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by G. Sax

I'm a fan of the St. Paul Saints minor league baseball team and the swirl of entertainment that surrounds each of their home games. I've slept outside the stadium twice to get my choice of tickets when they went on sale. The parking lot at Midway Stadium is one of my favorite places on the planet. I've been on the field past midnight watching movies. I've even performed on the field (but not as a player). I could go on.

The Saints are a storied independent baseball franchise co-owned by the likes of promotional genius, Mike Veeck ("Disco Demolition Night"), and beloved comic actor, Bill Murray. Midway Stadium holds just over 6,000, and the product on the field is about level with AA minor league ball. The tailgating scene outside the park is outstanding. Daryl Strawberry famously played right field for a season before winning a World Series ring with the New York Yankees. J.D. Drew, Jack Morris, Ila Borders…each has made an impactful stop in the Midway. Neal Karlen published his experiences with the team in a book called Slouching Toward Fargo.

Following the Saints is not quite the same as it was about ten years ago when we were part of the more localized Northern League. Now we're in something called the American Association. Veeck and company have tried to market it as a return to the fold of a league formed in 1902, but I think die-hard fans know better. We're not interested in manufacturing rivalries with the likes of Pensacola and El Paso when we used to have Fargo-Moorhead and Duluth-Superior. We don't need to follow a national touring team (we have the Twins for that); we want to be able to follow our team up to Thunder Bay or down to Schaumburg.

The casual fan doesn't necessarily care who the opponent on the field is. The level of excitement on game day is still palpable, and I regularly share it with out-of-towners. It's an experience like few others in the Twin Cities or otherwise. Things I take for granted at this point are a revelation to newbies. Train. Shaft. Pigs. Superfan. Sister Rosalind.

This year, I have already been to two games, and the regular season hasn't even started. One of those games was against the Classic Cannon Valley League's (CCVL) all-stars on May 3 at historic Jack Ruhr Field in the town of Miesville, Minnesota; population: 135. Paid attendance: 1,505. The Saints took it 13-2.

Game two was on Sunday, May 10, against the Winnipeg Goldeyes, a team that used to be a rival when we were both in the Northern League. Fans were allowed to bring their dogs to the game. The experience was surreal for dog owners and dogs alike (bark, bark, bark). The Saints won in an exciting comeback, 7-5.