Courtney Pong and a "play ball" kid

If you’re a baseball fan but have never been to a minor league game, you don’t know what you’re missing. It’s not just another day at the ball yard. It’s the “show within the show” that makes minor league ball such great family entertainment.

Minor league teams don’t have the luxury of featuring star players that fans can follow year after year. They’re developing talent for the big leagues, and most players are with a team only about one year. San Jose Giants fans have already seen several star players, like Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner, promoted during the 2009 season.

So there’s a lot going on at the ballpark to keep kids and their parents interested when the action stops. In San Jose, kids take the field between innings to dance for their dinner or race the mascot, while adults play human tug-of-war, chip a golf ball into a bucket, or scramble blindfolded for money. There’s also a gorilla mascot, “Gigante,” who dances on the field and mingles with fans in the stands.

Two people keep these antics lively and under control: public address announcer Russ Call and on-field host Courtney Pong.

Call, in his 14th season with the Giants, likens his job to a disc jockey or circus ringmaster. He announces the promotion, plays the music and sound effects, and keeps track of time so the event doesn’t run into the game itself.

“We do a lot of creativity on demand,” Call says. “Sometimes the pressure’s on that gets a little much, and we snap at each other. I try to let those things go. If you hang on to them it’ll take away the enjoyment of going to the ballpark. You do it, you get through it, and you make sure the people in the crowd don’t know the stress you’re going through.”

Call tries to introduce the promotion quickly and get it down to the field where Pong takes over. Pong is in her third year as on-field host, a job she got while working for a local improvisational comedy group.

“They needed someone who could improvise and deal with change right away,” Pong says. “But we’ve learned how to spend time with kids and make them comfortable so when it’s time to get on the field they’re so comfortable with you then they’ve lost all those fears.”

Next time: a description and slideshow of some favorite San Jose Giants promotions that make minor league baseball a unique family experience.