Channel Change-Up: BBC News Magazine Minor League Baseball Season Here in Mesa



Scanning news from around the world, your MesaZona blogger was surprised by the Brits - with favorite national sports like cricket, rugby and football [soccer] - would even bother to write about minor league summer baseball here at Hohokam Stadium.
"Minor" league? And rookies? And that sends the North American reporter for world broadcaster BBC News here to Arizona where the average temperatures for over 100 days is over 100 degrees and teams are practicing and sweating.

And how many "locals" even know about the 10-week season for the Arizona League that started in July? In a report September 5, 2015 BBC says that "And yet in Arizona, this is baseball weather. Every June, hundreds gather in spring training complexes run by Major League Baseball (MLB) franchises on the outskirts of Phoenix to play . . .  It's the bottom rung of professional baseball, the farthest point from the big leagues one can inhabit while still drawing a paycheque.
The League of Fire, as it's sometimes called, is populated by a collection of teenagers fresh out of high school, former university-level players, recent arrivals from overseas teams and veterans working their way back from injury."

Read the whole article with this link: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34110560

BBC's North American reporter Anthony Zurcher was here for a game  between the Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics  with these remarks: "There are no cheering crowds. Although admission is free, few area residents know about the games - and those who do aren't particularly interested in braving the evening heat when there are no food vendors, no public address announcers and no jumbo-sized scoreboards showing player names or instant replays.
Often the games look more like a community softball match than the proving ground for future stars."
More than half the 37 players on the A's hail from Latin and South America, so Spanish often is the primary language in the dugout. In the major leagues 29% of the players are Latino.
There are stories of success mentioned:
Dakota Chalmers - an 18-year-old from Georgia - is just starting to learn about the endurance test that is a professional baseball season. During the evening's game, he sits at a table behind home plate, jotting down information on the night's starting pitcher, Xavier Altamirano.
Just a few months ago, Chalmers was pitching in high school. Now, as Oakland's third selection in the 2015 player draft, he's the second-youngest player on the A's team. He's also a millionaire.
Although the standard pay for Arizona League players is meagre, high draft picks are offered a one-time signing bonus. Chalmers, who can throw a baseball 94 miles per hour and mix in slower pitches that swerve and dive as a batter swings, pocketed $1.4m to play for the A's.
The City of Mesa and the teams using Hohokam Stadium are seeing a $99 million dollar investment paying off.