Getting to play on the big stage
As nearly everyone knows, the chances of a minor-league baseball player making it to the major leagues is slim. With more than 6,000 players in the minors and only 30 teams in the majors, the odds are quite long.
Since their debut in 1990, the Kane County Cougars have tutored about 100 players who have made it to the majors.
Tonight, though, 25 players on the Kane County Cougars and the Peoria Chiefs will be the envy of baseball dreamers everywhere as they become the first teams to play a minor-league game at Wrigley Field.
Wrigley, the home of Peoria's major-league affiliate, will host between 25,000-30,000 for the 7:05 p.m. game between the two Class-A teams from the Midwest League.
The Chiefs, managed by former Cubs second baseman and Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, will be the home team. The attendance will shatter the Midwest League record of 14,492.
Like most minor-leaguers, Cougars phenom Jemile Weeks has not played before this kind of crowd. "The bigger the crowd, the more intense the atmosphere will be," he said.
Weeks, a first-round pick by the Oakland Athletics, the major-league affiliate of the Cougars, received a $1.9 million signing bonus. He has only been with the Cougars for a few weeks but is definitely one of the players who might get his chance to play in more big-league parks some day.
"I just want to play on one on a regular basis," said Weeks, the younger brother of the Milwaukee Brewers' Rickie Weeks. "We'll just take all of this in. It's one day. They've never done anything like this before, so it's something we are all looking forward to. Hopefully most of us will make it (to the big leagues)."
Even though the event will be played in a major-league park, it will have all the attractions featured at a minor-league game, including middle-inning entertainment such as Birdzerk and the ZOOperstars. Children younger than 14 also can run the bases after the game.
The players participating, of course, don't make as much as the pros who ply their trade at Wrigley. The average salary of a minor-league player is $1,100 a month. The average major-leaguer makes $3,000,000 a year.
But salaries won't be on the minds of anyone tonight. The experience of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play at the 94-year-old ballpark will be foremost on their minds, not just for the players but everyone involved.
"It will be a treat for all of us," Sandberg said a few weeks ago when the Chiefs played the Cougars in Geneva. "I think it will provide a lot of inspiration to all these players and what it could mean for them down the road."
Cougars manager Aaron Nieckula agrees. He once was one of those players who aspired to be in the majors. The former catcher was drafted by the A's and reached Triple-A before calling it quits as a player in 2002. The experience tonight will be a dream for him, not only as a former player but as a manager and a Cubs fan, despite coaching in the Oakland farm system.
"Ever since I was a little kid, I've dreamt of playing for the Cubs and playing at Wrigley Field, so this is kind of the next-best thing, to manage a game," Nieckula said. "It's going to be a neat experience."