The St. Paul Saints' Mike Veeck is in hog heaven whether or not team mascot Pablo Pigasso is present.
The team's first season at sold-out CHS Field has been a winner for Veeck, which is great because he hates losing. His team has royally inaugurated its new home in downtown St. Paul, having clinched the North Division Title in the American Association. The other thrill for Veeck is how beautifully the ballpark designed by Julie Snow turned out, nestled, unassumingly in the eastern part of downtown.
We talked about all the things Veeck loves about his new ballpark in this Q & A, which wouldn't be complete without a story or two about his most famous co-owner, Bill Murray.
And as if we needed another story about how unHollywood Murray is, Veeck told me the actor who plays clueless so well in movies knows how to operate appliances, specifically the commercial grade washers used by the Saints.
"He's got six boys, so he knows something about laundry," said Veeck. According to Veeck, Murray once drove to Midway Stadium, the old Saints location, with his sons and personally handled an urgent matter: washing boys' clothes.
Murray's down to earth and even considered cool, but I'm guessing none of his boys has a middle name as distinctive as Veeck's son William Night Train Veeck.
You'll read stories about Night Train, as he addressed, were there are quote marks around his middle names. Superfluous because it's not a nickname, it's on the birth certificate, according to Night Train's dad, who named his son after Dick "Night Train" Lane, the former NFL cornerback.
"I was never picked for any team," said Veeck. "I was always the new kid. So I vowed when I had a son that I was going to give him a name so even if he wasn't any good … How could you not pick a kid named Night Train for your team?"