May 19, 2020 4 min read

Gregg Langbehn planned to be in Washington on Tuesday to fill out his lineup card, throw batting practice to hitters and watch the Wild Things’ home opener against the Quebec Capitales, one of the Frontier League’s new teams, from his familiar spot in the first-base dugout.

Instead, Langbehn, who is entering his fifth season as the Wild Things’ manager, was at his home in Wisconsin. The only batting practice he was throwing was to his son, Nate, in a municipal park.

Wild Things Park, meanwhile, was quiet, except for the noise from strong wind gusts that whipped across the field. The expanded Frontier League announced on April 1 that its season was being delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

So, instead of being in Washington for spring training at the start of May, Langbehn was painting the interior of his house and doing some landscaping – the kind of endeavors that don’t get started when you’re away from home for four months every summer.

“I’ve done a lot of yard work and home projects,” Langbehn said. “I’ve just been waiting.”

Everybody in the sports world, with the exception of NASCAR drivers and some UFC fighters, has been playing the waiting game for months. And those in the Frontier League – baseball’s oldest and largest independent league – can’t wait to get back to work and games. Nobody knows when that will be, but it didn’t stop Wild Things general manager Tony Buccilli from thinking about what the home opener might have been like for him.

“There would have been so many things to worry about,” Buccilli said. “I would have been in charge of the full team introductions before the game. I would have had to make sure the timing was right. There would have been the timeline for when the gates open to when we start the pregame reads and video stuff, who we were recognizing in pregame ceremonies, the giveaways that are usually magnet schedules on opening day, all the logistical stuff, would our (between-innings entertainment) be able to pull it all off? You worry about everything. The speakers, will they work?

“You try to chase perfection, but you realize you have no chance to achieve it. You have months and months to prepare but you can’t predict what will go wrong on opening day. You just have to adjust on the fly.”

That is what the Frontier League will do if approval is given for ballparks to open and baseball to start. Buccilli believes a clearer picture of when, or if, that will happen is coming soon.

“We’re going to know by the end of the month where teams stand,” Buccilli said. “The situations in New York, Illinois and Canada are different than here or in Ohio and Indiana.

“Teams still see playing as feasible. We have a plan. I see some stores are open and I think they would have more interactions than we would. The governor and his staff said they would have some guidelines for us this week.

“We have no hard deadlines. We know we can make it work. Morale-wise, I think we need to play, even if there are only 500 people allowed in the park. People are going to need an outlet, a place to sit outside in the summer. … We’re just waiting for local and state officials to gives us the OK. The last thing we would want to do is risk anyone’s health, but we’re confident in our plan.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tuesday that border restrictions will stay in effect through June 21. Two of the Frontier League’s new teams – Quebec and Trois-Rivieres – are located in Canada.

Until baseball resumes, Buccilli will have to settle for days like Monday, when he went to the ballpark to do some work.

“I spent three hours there. I even turned the music on in the park,” he said.