KC To Pickup PDC With Lexington...Possibly, Perhaps, Maybe

SEPT 17th, 2012-Following up on yesterday's post regarding Lexington's break-up with Houston (long-distance relationships can be tough; let's be fair), news out of Illinois and the Midwest League could have bearing on the future of the Legends and perhaps even professional baseball in Central Kentucky. Please keep in mind that I am speculating here. I am not Nostradamus, I have never claimed to be Nostradamus, and therefore I could be way off-base. But that's OK; I've been wrong, from time to time. 

As reported by the Peoria Journal-Star:

All 30 Major League teams have standard PDCs with all their affiliates. The contract lengths typically are two or four seasons and expire after even-numbered calendar years. The Cougars' contract with the Kansas City Royals also expires at the end of this season.(emphasis added by yours truly)

Here's why that matters:

The Chicago Sun-Times reported on August 21st that the Chicago Cubs are planning to end their affiliation with the Peoria Cubs, their Class A affiliate in the Midwest League. The fact that either Peoria, Chicago or both could be fined six figures for discussing new PDCs with other teams before the September deadline notwithstanding, it's appearing more and more like this will happen. 

Meanwhile, in Kane County, their affiliation with Kansas City is ending as well. There have been rumors among Kane County fans that Peoria and Kane County would end up switching major league affiliations...

BUT...

While Lexington is also without an affiliation, they would appear to be in the mix to become KC's next Class A affiliate (at least on the surface). One problem with KC coming to Lexington (leaving Kane County without a parent club) is that Kane County has been a big draw at the gates, historically. Last year they AVERAGED 6,000 per game, and all things being equal it's reasonably logical to assume that they won't come close to those numbers in Lexington. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but baseball just doesn't seem to be the draw in Lexington that it is in places like, oh, say Kane County?

Another thought: with the Reds and Cardinals both bordering Kentucky, this has always seemed to be National League country. Kansas City would not only be moving it's Low-A affiliate farther away, it would also be sending them straight to the front-line of a century-long pissing contest between Cincy and St Louis fans, where they would likely end up being non-combatant casualties. That's kind of a long, meandering way of saying that they'd take a pretty big hit in gate receipts and merchandising as compared to what they were bringing in while playing in Kane County. 

Of course, there are tons of Cards fans in Illinois as well. But I digress...

I guess the thing about minor league baseball and parent club affiliations is this: it doesn't really seem to matter much in the long run who your team is ultimately sending prospects to. If you've got a strong front office, good field staff and an effective promotions department, you're gonna sell tickets. You're also going to sell hats, t-shirts, cards, pennants, souvenir bats and balls, etc. If I had the last say in what organization ended up signing a new PDC with Lexington, I'd probably say that Cincinnati would make the most sense. But that's in a perfect world, and this isn't a perfect world. If it was, the Cubs would still have fans who remember what it was like to see the World Series trophy hoisted triumphantly in The Friendly Confines in ANY other environment than one involving an overpriced gaming system, a 60" flat-screen and a pile of pizza boxes housing a young middle-class family of cockroaches. 

Time will tell who ultimately comes here and adopts Lexington as their new Class-A. Until then, I'm liable to spout any number of ridiculous theories as to who it will be. You've been warned. 

Too Little, Too Late

Nine All-Star Games. Five Gold Gloves. Consistent excellence at his position. Nearly two decades as a color commentator. Immeasurable effort to raise money for and awareness of juvenile diabetes. And one hell of a nice guy.

Those are just a few things that made Chicago Cubs 3B and life-long blueblood Ron Santo the kind of person he was widely known to be. And it wasn't enough. Not for the Hall. Until, somehow, this year.

The HOF Veterans Committee, in their infinite wisdom, finally decided to allow Santo to join the ranks of the legends who came before him in Cooperstown. Good call, fellas. Only took you a few years. Give or take. And all he had to do to solidify his enshrinement is die. Strong work, committee members. Strong.

As a lifelong Cubs fan, I suppose the first feeling I should have had is happiness; happiness for a man who had such a good career in uniform, who gave so much of himself after he left the field to his team and organization, who devoted more than 30 years of his life to helping to raise money and awareness to cure a disease which has affected millions of people (and which ultimately crippled him). But somehow, I can't feel happy about this. I can't bring myself to feel good about a decision that should have been made while the man was still alive.
I started this entry four days ago! I'd like to be able to find the words to express how much of a sham this all seems to be, but I still can't fully express my disappointment.

Case in point: Buck O'Neil. Here's a man who devotes virtually his whole life to the game he loves; as a player, a scout, the first African-American coach in Major League Baseball, and going on to become a sort-of unofficial ambassador for all of American professional baseball. He was awarded the Presidental Medal of Freedom posthumously and even has a statue in the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. The man has an award named after him, for crying out loud! It's an award given by no less than representatives of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame! He had quite a life, quite a compelling legacy in baseball, and yet for all he was blessed with a Hall of Fame election wasn't one of them. I still believe it will happen, somehow, someday, but it should have happened while he was alive. The same can most definitely be said of Santo.

So the question is this, plain and simple: why didn't it happen sooner? Why now, now that his family is deprived of his presence and the man himself has been deprived of the joy of earning the highest honor pro baseball has to offer, is Ron Santo finally being enshrined?

I don't have the answer, and I barely have the means or ability to express my sadness at this most recent black eye suffered needlessly by Major League Baseball. Because it may be a great honor for the Santo family, but it's an insult to me.