone that was uncomfortable with wearing the jersey and playing that night could have the night off with no repercussions. I can only recall one player taking them up on that option. 

The night the game was supposed to be played, the Revolution held a Pride event at the ballpark, former Chicago Dog Jacob Teter attended the event though it was rumored that not many players chose to participate with one account saying Teter was the only player in attendance.

Teams in the future may want to quietly not have players wear Pride Jerseys. You can still have Pride Night without forcing beliefs upon the players. I've seen it done in the NHL where there was such a fuss that they had to ban specialty warm up jerseys all the way across the board. Whether that be Pride night, Hockey Fights Cancer night, Military Appreciation night among others. Teams still sell merchandise for those nights including jerseys, they just are never worn on the ice. 

I looked on Saturday and saw the York Revolutiion game post on Facebook. They are still getting hatred from the LBGTQIA crowd. Hopefully everybody can soon move on from this. 

American Association Power Rankings brought to you by the 10th Inning Stretch

1. Milwaukee Milkmen 29

2. Lake Country DockHounds 25

3. Kansas City Monarchs 24

4. Sioux Falls Canaries 24

5. Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks 21

6. Gary SouthShore RailCats 21

7. Kane County Cougars 20

8. Winnipeg Goldeyes 20

9. Cleburne Railroaders 19

10. Sioux City Explorers 19

11. Chicago Dogs 17

12. Lincoln Saltdogs 16