The sharp crack of wood against packed leather reverberated through Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine, as New Hampshire Fisher Cats second baseman Bradley Emaus smacked a foul ball into the leftfield stands.

“I love that sound,” remarked a fan in one of the stadium’s 7,368 seats, on hand to see the Cats take on their division rival Portland Sea Dogs. 

As right-handed pitcher Jarod Plummer gazed in toward home plate, leadoff hitter Adam Calderone took a few steps off first base. Calderone had reached when Plummer hit him with a pitch to open the game, and now he was looking to swipe second. When Plummer wound up to deliver his next pitch, Calderone dug his cleats into the dirt and took off, sliding in safely beneath the tag.

Emaus then lofted a fly ball toward the gap in right field. Sea Dogs fans cringed, thinking it would fall in for a hit and score Calderone for the game’s first run. But right fielder Reid Engel made a graceful sliding catch that sent Calderone scampering back to second base. The next batter grounded out, advancing Calderone to third, and a subsequent walk put runners on the corners. But Plummer hunkered down and induced an inning-ending grounder to escape the top of the first unscathed.

That tense half-inning included many of baseball’s trademark dramas—the stolen base, the long fly ball, the diving catch. Every pitch subtly changes the dynamic of the game, putting batters ahead or behind in the count, shifting strategies and intensifying the silent head games between hitter and pitcher. Each sound that rings through the grassy stadium—every slap of the bat and cheer from the crowd—evokes the timeless allure of a great American tradition.

The Sea Dogs and Fisher Cats are both Double-A Minor League teams in the Eastern League’s northern division. Both teams are affiliates of Major League clubs, the Sea Dogs with the Boston Red Sox and the Fisher Cats with the Toronto Blue Jays. With the Fischer Cats stadium in Manchester and the Sea Dogs playing in Portland, both teams are within a one-hour drive from Portsmouth.

The Cats and Dogs will duke it out a total of 24 times over the course of the 2009 season, while also competing with division foes the Trenton Thunder (N.Y. Yankees affiliate), the Connecticut Defenders (S.F. Giants), the New Britain Rock Cats (Minn. Twins), and the Binghamton Mets (N.Y. Mets). Young players in each contest will put their best efforts forward as they labor to realize their Big League aspirations.

“At this level, these guys are just trying to achieve their dreams, so their hungry, passionate,” said Sea Dogs assistant general manager Chris Cameron. “They certainly haven’t been affected by money or fame. It’s just baseball at its purest form.”

Fisher Cats spokesman Mike Murphy shared similar observations. “You definitely see a level of heart and hustle, because they’re not there yet,” he said. “The perception of fans is (that) a lot of the major leaguers aren’t hustling.”

New Englanders can relate to that perception after watching Manny Ramirez jog out groundballs for almost eight years on the Red Sox. You won’t see that lackadaisical attitude in Portland. Most minor leaguers are still motivated by their love of the game and their desire to advance. With the exception of high draft picks who receive big signing bonuses, most minor leaguers make very little money, and the vast majority are completely unknown to the general public.

But that can change quickly. It was on Hadlock Field in Portland, after all, that reigning American League MVP Dustin Pedroia cut his teeth before becoming the Red Sox starting second basemen in 2007. Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis, who came in third in last year’s MVP voting, also played here. So did center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, shortstop Jed Lowrie, starting pitcher Jon Lester, closer Jonathan Papelbon and reliever Justin Masterson. Daniel Bard, who is known to break the 100 mph mark with his blistering fastballs, played for the Sea Dogs last season before joining the Sox bullpen this year. Even ace Josh Beckett spent time with the Sea Dogs back when the team was a Florida Marlins affiliate in 2001.

The Fisher Cats, too, can boast some stars among their former ranks. Take Aaron Hill, the Blue Jays second basemen, who is likely to edge Pedroia for a starting spot in the All Star Game. Then there’s Blue Jays outfielder Adam Lind, who won MVP of the Double-A Eastern League in 2006.

So who will be the next minor leaguer to achieve Major League stardom? Will it be Sea Dogs first baseman Lars Anderson, one of the Red Sox’s top prospects, or outfielder Aaron Bates, Portland’s best current hitter? Or could it be Fisher Cats first baseman David Cooper, a first round draft pick for the Blue Jays? Perhaps Sea Dogs hurler Junichi “Taz” Tazawa, a native of Japan in his first professional season, is a future Cy Young Award winner.

As Chris Cameron explains, you never know who’s going to emerge as a star. Although Pedroia was a solid player for the Sea Dogs, he said, no one imagined he would go on to win Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in his first two seasons with the Sox. Fans who follow the minors often make a hobby of “guessing which minor league players are gonna be the next big thing,” Cameron said.

Every Major League team has an extensive farm system with numerous Minor League affiliates, including Single-, Double- and Triple-A clubs and rookie teams. But Mike Murphy called Double-A “the true prospect league.” Players on Single-A teams are still far removed from the majors, and Triple-A rosters often include veteran players who bounce back and forth between the majors and minors. Advancing from Single-A to Double-A is usually the most significant jump of a player’s Minor League career.

“Now it’s not very far. It is one injury away from being in the Major Leagues,” Murphy said.

Still, most minor leaguers never see a single pitch in the majors, and many of them tread the poverty line as they struggle to succeed. A number of notable Sea Dogs players, unable to afford their own homes, have relied on volunteer host families in Portland to provide housing. Jonathan Papelbon and Justin Masterson both formerly lived with host families.

Fortunately, there are plenty of families in Portland willing to house potential pro baseball stars. “We have more families that want to host a player than we have players available. It’s a nice problem to have,” Cameron said. 

The Sea Dogs and Fisher Cats both have 24-man rosters, but ongoing promotions, demotions and trades keep the lineups fluid. Scouts from various Major League teams frequently attend Double-A games as they prepare for the annual draft and trade deadline. Cameron said personnel from the Red Sox are regularly on hand in Portland. “That includes usually three or four visits from (Red Sox general manager) Theo Epstein,” he said.

Minor League games also occasionally feature established Big League stars who are rehabbing from injuries. “Big Papi” David Ortiz did a stint with the Sea Dogs last year as he recovered from a wrist injury. And three Blue Jays pitchers have already made starts for the Fisher Cats this year. (Since Toronto’s Triple-A team recently moved to Las Vegas, Manchester offers a rehabbing venue that is much closer to home.)

“Should the need arise, that’s one of the purposes of a Minor League baseball team, is to allow these players to rehab,” Cameron said.
Seeing star players perform in the smaller and more intimate setting of Double-A stadiums is a special treat for fans. Guests at Merchantsauto.com Stadium in Manchester were treated to a performance by Red Sox starter (and probable future Hall of Famer) John Smoltz on May 26. Smoltz, who is recovering from shoulder surgery and anticipates a mid-June debut for the Red Sox, threw 60 pitches for the Sea Dogs in a 5-1 win over the Fisher Cats.

That performance helped set a single-game attendance record of 8,903 fans at Merchantsauto.com Stadium. But while an appearance from someone with Smoltz’s star caliber is sure to sell extra tickets, Murphy said attendance levels have been on the rise since the stadium first opened in 2004. “The trend has been up every year since the team came in,” he said, noting that attendance jumped by 23 percent between 2006 and 2007.

In addition to setting a single-game attendance record in late May, the Fisher Cats also drew record numbers for a seven-game homestand (47,794) and for a three-game series against the Sea Dogs (22,619).

The economic crisis may actually be contributing to increased attendance at Minor League games. Fisher Cats tickets range from $6 to $12, with numerous multi-game packages and group deals. The stadium also offers all-you-can-eat buffets and nightly promotions for additional entertainment. “We do our best to keep things as affordable as can be,” Murphy said.

Average tickets at Boston’s 36,000-seat Fenway Park (relatively small, by Major League standards) range between $30 and $50, with dugout box seats going for as much as $325. Food and beer are also more expensive at Fenway than in Portland or Manchester, and Sox tickets are notoriously hard to come by.

In these penny-pinching times, Cameron noted, many baseball fans are looking for less expensive forms of entertainment that are closer to home. In Portland, Hadlock Field strives to replicate the Fenway experience on a smaller scale. The stadium includes the Maine Monster, a 37-foot replica of Fenway’s Green Monster, and even has a miniature replica of the Citgo sign and giant Coke bottle that tower over left field at Fenway.

The Sea Dogs began as a Florida Marlins affiliate in 1994 and switched to the Red Sox in 2003 (most Minor League affiliations come in two- or four-year agreements, after which teams can negotiate new affiliations). As in Manchester, the city owns the stadium while the Major League affiliate pays the salaries for players and coaches.

Merchantsauto.com Stadium is a full 10 years newer than Hadlock Field and has an overall showier vibe. There are two “party decks,” as well as the Samuel Adams Bar & Grill behind left field, where HD televisions broadcast the Red Sox and other games. Bob Dylan even performed at the stadium in 2006.

Both stadiums allow fans to get up close to the players. There’s really no such thing as a bad seat in Portland or Manchester, where all the seating is relatively close to the action. They’re also family-friendly venues with fewer obnoxious drunks than Fenway and several cuddly mascots. The Sea Dogs feature Slugger the Sea Dog and the Trash Monster (a furry, orange creature with a trash barrel mouth), and the Fisher Cats have Fungo and Slider. The Sea Dogs also offer a specialty snack, a chocolate chip cookie-ice cream sandwich known as a Sea Biscuit.

The Fisher Cats stadium was less than half full during a drizzly night game against the Sea Dogs in late May. But fans who stuck around until the end witnessed a dramatic victory by the home team. Adam Calderone hit a two-out, game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to propel the Cats past their rivals by a final score of 7-6.

The players on the field seemed oblivious to the sparse crowd as they sweated out every play. This is where no-name minor leaguers, most of them in their early- to mid-20s, make or break their baseball careers. “A lot of guys meet their match once they get to Double-A,” Murphy said.

But among the select few who make it here are the nascent superstars of Major League Baseball, and area fans have a unique opportunity to see them ascend.
 
Merchantsauto.com Stadium is at 1 Line Drive, Manchester, 603-641-2055, www.nhfishercats.com. Hadlock Field is at 271 Park Avenue, Portland, Maine, 207-879-9500, http://portland.seadogs.milb.com.