minor league baseball realignment

 after the recent announcement about the realignment of minor league baseball, i wanted to study what teams still existed. of course what happened to the iowa teams was of great interest. the triple-A team in des moines was retained, no surprise there, as it has been a cubs team since 1981. in the single-A midwest league, there was four iowa teams. the ones in cedar rapids and davenport were kept, but not the ones in clinton and burlington. but i am aware how the ones kept are in larger cities. it leaves 120 teams with an affiliation, four per major-league team. locally, of course, it was a big deal as the independent st. paul saints will become the triple-A team for the minnesota twins. i noticed what was 10 changes at the triple-A level. the red sox moved their team, but kept it in the new england region. the saints were one of three teams moved up, so it meant three teams were moved down. two were moved to double-A, wichita and san antonio, and the third was moved to single-A, fresno. there was an article from the AP that bemoaned the changes, called 'MLB plays hardball- and deals blow to the heartland'. it does mention wichita, which built a new stadium to lure a triple-A team from new orleans, as well as fresno. the others mentioned were ones that didn't make the cut, including teams in troy, NY, and geneva, IL. there is hope for some teams to end up in independent leagues. and there was mention of teams that made the cut due to joining a new league, including the ones in brooklyn, NY, and hudson valley. i had seen a game in brooklyn when i made a visit to new york city in 2016. i checked wikipedia and there appears to be space available in the american association. the saints left that league, and it said that another team folded- the texas air hogs. but i am aware that league membership changed a lot, at times it was hard to keep track of the opponents of the saints from one year to the next. 

in many ways, the history of minor league baseball shines a light on american history as a whole. there was another article i found that covers this phenomenon, from ballpark digest, called 'the last great (MiLB) contraction'. i had read books about the saints that mentioned some of the same things. the sport flourished after the end of world war two, then in the 1950s there was stiff competition from television. in addition, major league teams moved into what were minor-league cities, so of course those cities had to dump their minor league teams. in the twin cities it meant the saints and millers left town when the twins arrived. although it doesn't mention that major-league expansion led to the minors following suit. the triple-A team in des moines began play in 1969, and that was an expansion year for the majors-four new teams. it said there was 118 minor league teams in 1963, the year of the last great realignment, for what was then 20 major league teams. there was 59 leagues at one point, and the dodgers once had 25 affiliates. 

i went on a walk in the evening and found 23 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when howard slept with penny's friend from nebraska. it was followed by the one where sheldon goes to great lengths to get a haircut. i did put in a request for one of two vacation days, after a team huddle where i got an instant message from my cohort saying what days he is out of the office. i said i likely should request the other day by the end of the week. i have just over two days to use, but it means leaving 2 1/2 hours on the table. use it or lose it by year end, but not a big deal leaving behind that much.