Brewers announce new AAA Affiliate - San Antonio Missions

[Baldkin]

[jerichoholicninja]

I guess I don't understand all the grousing about bad minor league stadiums. As long as there are adequate weight training, and hitting and pitching facilities who cares about the stadium? It's not like the Brewers are getting a cut of the gate or any money at all from the organization.

[dlk9s]

I thought that was Pickle Rick.

[topper09er]

The mascot is awesome, they should invite him to run in the sausage race on opening day.

 

I will not be happy until we have a minor league affiliate in Madison. I think they would get a lot of support, I don't care if there isn't a team right now or the city is too small or whatever.

 

Is the fact that the Mallards play there a deterrent for the city? Do they think they could support two baseball teams?

 

If given the choice, I would think the Mallards would die if we brought an actual Brewers minor league team to Madison.

 

I'm with you though, Madison would be a great spot for a team, and they could literally shuttle players back and forth if needed. That's why having the T-Rats is so great for the organization. Players drive up the road for re-hab starts, and t-rats fans get to enjoy seeing actual Brewers players in their back yard.

 

I would quit the Northwoods league in a second for a pro team, they can still be called the Mallards. Looks like Madison had a few pro ball clubs with MLB affiliations over the years.

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?city=Madison&state=WI&country=US

 

The Madison Blues, 1942 "B" league affiliate of the Cubs

The Madison Muskies, 1982-1993 A level Midwest league affiliate of the A's. Jose Canseco got 100 PAs with them in '83 as an 18 year old.

The Madison Hatters, 1994 A level Midwest League affiliate of the Cardinals.

 

Also several independent teams like the Mallards, the Madison Black Wolf (not plural?) and the turn of the century Madison Senators. I must say I enjoy another team in the Wisconsin-Illinois League, the Freeport Pretzels.

[MrTPlush]

The mascot is awesome, they should invite him to run in the sausage race on opening day.

 

I will not be happy until we have a minor league affiliate in Madison. I think they would get a lot of support, I don't care if there isn't a team right now or the city is too small or whatever.

 

Is the fact that the Mallards play there a deterrent for the city? Do they think they could support two baseball teams?

 

No, they would just take out the Mallards...simple. The deterrent is they have no good reason to put their team there. It would just eat into their own ticket sales. How fast do we need guys to get to the MLB squad from AAA? When has it ever been a problem?

 

I also don't think Madison could support AAA baseball. Their 6,300 average attendance is incredible for the NWL, but compared to the AAA teams that would put them pretty darn close to last. They get those numbers from prime time summer baseball. Their April/May attendance would be a sad story like pushing that number way down. Maybe the attraction of better talent helps that a bit, but I bet the prices are higher for everything when it comes to AAA.

 

The A-ball team is already in Wisconsin...that is the kind of league they would excel in. Maybe A+ or AA is a possibility, but no league is even remotely close to us.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

The mascot is awesome, they should invite him to run in the sausage race on opening day.

 

I will not be happy until we have a minor league affiliate in Madison. I think they would get a lot of support, I don't care if there isn't a team right now or the city is too small or whatever.

 

Is the fact that the Mallards play there a deterrent for the city? Do they think they could support two baseball teams?

 

No, they would just take out the Mallards...simple. The deterrent is they have no good reason to put their team there. It would just eat into their own ticket sales. How fast do we need guys to get to the MLB squad from AAA? When has it ever been a problem?

 

I also don't think Madison could support AAA baseball. Their 6,300 average attendance is incredible for the NWL, but compared to the AAA teams that would put them pretty darn close to last. They get those numbers from prime time summer baseball. Their April/May attendance would be a sad story like pushing that number way down. Maybe the attraction of better talent helps that a bit, but I bet the prices are higher for everything when it comes to AAA.

 

The A-ball team is already in Wisconsin...that is the kind of league they would excel in. Maybe A+ or AA is a possibility, but no league is even remotely close to us.

 

Isn't comparing the quality of baseball you are going to get at AAA to NWL kind of comparing apples and oranges? I am by no means a NWL expert, but I can't imagine the quality is any better than you are going to see at Class A.

[topper09er]

 

I also don't think Madison could support AAA baseball. Their 6,300 average attendance is incredible for the NWL, but compared to the AAA teams that would put them pretty darn close to last.

 

interesting, the Sky Sox averaged 4,104 this season. Looks like 6,300 would be right in the middle of the pack in PCL, and I think if the team was a Brewer affiliate the attendence would really jump. If AA is more realistic that would be great also.

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=l_att&lid=112&sid=l112

[MrTPlush]

Isn't comparing the quality of baseball you are going to get at AAA to NWL kind of comparing apples and oranges? I am by no means a NWL expert, but I can't imagine the quality is any better than you are going to see at Class A.

 

MiLB baseball isn't much different than NWL in a lot of ways. The main draw is a good time, not really the product on the field. Having a AAA team would definitely be a bigger draw, but playing miserable games in April/May will take away most if not all the gain you see in added interest for talent level. The Mallards also have less games which makes it easier to have a nice crowd every day. Once you have as many home games as a AAA team the lack of population the Madison area has will be quite apparent.

 

I'm sure the Brewers could sustain it, but it wouldn't excel and I don't see how you get a team to move here when our promise would be bottom half attendance numbers. I guess Des Moines has a AAA team so you could maybe argue teams could travel to Madison too.

 

The New Orleans BabyCakes need to move though. 3,850? Yah, Madison could outdo that. I see quite a few teams floating around 5,500 which isn't hard to believe. To find AAA numbers I checked the International League...which does way better for attendance.

 

It doesn't matter though. Brewers would never want a team in Madison.

[TURBO]

I can't look at their logo without thinking of Taco Bell...

 

As if I need another reason to think about Taco Bell.

[OnaBadger58]

+1 on the mascot as well. That's what I love about minor league baseball. We already have a Catfish and an Oyster. What's wrong with a Ballapeno?

[istanbultaye]

I don't think the Brewers would mind having a minor league team in Madison, just the question would be whether a satisfactory facility would be able to be arranged, and whether it's convenient enough within whichever minor league they would be in travel-wise. I'm guessing having your AAA/40 man roster shuffle ~ 1 hour away by drive (when both teams are home) would be pretty convenient with the shuffling the Brewers have been doing.

[Ennder]

I hope they allow us here at brewerfan.net to pick the teams mascot.

 

They did that here in Alabama and we got stuck with the Rocket City Trash Panda's. Stadium is thanks to city of Madison so didn't get the city right and the mascot is dumb.

[DuWayne Steurer]

The Brewers would never have a AAA team in Wisconsin. They'd be cannibalizing their own attendance. People in Madison are probably at least a small percentage of Brewers season ticket and walk-up sales.

[homer]

So this may be a dumb question, but what advantage does a nice stadium give the Brewers? No offense to the fine people of San Antonio but I only care about player development and getting the pitchers out of CS solves a big issue in that regard.

[dlk9s]

I hope they allow us here at brewerfan.net to pick the teams mascot.

 

They did that here in Alabama and we got stuck with the Rocket City Trash Panda's. Stadium is thanks to city of Madison so didn't get the city right and the mascot is dumb.

 

"Stuck with?"

 

It's an incredible name.

[PeaveyFury]

So this may be a dumb question, but what advantage does a nice stadium give the Brewers? No offense to the fine people of San Antonio but I only care about player development and getting the pitchers out of CS solves a big issue in that regard.

 

I would think the Brewers want quality training facilities and the like for players' conditioning. I would also think that with the way they taxi the players back and forth, you'd want amenities to keep the players happy/comfortable, possibly a perk to AAAA guys that you'd like to sign and stash there for depth.

[Jimbo]

I will not be happy until we have a minor league affiliate in Madison. I think they would get a lot of support, I don't care if there isn't a team right now or the city is too small or whatever.

 

I remember quite well back in '82 the Brewers wanted to put a MWL team in Madison on the condition Warner Park would be upgraded. The Common Council being who they were, quibbled amongst themselves until the Brewers said the heck with it and put the team in Beloit.

[NeedMoreFans]

The Brewers would never have a AAA team in Wisconsin. They'd be cannibalizing their own attendance. People in Madison are probably at least a small percentage of Brewers season ticket and walk-up sales.

 

I think the number of people from the Madison area that goes to a Brewer game is a very small percentage of the overall attendance for any given game. Most people that live here would not go to a weeknight game in Milwaukee without already having tickets and I'm guessing that season ticket holders are not going to a lot of Mallards games nor would they choose AAA games over Brewer games. Personally, I don't get to a lot of Brewer games because of time and cost. If I want to take my family, I'm looking at well over $150 and I'm pretty much only going to Sunday games because there is no way my kids can stay up that late on a weeknight, even in summer. I live 15 minutes from Warner Park and would go to AAA games in a heartbeat if they were the Brewers' affiliate, and I'm guessing many more would do the same.

 

The biggest issue IMO would be the weather. The Mallards draw so well mostly because their season is just 2 months long (end of May-end of July) so cold temperatures do not come into play. Start playing in April and the average attendance probably goes down quite a bit.

[Thurston Fluff]

So this may be a dumb question, but what advantage does a nice stadium give the Brewers? No offense to the fine people of San Antonio but I only care about player development and getting the pitchers out of CS solves a big issue in that regard.

 

I think there are two aspects of a stadium. The first, and most important to the Brewers, are the internal facilities that the players use. The other is the fan amenities that draws in a crowd. From what I read they are planning on upgrading the facilities instead of building a new stadium. If the upgrades are for the players it doesn't matter for the Brewers if the fans are sitting on metal buckets. In a weird way it might actually help them stabilize their musical chairs with affiliates. If the stadium isn't a good draw due to the fan amenities it might make it easier for Attanasio to buy the franchise. In an ideal world I think the Brewers owning their affiliates is best. Once he owns the franchise then he can work to get a taylormade stadium that fits what the Brewers want.

[brewmann04]

I think we going to be in a new stadium after 2020

[craigharmann]

In talking about mascots, y’all forgot about the other Missions mascot. Henry the Puffy Taco.

 

https://www.milb.com/milb/news/san-antonio-mascots-serve-up-layers-of-fun/c-74515272

[MrTPlush]

Henry the Puffy Taco.

 

Sounds like something my health teacher would have called an STD character.

[tdcarney22]

I hope they allow us here at brewerfan.net to pick the teams mascot.

 

They did that here in Alabama and we got stuck with the Rocket City Trash Panda's. Stadium is thanks to city of Madison so didn't get the city right and the mascot is dumb.

 

"Stuck with?"

 

It's an incredible name.

 

 

that..is without question, the greatest nickname in all of sports...idk how you can say "Stuck With"

[JohnBriggs12]

San Antonio was Brewer affiliate for one season in 1972 in the AA Texas League. Gorman Thomas was a San Antonio Brewer that year, as were future Brewers Bill Travers, Dan Thomas, Kevin Kobel and their number one pick from the 1971 draft, Rob Ellis. That team was awful though finishing 34 games under .500. They actually changed the name from Missions to Brewers for that season but Missions name dates back to 1933. They were the Brewers from 1972-1976, even though not a Brewers affiliate after 72, and the Dodgers from 1977-1987.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

San Antonio was Brewer affiliate for one season in 1972 in the AA Texas League. Gorman Thomas was a San Antonio Brewer that year, as were future Brewers Bill Travers, Dan Thomas, Kevin Kobel and their number one pick from the 1971 draft, Rob Ellis. That team was awful though finishing 34 games under .500. They actually changed the name from Missions to Brewers for that season but Missions name dates back to 1933. They were the Brewers from 1972-1976, even though not a Brewers affiliate after 72, and the Dodgers from 1977-1987.

 

Now you made me go look. The Indians and Rangers there the affiliates in San Antonio during the 1973-76 seasons that there were called the Brewers.