Minor League Dreams

Dave Paisley

One of the perks of writing a column for public consumption is that occasionally people will send you stuff asking to review it. Such was the case with the producers of the documentary video Hopes and Dreams In Minor League Baseball. A polite request from the producers to take a look at the video gave me the opportunity to check out something I would probably never have seen otherwise. Hopes and Dreams covers the 2000 season of the short season A ball Williamsport Crosscutters, the Pirates' affiliate in the New York-Penn League.

The movie is no Bull Durham, but real life is more poignant and we don’t have to put up with Kevin Costner. And let’s not forget that A ball is a place where hopes and dreams are dashed more often than they are fulfilled. We start by checking out the Crosscutters staff, Marketing and PR director Gabe Sinicropi, manager Curtis Wilkerson, a former fringe major league infielder, hitting coach Eric Chavez (no, not the A's Chavez) and pitching coach Miguel Bonilla. During the course of the film we get to hear the staff talk plenty about the players in their charge, but we don’t hear anything about what makes these guys tick -- why they’re coaching A ball. I’m sure some of them have dreams of making it back to the major leagues in the dugout, but I’m sure some of them enjoy the teaching aspect of the minors. Wilkerson certainly comes across as a teacher and mentor rather than an old school martinet. He’s certainly not doing it for the $30 a day meal per diem when the team's on the road. Maybe that's another film entirely. For the 2001 season Wilkerson has moved up to the Lynchburg Hillcats, the Pirates long A season team.

In addition to the full-time staff, we see some of the Pirates roving instructors show up for special instruction. Former Yankee infielder Bobby Meacham shows up for, what else, infield instruction. He spends a lot of time with Crosscutters 3B Ray Navarette working on bunts. Meacham tells Navarette over and over again that he has to scare the pitcher off the ball when he's coming in behind him to make a play. "You gotta scare him away from the ball!" It's pretty obvious that Meacham has no time for pitchers fielding. Maybe he's right, as we see a pitcher's errant throw go flying by in the background as he's saying, "If you can make the play without him touching the ball, please do."

Roving pitching coach Marty DeMerritt works with pitcher Michael Fortin on his delivery. Apparently Fortin hadn’t been following through correctly, pitching across his body. The gruff DeMerritt takes Fortin’s cap and puts it on the mound exactly where he doesn’t want Fortin landing his front foot. The trick works well enough that not only does Fortin’s action improve, but he gets a little bonus sink on his fastball. Fortin apparently doesn’t earn any demerits at all. Fun stuff.

There’s plenty to see of the unglamorous off-field life of a low minor leaguer. Most of the players are fresh out of high school, and they’re trying to live on $800 a month. That means a lot of sharing living quarters, which is how we see pitcher Ben Levesque, his wife Danielle, their three-year old son and two of Ben’s teammates sharing a small apartment. In a short interview segment Danielle spills her guts about what it’s like to be the wife of a minor leaguer, living and dying with her husband’s every performance. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained appears to be the philosophy that gets them through the tough times.

The other living arrangement of choice is the homestay with host families. Three of the players are living with the family who once hosted Tino Martinez, Dave Burba and Jeff Nelson. Not surprisingly, this is seen as a good omen for these guys. And these living arrangements are not particularly glamorous, as these guys are sleeping in the basement on mattresses just tossed on the floor. But they know that Tino, Dave and Jeff aren’t sleeping on the floor any more, so maybe it’s all worth it.

While the video mostly maintains an upbeat feel in keeping with the title, it doesn’t avoid the tougher situations. One such story is that of infielder Cliff Riek, who starts the season hitting poorly and never gets the playing time to work himself out of his own doghouse. His girlfriend and parents are there for him, but Riek’s season doesn’t end well, as he gets shuffled down to rookie ball. Fortunately, there’s no crying in baseball, at least on camera.

There’s not a whole lot of game action in the video, but it’s not as if the Crosscutters did much last year, so we’re not missing a whole lot.

Is there any likelihood you’ll see any of these players in the majors soon? I doubt it, but one guy to watch out for is catcher and team leader Ryan Doumit.

Hopes and Dreams is a thoughtful look at the ups and downs of life in the low minor leagues. With a mix of interview and candid footage, the video enables the viewer to connect emotionally with the players, coaches and townspeople as the community of Williamsport rallies around its newest crop of Crosscutter hopefuls. Definitely two thumbs up from this reviewer.

If this sounds like something you’d like to check out for yourself, and I recommend you do if minor league baseball is your thing, Hopes and Dreams can be obtained from the Crosscutters website at http://crosscutters.com/2001 or by calling 1-800-606-9642. It will set you back $19.95 plus $3.50 shipping and handling. And no, I'm not on commission...

about the author

While Dave Paisley doesn't work on commission, he also doesn't have to get by on $800 a month, as those starving college student days are long over. Got any good stories on living close to the bread line? Why not drop him a line at drdjp@strikethree.com. No solicitations please...