Minor players, major dreams

Brett Mandel, tired of his nine-to-five job, dreamed of a life of baseball instead: not merely as a spectator, not in weekend pickup games, but in professional baseball. Unlike millions of other dreamers, he made it happen. In 1994, he convinced the newly formed Ogden (Utah) Raptors of the Pioneer League to allow him to join the team and write a book about the minor league experience - and the Raptors' first year in baseball. The Pioneer League is a rookie league, Designed for first-year professionals, fresh from college - or even younger. It is the first step many take toward the major-league career that will open to very few. Most are destined to last only a brief moment, but that moment is full of promise and was particularly so for the Ogden Raptors, a new team for a city that had a proud baseball heritage but had been without a team in recent years. Minor Players, Major Dreams is a wonderful insider's view of the low minors. And the young men chasing dreams as big as the skies they play under in Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Alberta.