Minor league baseball oddities, on Eastern Shore and beyond, chronicled in new book
The minor leagues of baseball in America have always been known for their eccentricities. Whether it be the bizarre team nicknames, unique jerseys and logos, or the odd stories that come out of the games, minor league baseball stands out from most sports in very distinct ways.
For Tim Hagerty, the chance to compile the crazy stories that come out of the minor leagues was a golden opportunity he felt that he could not pass up. And with his book released earlier this year, "Tales from the Dugout," Hagerty set out to capture as many as possible.
The book features 1,001 stories from minor league baseball through the years, spanning across the different teams and leagues, with some being recent stories involving active teams, and others that go much further back into history.
For Hagerty, who currently serves as a broadcaster for the San Diego Padres Triple-A affiliate, the El Paso Chihuahuas, the book was a passion project that took 10 years of time and effort.
"In addition to calling games, I've always loved baseball research," Hagerty said in an interview. "And in 2012, when I was researching something else, I came across the story in the 1880s from a newspaper archives about a Texas League game that get delayed when a wild bull ran on the field. And I thought, 'Well I cover this for a living and I've never heard of this story.' So it just showed me how many stories are out there from the past and the present of minor league baseball that a lot of sports fans didn't know about."
While he ended up settling on 1,001, Hagerty says that he compiled around 1,100 stories throughout his research. And a few of those stories have Delmarva at the center of them.
A monkey and goose on the field? That and much more on Delmarva
Delmarva's own minor league baseball history comes up multiple times throughout the book, with stories taking place in Salisbury and Dover. Current readers might remember more recent ones, like the tale of a goose wandering onto the field during a 2017 Delmarva Shorebirds game, while others dig deeper into the past on the Eastern Shore.
More: Delmarva Shorebirds defeated by Charleston Riverdogs at home, 8-4
More: White Marlin Open 2023: Everything to know about return of Ocean City's big tourney
"The old Delmarva area stories were a combination of baseball books, old newspaper archives, and for the modern stories I would just keep a document," Hagerty said. "So for example, I saw this video (in 2017) of a goose landing on the field in Delmarva.
"The Shorebirds got delayed by a bird, and this poor goose wasn't able to fly away, so they actually had ballpark employees delay the game, get a hold of this injured goose and bring it to an animal control facility. So when something unusual happens like that, I made a note, made the date and went back and wrote a quick summary of it."
While that is a more contemporary story that Shorebirds fans likely remember, some of the stories in the book go back all the way into the late 1800s and first half of the 20th century. And Delmarva is a part of those stories too, like the time in 1937 when players for the Eastern Shore League's Salisbury Indians team had to take road trips in cabs for the majority of the season after their bus broke down. Or the time in Delaware in 1945 when a monkey attended a Dover Phillies game and made its way behind home plate.
Wacky traditions that go back centuries to woo fans
And if there is one common thread that ties the older stories to the more contemporary ones, it is the distinctiveness of minor baseball. The unique ways that teams try to market themselves to get eyes on the team and fans in the stands have been a part of the game for decades.
"The oldest story in my book is from 1877 in Wheeling, West Virginia. The minor league team there had fans come out for a contest to see who could catch a greased pig. And if a fan seized the pig they got to keep the pig," Hagerty said.
"And I thought, 'This is in 1877 and they were doing crazy things to get in the newspaper and to sell tickets.' So, the wacky promotions are nothing new. They're more than a century old."
The book was released in March, and the positive feedback he has gotten from baseball fans has been rewarding for Hagerty. And while 1,001 stories may seem daunting to some potential readers at first glance, he hopes that his experience writing the book mimics the experience of readers engaging with it.
"It was amazing. It's like what they say about the law of accumulation," Hagerty said. "You just work on a story here, a story there, and then all of a sudden years pass and you saw 'Wow, I have 700, 800, 900 of these stories.' It really adds up. And that's what I hope for the reader as well."
This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Delmarva's strange minor league baseball history featured in new book
