BASEBALL'S BOUNTY

The affiliated minor leagues are shrinking, but that doesn’t mean competitive baseball is going away

- J.J. COOPER

I know I’m lucky. I have spent nearly two decades immersed in baseball every day while working for Baseball America.

I’m convinced I wouldn’t have gotten this opportunity without spending years down on the farm.

In my first job out of college, I was a sportswriter for the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph.

One of the best assignments I had was the chance to cover the Macon Braves, Atlanta’s low-class A affiliate in the South Atlantic League from 1991 to 2002. Future Braves Andruw Jones, Rafael Furcal and Jason Marquis played for Macon during my tenure. So did a steady stream of great minor leaguers who taught me that not all Class A stars go on to further success.

Being a 20-something watching baseball daily was formative. I don’t think I’d be at BA without spending 70 nights a year in a musty press box that hung from the roof of 60-year old Luther Williams Field.

And then, the team was gone. Just as I was getting ready to leave Macon for BA, the Braves moved upstate to Rome, Ga.

This offseason, a lot of cities and fans are getting ready to go through what fans in Macon went through nearly 20 years ago. The Appalachian League, which had operated at the Rookie-level since 1963, has already announced that it’s going to be a summer college wood bat league next year. Other leagues will almost assuredly follow suit. More than 40 clubs are expected to be dropped from affiliated ball as part of Major League Baseball’s plan to reorganize the minor leagues.