THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: To this Fresno fan, trimming the minors would be a MAJOR mistake

So now minor league baseball is on the chopping block.

Not just for this “maybe” half-season, but earmarked for selective amputation even when the sport returns to normal.

This matters to me.

Not just because of Spokane, even though ripping a team away there would be heartbreaking for generations of fans across the Inland Northwest.

There’s more.

Let me tell you a story…

I’ve mentioned before that I grew up in the suburbs of San Francisco.

But that’s not where I fell in love with watching baseball.

Back before the Giants ever came to the Bay Area, even further back — when I was 10, 11, 12 years old, I spent a couple of weeks every summer with my aunt and uncle in Fresno.

They were fun people, so it was always a grand time.

Among other delights, they belonged to a club called Fort Washington that had a swimming pool — which was nothing short of delicious in the July heat of the San Joaquin Valley.

THE BEST part of these trips, though, had to do with where they lived.

The address was 1939 Cambridge Ave., which probably doesn’t mean much to you.

It surely did to me, though.

From their front door, it was an easy walk across the street, past a couple buildings belonging (I think) to an adult extension school, and then just across a dirt parking lot to heaven.

Yes, paradise in those days was then called Fresno State College Park (later John Euless Park), and it was home to the mighty Fresno Cardinals — a Class C affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals (what now would be considered Class A).

My trips to Fresno were always planned around the Cards’ homestands, and night after night I’d traipse across Cambridge and go see my heroes.

Third baseman Benny Valenzuela was my favorite, although I wavered when the club brought in an acrobatic second baseman named Ronny Camacho.

Benny hit .354 in 1955, but to give you an idea how tough competition was with just 16 major league teams, he ultimately managed just 14 at-bats in The Show.

I still have an autograph book with most of the Cards’ signatures from 1955 and ’56.

The players were generally in the right mood to sign, since the ’55 team was one of the best ever (104-43) in minor league baseball.

The Cardinals set California League records for winning percentage (.707) — along with runs, hits and RBIs — despite managing only 105 home runs in that ballpark with a towering left-field fence.

In 1956, Fresno rolled again (91-49) against our natural enemies from up and down the Valley.

My relatives taught me early to enjoy wins against hated Bakersfield, which came laughably often.

One night, I tried to get a couple of autographs from some Bakersfield players and they stiffed me — two 21-year-old nobodies who were home working in body shops in no time at all.

My uncle was outraged at their conduct, nonetheless, and called a well-known Fresno radio talk show, where the Bakersfield players were thoroughly skewered.

I liked it.

Hey, it was Bakersfield.

And we were Fresno, which was a looking-down-the-nose thing that still exists today — and not just in baseball.

ALL THIS is on my mind now, as we’ve already discussed, because of MLB’s decision to cancel all minor leagues during this weird, frightening year.

I’d feel slightly better about this if the minors were going to roar back to life as soon as the coronavirus pandemic has run its course.

Unfortunately, it’s no secret that MLB hopes to slash the minors by one-quarter, at the very least.

Among other things, we don’t know the fate of the Spokane Indians, a proud franchise with a long and colorful history — in other words, a team that NEVER should be considered for elimination from organized baseball.

MLB made the first step toward contracting the minors in June, cutting the draft to just five rounds.

FIVE!

You have to wonder how player development possibly can work under any of the proposed new arrangements.

Independent leagues?

Supervised programs in Arizona and Florida each spring and fall?

What?

Besides the serious business of hopefully preparing players for the big time, minor league baseball has provided entertainment for families and kids for nearly a century.

I know, because I was one of them.

And I don’t like the way this seems to be headed.

Not at all.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. “Moments, Memories and Madness,” his reminiscences from several decades as a sports journalist, runs each Sunday.

Steve also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball, once per month during the offseason.

If you happen to be a Bakersfield native, by the way, I apologize for the attitude — but yeah, I meant it.