I'm looking for a word

Even after 101 wins, attendance records, and a Midwest League Championship, TinCaps fans were robbed. ROBBED, I say!

Rule robbed fans of title celebration

These were baseball fans. And Wednesday night was the end of it for them, a 2-0 victory over Burlington that left the TinCaps one win away from a sweep of the best-of-five and the franchise’s first league title in 17 seasons.

Champagne? Confetti? A chance to salute a champion in person?

All that would happen 400 miles to the west, on the banks of the Mississippi River.

I don’t know who makes the rules in the Midwest League, or what the reasoning is behind them. But the rule that says home-field advantage in the best-of-five championship series will be decided not on merit but on what year it is – this year it’s the Western Division that gets it – needs to be swatted out of the yard posthaste.

It is, after all, why a team that won 64 games in the regular season (Burlington) gets home field over a team that led the minors in wins with 94.

Next year, If the TinCaps are in the Championship Series with 78 wins going against a team from the West with 89 wins and are hosting games 3, 4, and 5, I expect the same argument to be made. And without the We deserved it last year logic.

It’s why a team that averaged 5,407 fans a game gets two home games, and a team (Burlington, again) that averaged 948, dead last in the league, gets three.

Yes. This comparison is spot on. The the cities of Fort Wayne, IN and Burlington, IA are almost exactly alike...(I'm being sarcastic)...

Your honor, I move that this paragraph be held up as an exhibit of someone who either does not understand market size and its effect on average attendance or is just forgetting it to make a point. That's...oh, what's the word...

Look, I get that this is a baseball thing. Until Bud Selig decreed that whichever league won the All-Star Game would get the home field in the World Series, it alternated from year to year just like it does in the Midwest League. Unlike every other sport I can think of, you didn’t have to earn it. It was just handed to you if it happened to be the right year.

It says here that’s absurd and always has been.

ABSURD! That's what that previous paragraph was...absurd!

Plus, the rule guaranteed a June phone call or e-mail from Dave Skoczen when he was the voice of the West Michigan Whitecaps. That's when he would ask all eight broadcasters in the west when the games for the Finals in the Western Division Stadiums would start. Now, that too, was absurd.

Final note that could have added a little information to this column. I wasn't there, but I am almost positive that George Spelius...you know, the MWL President was at the game. Might not that have been an ideal time to ask him that question? Maybe?

Or, if the President wasn't available, I would almost guarantee...No, make that guaran-DAMN-tee that Dave Walker was at the game. Who's Dave Walker?

Well, this description from a 2007 article at the Bees website from the time when he was named King of Baseball at the Winter Meetings might give a little bit of a clue.

Minor League Vice-President/COO Pat O'Conner was elected to succeed [Mike] Moore as President during the Winter Meetings and also has worked closely with Dave over the years. "Dave Walker has been a leader in Minor League Baseball for many years and this award is simply recognition of long and meritorious service to the game of baseball. His commitment to Minor League Baseball, the City of Burlington and the Burlington Bees is an example of what Kings do. It is a well deserved honor."

Dave has served as the President of the BBA since 1987. This is a volunteer position for the board that oversees the operation for the Burlington Bees which is a community-owned franchise. Dave is also one of two original members of the Minor League Baseball Board of Trustees that was formed in 1992. He served as Chairman of the Board from 2001-02. In addition to his work with the BOT, Dave was an industry leader in communicating with elected officials in Washington, D.C. when the game's anti-trust laws were being challenged.

Dave's full-time position is General Manager of the Best Western Pzazz hotel as part of the FunCity complex in Burlington, Iowa. The Pzazz serves as the designated hotel for visiting Midwest League teams and officials which keeps Dave in contact with more than just the Bees throughout the year. Dave has served on many civic committees throughout the years, but always lists his work with the Bees as the most rewarding. His work as one of the leaders in the Great River Gateway Project helped secure a $5.25 million state grant from the Vision Iowa fund for tourism and community development. Part of that project was a $3 million renovation of Community Field, home of the Bees.

Maybe you could have asked him? Maybe you could still ask him? And bring up that attendance thing to him, too. But, let me know first. I want to be there.