‘Life in the Minors’ Lacks Drama Baseball Fans Crave

“Life in the Minors” affirms the ability of small stations--in this case, Toledo’s WGTE--to provide big statistics: There are 3,800 players in baseball’s minor leagues. Only 3% of those signing professional contracts reach the majors, where the average career lasts two years.

This half hour, at 4:30 p.m. Sunday on Channel 28, also presents nice character studies of several members of the International League’s Toledo Mudhens, a Detroit Tigers farm team managed by Pat Corrales.

Jeff Reynolds is a 28-year-old slugger and four-time minor league all star who’s never made it to the “bigs.” He needs an off-season construction job to make ends meet.

Twenty-seven-year-old pitcher Stan Clarke has had five shots in the majors, compiling a high earned run average that makes another shot unlikely.

Reynolds and Clarke talk about themselves and their love of baseball. Although young by most standards, both are elderly by minor league standards, and their futures seem bleak.

What drives them? The answer is not forthcoming, for what’s missing from this program, produced and directed by Brent Greene, is the story behind the talking heads, the texture of the minors, the sweat and the frustrations, the motivations for continuing to fight such long odds in a field where, over the long haul, the Mudhens are many, the Tigers few.