Puckett, and Mike Schmidt, has been rebranded as the Prospect League, adding four teams to the league that now reaches from Missouri to western Pennsylvania.

If all that isn’t excitement enough, Springfield hosts the Prospect League All Star Game on Wednesday, July 15. All Monday through Saturday games begin at 6:35 p.m.; games on Sunday start at 5:05 p.m. Tickets purchased at the box office range from $6 to $8; season tickets are also available. For more information about ticket pricing, schedules and promotions, call 679-3511 or visit www.springfieldsliders.com.

One of the coolest things about Springfield is the city’s embrace of pluralism, electing mayors and governors from both sides of the political aisle and agreeing to disagree about who sells the best pizza pie, or for that matter, horseshoe.

Baseball is no exception. Loyalties of capital city denizens are split fairly evenly among the three nearby MLB clubs — the National League’s Central Division rivals Cardinals and Cubs, and the American League’s White Sox. Any of these storied franchises would be worth a quick weekend jaunt for a day at the ballpark, but the summer also offers several opportunities to catch a contest between these rivals.

The Cardinals-Cubs rivalry — in the sense that the Hatfield-McCoy feud was a rivalry — dates back to the days of baseball’s infancy when several St. Louis clubs, including Cardinals precursors the Brown Stockings, were routinely battered by the Chicago White Stockings, which eventually became the Cubs. One contest between the teams ended in a riot. If you can score tickets, the Cardinals play the Cubs at Wrigley Field July 10-12, going into the All-Star Game. This year, the Gateway City will host the All-Star game and festivities for the first time since 1966 (good luck getting tix to that). The teams meet for the last time at Busch Stadium for a threegame set Sept. 18-20.

White Sox-Cubs hatred can be attributed to the South Side v. North Side beef that permeates much of Windy City life, but really started around the turn of the 20th century when the Sox moved to town. This was to the displeasure of the Cubs owner, who unsuccessfully attempted to block the new American League from operating in the city. Since MLB recommenced interleague play, the two teams play a three-game series each year. The first takes place at Wrigley on July 16-18; the south side matchup goes down at U.S. Cellular Field the following week, July 26-28.

Check www.mlb.com for schedules and links to each team’s homepage.

Contact R.L. Nave at [email protected].