Wednesday, April 09

I’m Ben Hill -- a.k.a. Ben’s Biz -- and you have, intentionally or otherwise, opened this newsletter. Thank you. The 2025 Minor League Baseball season starts operating at full strength tomorrow, with Single-A, High-A and Double-A joining the fray. I’ll join the fray soon enough. Road trip schedules are, wait for it, coming soon! 

Welcome to Promo Preview. This column has gone through many permutations over the past two decades but remains, as always, dedicated to highlighting the best gameday promotions taking place throughout the world of Minor League Baseball.

In 2025, Promo Preview will generally be a monthly concern, but the season has just begun, and all 120 Minor League teams are now in action. There’s so much going on! Right now! Here are the highlights from the first full-throttle week of the Minor League season. 

April 4: On this Friday and every Friday, the Beloit Sky Carp (High-A MIA) take the field as the Wisconsin Supper Clubbers. It’s an ode to the state’s unique, tradition-laden supper club scene. The primary logo features the official cocktail of Wisconsin, the brandy old fashioned. 

The Gwinnett Stripers (Triple-A ATL) pay tribute to their region’s Negro Leagues history, suiting up as the Atlanta Black Crackers.

Richmond’s The Diamond begins its 40th and final season, as the Flying Squirrels (Double-A SF) will relocate to new CarMax Park in 2026. John Smoltz, erstwhile Richmond Brave, is throwing out the first pitch.  

April 5: The Altoona Curve (Double-A PIT), who last season gave away a Paul Skenes bobble-stache, remain fixated on wiggling hair follicles. Their Jared Jones bobblehead features a luxurious bobbling mane, proving he’s head and shoulders above the competition. 

Did you know that the chicken tender, humble yet beloved, was invented at a restaurant in Manchester, N.H.? The New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Double-A TOR), seeking to convey this message to the world, will play as the -- you guessed it -- Manchester Chicken Tenders.

"Bull Durham," directed by former Minor Leaguer Ron Shelton, put the Durham Bulls (Triple-A TB) on the map. The team stages its annual tribute to this cinematic classic, in which no lollygagging will be tolerated. But that’s not all: The Bulls’ new bat dog, Champ, will be in attendance. Champ replaces his older brother, Ripken, who unexpectedly passed away in January.

On the topic of International League bat dog debuts: Bruce is ready to take the field for the Rochester Red Wings (Triple-A WSH). Go get 'em, Bruce.

April 6: The Erie SeaWolves (Double-A DET) seem to wear a different jersey every day of the week (seriously, check their promo calendar). Sunday is their first “Fauxback Fun Day” of the season, in which they don unis “inspired by vintage baseball and classic animation.” 

Carl Maxey made his mark as both a boxer and civil rights lawyer. The Spokane Indians (High-A COL) pay tribute to his legacy by playing as the King Carls.

April 7: It’s a Monday, Minor League Baseball’s universal off day. Take a break, listen to MiLB.com’s The Show Before the Show podcast.

April 8: You don’t just want Moore. You need Moore. The Rocket City Trash Pandas (Double-A LAA) have Moore. First 1,500 fans through the gates receive a Christian Moore bobblehead. Moore, the No.1 prospect in the Angels organization, has started the year with Rocket City.

April 9: The Portland Sea Dogs (Double-A BOS) play in Red Sox Country and have served as a Boston affiliate for most of their existence. However! The team was a Marlins affiliate for the first nine seasons of its existence (1994-2002); on Wednesdays, the Sea Dogs wear teal throwback uniforms. Last season one of the players who wore this uniform was, appropriately, Kyle Teel-- since traded to the White Sox organization, where he sometimes wears a slightly bluer shade of teal as a member of the Triple-A Charlotte Knights. But even without Teel, the Sea Dogs are carrying on with the zeal for teal.

Slider, bat dog for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (High-A CHC), turns eight years old (56 in dog years). The Pelicans are throwing him a party. 

April 10: Are you a fan of the illicit production and transport of alcohol? If so, the Bowling Green Bootleggers are for you. The team normally known as the Bowling Green Hot Rods (High-A TB) plays as such every Thursday home game. It’s a barrel of fun. 

The Columbia Fireflies (Single-A KC) play as the Carolina Grits, taking on "an opposing food identity." Their opponent that evening is the Charleston RiverDogs. Might they suit up as the Boiled Peanuts?

Finally, we return to the (Huntsville-area) Rocket City Trash Pandas. They’ll wear specialty anime jerseys, featuring a wordmark that reads "Trash Pandas" in Japanese. But that’s not all! It’s also "Take Meow’t to the Ballgame." Bring your (presumably anime loving) cat to the ballgame; hopefully it won’t make a feline for the exits.  

This is Josh Jackson, temporarily pulling Ben off the air. You know me as the host of Ghosts of the Minors, the segment on The Show Before The Show podcast that asks you to spot the real historical Minor League Baseball team or player hiding among a pair of phonies.

Last time, we got into the nitty gritty with the Newport Pearl Diggers. This week, I ask which of players was always looking for a solution in the Minors of yesteryear?

1. Chase Riddle
2. Hunter Puzzel
3. Holden Enigma

For the answer, tune into the next Ghosts of the Minors!

Last week, you may have noticed that the Hartford Yard Goats unveiled a truly absurd new concession item: 

That’s the Float Your Goat, a "quarter pound all-beef hot dog with chopped peppers, onions, bacon and brown mustard submerged in a glass of 100 percent whole milk."

Or at least that was the Float Your Goat. The Float Your Goat no longer exists. If it ever existed. Who’s to say?

READ ABOUT HARTFORD’S CONCESSIONS (REAL AND FAKE) HERE

I’ve been in a reflective mood as of late, thinking of all the experiences I’ve had at Minor League ballparks over the past 15 years. Wondering how to bring the sort of energy I had in the “early days,” or some approximation of it, to 2025. Wondering how best to tell these stories going forward. Wondering how to tell my story going forward, the story of converting a gig writing game recaps into a job filled with experiences like this. In short, here’s a random little Ohio vignette, edited for the purposes of this brief appearance:

I spent part of the evening in the dunk tank. $1 buys a fan two throws. A kid from the nearby town of Solon, wearing a T-shirt with the name “Heckman” across the shoulders, was relentless. He must have spent at least $15 at the tank, and knocked me into the water again and again and again. “What the heck, man?” was my go-to line as I climbed onto the perch.
...
Upon leaving the dunk tank, I threw on my shoes and was immediately escorted to the top of the first-base dugout for the nightly “Pie an Intern” contest. Usually this is preceded by some sort of trivia contest before the inevitable pie-ing, but time was short so on-field MC Calvin Funkhouser simply told the young contestant to “Go ahead and hit him with a pie.”

And so he did. As soon as I'd cleaned it out of my eyes, I was turned around and put face to face with that menacing triumvirate of young men in Luchador masks. Then, I was hit with a pie again.

The season’s here. Let’s enjoy it. Road trip schedules are, yes, coming soon. Thank you for reading. I appreciate you. Get in touch anytime: benjamin.hill@mlb.com.

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