To those of you following on Twitter, this blog probably feels a little ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’. To our new friends and followers in Erie, that’s one of our weirder British idioms – there are a lot and you’ll get used to them. It means, ‘hey, John didn’t pull his finger out yet’; the derivation is irrelevant but there’s pageantry, gold carriages and feathery hats involved so perhaps it’s something you guys might adopt.
I dunno, maybe Logan Watkins is hacking through everything today?
‘Logan’s struggling to pick the ball up today, his bat’s arrival is basically after the Lord Mayor’s Show’.
Does this even parse?
Anyway, the SeaWolves are based in the town on Erie, PA on the shores of Lake Erie. Not to be confused with Eerie, IA which is a semi-fictionalised town from a poor quality mid-90s children’s sci-fi serial. The metropolitan area has a population of almost 275,000 and the City is located in between Cleveland and Pennsylvania; though the SeaWolves ball club is part of the Detroit Tigers family as their AA affiliate.
It’s on a lake, obviously – Lake Erie – and is home to the glorious Victorian flagship USS Niagara. John feels duty bound to mention the fact that his Lake District heritage had no sway on the vote, and also that he’s impressed they can fit ‘a real boat’ on Erie; his childhood diet of pleasure craft in what amount to hillside puddles and spitoons means he’s a mite jealous.
The ball club play at the delightful 6000 seater UPMC Park in the heart of the city. According to PeTA, the park is vegetarian friendly, which is flipping good to know if you like falafel as much as John does.
The club is off to a hot start, currently sitting half a game back of first place in the Eastern League Western Division’s standings with a 7-4 record. They’re in Altoona right now, but back in Erie this Friday to take on fellow UK MiLB hopefuls Binghamton (they of two British players, but no strategy).
Outfielder Mike Gerber won last year’s Eastern League Gold Glove in his position and picks that up next week. The team also boasts two of Keith Law’s Top 10 Tigers prospects in OF Christin Stewart and LHP Tyler Alexander so we’ve picked well from a ‘ones to watch’ point of view too. RHP Joe Jimenez, who recently joined the Tigers pen for a cup of coffee, started the year in Erie but was optioned back to AAA Toledo.
The Binghamton series includes a couple of games at sociable hours including:
- Saturday 9pm
- Sunday 6.35pm
Better top up your MLB.TV subscription to include MiLB.TV and get acquainted with the dulcet tones of Seawolves broadcaster, Greg Gania.
If you did follow on social media, you’ll know that the ‘Wolves have fully embraced their new status and worked hard to secure the crown. They’ve probably already invited the Queen to throw the first pitch on their forthcoming British night…
We’ve already reached out to the Front Office team and here’s what we know already:
- The SeaWolves were genuinely delighted to win the accolade and really are taken aback by the support they’re already getting from the UK;
- They’re listening to our demands for merch! Their Merch Director is already looking into an affordable shipping solution which sees the streets of the UK, from Skegness to Speyside, awash with Wolfie hats;
- GM Greg Coleman is set to appear on our next podcast, due this weekend;
- We’re working with the guys to provide more content across the year and they’re already plotting on how they capitalise on this locally and internationally.
All in all they’re brilliant sports, showing the best of the Minor Leagues already in the week they’ve been involved in the competition and since.
Watch this space!