He slammed his finger to end the call and tossed the cell phone onto the recliner of his spartan one bedroom apartment in downtown Sacramento. Two days previous, he received the go-ahead from the league office to move California's double A affiliate from Compton to his hometown of Bismarck, North Dakota -- a personal request he made to team owner, Brian Dyer Jr..
Bismarck was once a place of rich baseball history. It was a bastion of the American baseball spirit. Unfortunately, the backwards organization in Mexico City knew nothing of Bismarck's place in the pantheon of baseball. It treated Bismarck as a hic town of little consequence, going so far as to nickname the team Pioneers, as if that was all Bismarck represented.
"Pioneers ... ," Shoeless grumbled under his breath. "Geez, Satchel Paige played there. 'Double Duty' Radcliffe played there. Countless men who played the game purely out of love found their way to Bismarck."
He opened up a cabinet in the kitchen and removed a tumbler.
"It's time to bring some class back to Bismarck. It's time for the Churchills to make their return."
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Details: Satchel Paige Park, neutral dimensions
