A new challenge
There has always been something to fill time between innings, but this may lean to the political.
Those of you who regularly go to Shorebird games sort of know the routine between innings, as there are a number of ways the team employees keep the crowd engaged while the players are getting ready. (I’m sure other teams have similar games and contests, too.)
Some of these value crowd participation: the “Shake Your Tail Feather” promotion from Perdue involves the camera crew, while others are old favorites: singing Take Me Out To The Ballgame at the seventh inning stretch and doing the Chicken Dance in the next half. Others are a little more passive, such as the Home Run Inning sponsored by OC Home and Floor Gallery or the Capital One promotion where you find the onfield host and show him or her your participating card. (It won’t work for me.) They’ll throw out frisbees from Pohanka in another inning, conduct their military quiz on some nights, and do the Preston Frog Shuffle on the video board in another half.
And then you have the games done onfield: the Terminix Critter Catcher game is an old favorite, as is Musical Chairs presented by Chesapeake Shipbuilding. The crowd can get its laughs at Sherman trying to throw large floatation devices in the Kellyn’s Kafe Donut Toss and watch him lose the Mascot Race sponsored by Gateway Pediatrics. There are a few more, given we have 16 or so half-innings to fill, but those are the ones I remember, almost always sponsored by some local or national business.
But there’s a new promotion that I found interesting, and it’s called the Military Challenge. Two kids race on a field with three markers: at marker one they do three pushups. (Now drop and give me three! Nah, that doesn’t work.) At the second marker it’s five jumping jacks, and at station number three they do two sit-ups then race back to the line. It’s certainly not that kids can’t do this modest amount of exercise, but the contest is immediately followed on the video board by a spot for the U.S. Army, who is the sponsor.
Now those of us who also follow the political world know that all of our military branches have had recruiting issues over the past few years, although that trend seems to be turning around now that the attitude has changed from making the military a place for social experimentation to its original intent of defensive deterrence, with the mission of killing people and breaking things when required.
The fact that the Army has begun sponsoring this contest, which is obviously youth-oriented, seems to me to be a refreshing change in recruiting tactics. Surely there are parents of participants who will say “there’s no way my kid goes into the army” and that’s fine in this day and age of an all-volunteer military. Even though I watched Stripes as an impressionable teenager and loved Rambo movies, I didn’t have an interest in joining up. It’s doubtful a recruiter is calling up these tweens the next day to enlist.
But the game and the spot do reach a population who may be interested, and there will always be a need for us to defend our country - perhaps (and hopefully, looking back) not necessarily the way we have done so over the last 35 years or so, but in some manner. So why not give them a positive piece of reinforcement as a challenge?
Since I haven’t heard about a protest yet, I’m presuming people around here are cool with it. What I would be interested in knowing is if this is a campaign conducted throughout the minor leagues or just local. It seems like they would be rolling this out nationwide, but who knows? I just think it’s a good idea, a “pick” if you will.
This week’s picture came out of a 3-2 loss to Kannapolis (the old Intimidators) on June 14, 2015. The starting catcher that day was Yermin Mercedes, who was struggling at the time with a .179 average but eventually righted the ship to have a decent 2015 campaign with us and (barely) win the 2016 SAL batting title with the Shorebirds as he had just enough plate appearances to qualify. (He was the last Shorebird to do so.)
Mercedes, who was originally in the Nationals’ organization but released after just three seasons in the Dominican League, tore up the independent Pecos League in 2014, leading the Orioles to take a flyer on him. He made it as far as Bowie in 2017 before the White Sox drafted him out of the organization in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft. He would eventually make The Show in 2020 for one pinch-hitting appearance, but was an April sensation in 2021 as he started out with eight straight hits and was AL Rookie of the Month, serving primarily as Chicago’s DH. Yermin could fall out of bed and get three hits, but he rubbed a lot of people the wrong way and had suspect (at best) defensive skills, so he was out of the big leagues by the end of 2022, let go by the Giants who had claimed him on waivers in August. He’s played mainly in the Mexican League since, but after washing out of two leagues last winter Mercedes is still looking for a place to play in 2025.
In the meantime, though, you can Buy Me a Coffee, since I have a page there now.