Swing along with Mitch

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Bill Veeck, the late Hall of Fame club owner, is the baseball smart guy who said, 'Winning is the best promotion.'

Mitch Hilligoss might be second best. Of all the nutty publicity schemes Bill's son Mike Veeck has hatched while running the Class A Charleston RiverDogs over the last decade, the 21-year-old third baseman ranks right up there.

Somewhere between National Laundry Day and Two Dead Fat Guys Night.

At least.

Hilligoss with dramatic flair Wednesday

night at Riley Park established a new South Atlantic League hitting streak,

dropping a surprising and sweet lead-off

bunt down the third-base line in the seventh inning of Charleston's 8-7 loss to the Columbus Catfish.

That's 36 games and counting toward

the next significant target, Joe DiMaggio's

minor league record streak of 61 games set with his hometown San Francisco Seals in 1933.

Say it's so, Mitch.

True, only 2,658 people showed up to watch, a notch below the record-setting

pace that gives the RiverDogs an average

home attendance of 4,148.

But it was a school night following Memorial Day weekend, traditionally a slumpy time for baseball turnstiles. Lots of book reports were due this morning.

Without Hilligoss, who knows?

Surely, a bunch of curiosity seekers, bandwagon jumpers, groupies and other fellow travelers bought tickets

Swing along with Mitch

motivated by Hilligoss' assault on history.

Bill Murray, too

Bill Murray, for instance. The great comic actor and RiverDogs' co-owner was at The Joe on Tuesday night to see Hilligoss tie the SAL hit streak Greensboro's Scott Seabol set in 1999.

Murray was back Wednesday night watching the pride of Windsor, Ill., Mighty Mitch Hilligoss, and between-innings Sumo wrestling from a second-row box seat. He jumped from his seat, raised both hands in the air and joined in with the standing ovation after Hilligoss broke the record.

'This is a great promotion,' RiverDogs General Manager Dave Echols said. 'Sure, this is one of those we came up with in January.'

Pre-planned or not, no other minor league baseball team in America has been able to match it so far this season.

Evidence is available on the official major league baseball Web site, which rates the 'top 10 promotions' in the minors for the upcoming week.

Actual samples:

Yankee-Red Sox Rivalry Night (New Britain Rock Cats). Been there, done that. The RiverDogs came up with the idea way back on Opening Night when Charleston's Yankee prospects defeated Greenville's Red Sox farmhands.

Boog Powell Appearance (Rochester Red Wings). Boog was a rather dangerous Baltimore Orioles slugger but even a man his size doesn't equal both Hilligoss and Bill Murray.

Bat men

Appearance by Steve MacDonald, The World's Strongest Man (Syracuse Chiefs). Come now, is he really the world's strongest man? And if it's controversy you want, the Hilligoss Streak chimes in (as virtually all hit streaks do) with a May 19 error changed to a hit after consultation with both teams.

Steve Sax Appearance (Rancho Cucamonga Quakes). Sure. You know, the former Los Angeles Dodger second baseman. Hilligoss, by the way, played second base among other positions during his days as an Agriculture major at Purdue.

Mr. Celery T-Shirt Giveaway (Wilmington Blue Rocks). Well, OK, that's hard to top.

Adam West Appearance (Myrtle Beach Pelicans). That's right, the original TV series 'Batman.' The Caped Crusader himself.

Of course, we know the real Bat Man of the '07 baseball season and he doesn't play in Myrtle Beach.

Reach Gene Sapakoff at gsapakoff@postandcourier.com.