Well, personally, I feel more sense of loss from the minor league contraction plan than from the 2020 shutdown.
The shutdown is temporary, in response to a crisis. The wholesale permanent elimination of affiliated minor league teams, for nothing but cost-saving reasons - and modest cost-savings, given overall MLB organization budget, is much more offensive.
The first minor-league game I attended - in 1971 - was in Williamsport, at Bowman Field. A carload of us - 17- and 18-year-olds - took a 90-minute drive from western Snyder County to Williamsport, to see the Oneonta Yankees play... because the starting pitcher that day was Rob Arnold, a 1971 West Snyder HS graduate and a personal friend to us all.
The most recent minor-league game I attended - in 2019 - was in Williamsport, at Bowman Field (now called something longer, incorporating the name of a bank - ugh.), to see Phillies prospect play.
The Williamsport franchise is slated for destruction.
Now, my wife and I have access to minor-league ball (when it returns) - in Trenton, in Lakewood, in Reading (and Atlantic League ball in Lancaster, given an in-law living in Lititz!). But the summer nights in Williamsport - a short drive from our summer place - have been something of a highlight; an opportunity to see some of the Phils' newest prospects... and of course, nostalgic for me, harking back to the summer of 1971.
