Knicks and Kittens
I attended a minor league ballgame and celebrated the end of a 53-year drought.
Prior to Saturday night, the only minor league game I can remember attending took place on June 10, 2021 between the Hudson Valley Renegades and Brooklyn Cyclones. My brother and I rode the subway to New York’s Coney Island for a battle between the High-A affiliates of the Yankees and Mets. Budding Yankees prospect Austin Wells and the Renegades won 1-0 in a true pitchers’ duel. Having a roller coaster as a backdrop and Nathan’s hot dog stand next door made for a fun atmosphere.
Having never seen any of Southern California’s four minor league ballparks in person, I chose the June 14 game at San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino, a city founded in 1810. The team is sponsored in part by the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation, a local tribe that operates a nearby casino. I was pleased when my ticket cost only $9 at the box office.
The home team is known as the Inland Empire 66ers, but for this weekend they dubbed themselves the San Bernardino Kittens as part of a fundraiser benefitting a local cat shelter. Their jerseys featured a striped kitten in space, and Bill Veeck would have been proud of the team’s commitment to the bit. I didn’t arrive in time to receive the giveaway jersey, which was different from the galaxy-themed one worn by the players.
The 66ers are the Single-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, and they hosted the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes who play about an hour’s drive away. The Quakes are affiliated with the Angels and wore jerseys inspired by the parent club complete with signature halo. Scott Rouse got Cucamonga to go down 1-2-3 to begin the game including a Kendrey Maduro groundout to retire the side.
The home team got a quick run with a leadoff homer by shortstop Dustin Crenshaw. The blast to right against Trey Gregory-Alford was Crenshaw’s second of the season, and he looked pumped about it.
The Quakes tied the game on a Lucas Ramirez groundout in the second following a Marlon Quintero single. Watching A ball reminded me of how difficult infield defense truly is, as Brady O’Brien’s throwing error contributed to the run scoring. In the sixth inning, Kevyn Castillo put the Quakes ahead 2-1 with a base hit off of Daniel Ouderkirk.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Kittens/66ers took control with four runs. Ricardo Cova doubled, Aiden Taurek singled him home, and Cesar Quintas plated Taurek with another single. A Connor Dykstra single and two-run George Feliz double rounded out the scoring. In the meantime, cat puns by the stadium announcer and a cat version of Billie Eilish’s What Was I Made For? made me chuckle.
Now that Inland Empire led 5-2, I shifted my focus to the New York Knicks. I had been streaming Game 5 of the NBA Finals on the ESPN app, but the Knicks once again got off to a slow start against the Spurs in San Antonio. In a flash, New York made a rally in the fourth quarter and overcame some shaky free-throw shooting to win the first Knicks championship of my lifetime. I paced in the tunnel near my seat and then cheered (along with some others at the stadium) as Victor Wembanyama’s final shot missed the mark. My Knicks were champions for the first time since 1973.
Jalen Brunson won Finals MVP decades after I began rooting for his father Rick during his days playing for the Knicks. While Game 4 involved a comeback from 29 points down, given how awful the Knicks’ offense looked early this one felt almost as miraculous. As I watched video of New York street celebrations, I was overcome with emotion. I found a post I wrote in 2005 back when the Knicks were a laughingstock, and it felt surreal to look back on a time in my life when I was begging to see them win just one regular season game in person.
Back then, Patrick Ewing was my favorite player and I had seen New York lose the 1999 Finals to these same Spurs. In those days, taking home the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy felt like a pipe dream. I woke up on Sunday morning and marveled at an incredible playoff run during which the Knicks outscored opponents by an average of nearly 15 points per game.
San Manuel Stadium holds about 8,000 fans and hosted 2,379 on this night. While people seemed fairly knowledgeable about the sport, they did not seem to live and die with every pitch. Instead, it was a fun night out for religious groups, birthday parties, and even the local SABR chapter of baseball enthusiasts. I perused the team store, visited a concession stand, watched Cole Cheatham close the game, and told a vendor the final score of 5-2 before my walk to the car.
The closest West Coast parallel I have to this experience was Anteater Ballpark at UC Irvine. While college fans seem a bit more invested in the outcome, the stadium experience was relaxed and appropriately silly. These are prospects passing through a level of the Mariners system and may be playing elsewhere the following season. In the meantime, fans can wear cat ears, laugh at the antics of their mascot Bernie, and bid on the signed jerseys of rising prospects like Korbyn Dickerson. The level of play may not be the same, but fans in Southern California are fortunate to have alternatives when they feel priced out of Dodger Stadium.
