Benjamin Hill travels the nation collecting stories about what makes Minor League Baseball unique. This excerpt from the Baseball Traveler newsletter, presented by Circle K, is a mere taste of the smorgasbord of delights he offers every week. Read the full newsletter here, and subscribe to his newsletter here.
The men and women who work in Minor League front offices have no control over the product on the field -- those decisions are the made by the Major League parent club -- but it still means something when your team wins a championship. Especially when it's been a while.
It had certainly been a while for the Reading Fightin Phils and Rochester Red Wings, who hadn't won it all since 1995 and 1997, respectively. Both teams broke long championship droughts that, nonetheless, weren't as long as the tenure of their general managers. Those veteran executives, Rochester's Dan Mason and Reading's Scott Hunsicker, took the time to reflect on what winning a long-overdue title meant to them.
As Red Wings GM Mason drove from Buffalo back home to Rochester on the evening of Sept. 20, there was one thought in the forefront of his mind: Don’t get pulled over.
"I didn't drink at all, but I definitely smelled like that sweet combination of beer and champagne," he said. "I just wish everybody in Minor League Baseball got to experience it."
Mason, as well as a couple hundred diehard Red Wings fans, had made the trip to Buffalo to see their team take on the Bisons on the make-or-break final day of the regular season. The Red Wings triumphed, 15-8, clinching the second-half International League title in the process.
Following the champagne celebration in which Mason took part, the Red Wings traveled to Memphis and defeated the RedBirds in a best-of-3 series. For the first time since 1997, the International League title was theirs.
"It feels incredible every day. I still pinch myself," said Mason. "Very gratifying for our staff and obviously our manager, Matt LeCroy, and the players."
Rochester didn't host a single playoff game, but the team hosted a celebratory event at their home of ESL Ballpark following the title run.
"I thought we would have maybe 200, 300 people here," said Mason. "We had over 1,000, and I think that goes to show you how much the Wings mean to Rochester and winning means to our fans. It's a little more important here, maybe, than in a lot of other markets because of our long and storied history."
Indeed, the Red Wings are the Minor Leagues' oldest continually operating club. They were established in 1899 and have won 20 championships overall (one each in the 19th and 21st centuries, 18 in the 20th century). When the Red Wings last won it all, in 1997, Mason was in his eighth season with the team and third as general manager. That year's squad, an Orioles affiliate, went 80-61 under the leadership of manager Marv Foli.
"That was our first year at ESL Ballpark, so everything was new," he said. "I could not have written a better script: New ballpark, record attendance, some amazing nights at the ballpark and the city was so locked in on Red Wings baseball.”
Mason called the '97 club "a close-knit group" and said the same was true of the '26 team, which came a game shy of winning the International League's first-half title before triumphing in the second half. They lost key contributors to Major League callups and trades, as every Triple-A team does, but continued to find ways to win.
"Max Romero Jr. and Leandro Pineda were guys that came up from Double-A and just didn't skip a beat," said Mason. "Caden Wallace, right? Cortland Lawson came off the bench in Game 3 in Memphis and ended up getting the game-winning RBI. He'll forever be etched in the history books of Red Wings baseball.
"Our players wanted to win, and it was a big deal for the organization to put a winning product on the field this year. And that's exactly what they did."
"I didn't play, so it's always weird when someone says, 'Congratulations on winning the championship,'" said Reading Fightin Phils general manager Hunsicker. "Because you feel like, in all humility, 'I didn't win the championship. They [the players] did.'"
Those players, the 2026 Fightin Phils, swept the Erie SeaWolves in the best-of-3 Eastern League Finals. They won it at home on Sept. 22; a sixth-inning grand slam by catcher Caleb Ricketts broke a 3-3 tie, leading to an eventual 13-4 blowout win.
"When he hit the grand slam, the roof blew off the place. It felt like there was 10,000 people here," said Hunsicker. "I was actually amazed by the depth that it mattered to the fans. Like people hugging each other and crying, and I think that's because we hadn’t won it for so long.
"No. 1, not every team that you would be interviewing right now for winning a championship even existed in 1995, let alone has been in the same stadium since 1950 and [affiliated] with the Phillies since 1967."
Hunsicker has worked for the franchise since 1992 and served as the GM since 2007. When Reading last won the Eastern League, in 1995, he was the director of group sales (a fact he had to confirm by looking at the job title engraved on his championship ring).
"Seventeen guys from that team made it to the big leagues. Scott Rolen obviously had a Hall of Fame career, but it wasn't all household names," he said. "In 1995, I was 25 years old, so I was kind of the same age as the players. I kind of felt it differently. Now I'm like an old hat and my kids are their age, so it was interesting to see it from two different lenses."
The 2026 Reading Fightin Phils were managed by baseball lifer Al Pedrique and featured three of MLB Pipeline's Top 100 Prospects: pitcher Gage Wood (No. 30), shortstop Aidan Miller (No. 59) and outfielder Bryan Rincon (No. 96). When this talented squad won the title, Hunsicker's thoughts turned to the Reading baseball mainstays who have been with the team for decades. These included ushers, ticket takers and other members of the gameday staff, groundskeeper Dan 'Dirt' Douglas (an employee since 1991) and director of baseball operations Kevin 'Skrep' Sklenarik.
"He got here in 1996, so the year after we won. We were all wearing 'Win One For Skrep' T-shirts," said Hunsicker. "He's the guy that executes all the player moves, all the decisions the Phillies make over the course of the season. I think we had 73 players this year, 165 player moves."
Seventy-three players, 165 transactions, one championship. Finally, Reading was once again able to celebrate like it was 1995.
"My takeaway," said Hunsicker, "is that I'm a lot older now than I was then."