Dignity the Biggest Risk at This Level : Promotions: There are no million-dollar payoffs in minor league baseball, just zany contests and giveaways and 150-foot banana splits.

Lavish prize and large cash giveaway contests have infiltrated professional baseball’s farm system, but creative, grass-root efforts are still the promotional lifeblood of minor league teams.

Bat races, in which contestants place their foreheads on bat handles, spin around 10 times and run to a certain location, and wooden horse races behind the outfield fence are nightly staples during High Desert Mavericks games in Adelanto.

Go to any minor league park and you’re likely to see dot races, pitching, hitting and fielding contests, cow-milking contests and ticket, T-shirt and food giveaways.

Because minor league executives have no control of their core product--players can come and go at any time--they have always been forced to find creative ways to attract fans.

And they rarely disappoint.

A survey of some 150 minor league teams revealed these promotional treasures:

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Key to the game: The double-A El Paso Diablos sponsored “Can You Dig It Night,” in which keys to a Classic 1967 Ford were buried in the infield before a Mother’s Day game in 1992. After the game, every female in attendance was allowed to dig for the keys.

“We lined the women outside the right-field fence in the seventh inning and waited for the game to end,” said Fred Palmerino, El Paso assistant general manager. “And they sat, and sat, and sat. The game went 14 innings. We finally let them on the field after the game and they started digging with tent stakes.

“We noticed that not much dirt was moving as they searched for the keys. We found the dirt to be almost like cement; the women couldn’t move it and were developing blisters on their hands.”

To compound matters, the groundskeeper forgot where he hid the keys. After about an hour, team officials halted the digging. The staff eventually found the keys and raffled them off.

“You’ll be happy to know our dirt is much softer this year,” Palmerino said. “But we haven’t had a ‘Can You Dig It Night’ yet.”

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Hook shot: Then-Wichita Wranglers outfielder Darrell Sherman was ejected from a 1991 game for throwing a bat onto the field, so Wranglers’ General Manager Steve Shaad thought he’d capitalize with a Darrell Sherman Bat Throw the following night.

Six fans were selected to throw a bat from the dugout steps onto the field, with the longest toss winning free tickets to a future game. Lucky for Shaad, only about 2,000 fans were in the 7,000-seat park.

“The fourth guy, a left-hander, looked like he had been drinking a little,” Shaad said. “He was aiming for the pitcher’s mound but hurled the bat up into the stands down the first-base side. I saw my sports-promotion life flash before my eyes. It was a definite lawsuit. Fortunately, the bat landed in a bank of empty seats. Just another stupid, off-the-cuff promotion.”

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Confetti with meatballs: In an Orlando Sentinel article last year, Jerry Greene wrote: “No wonder we didn’t get an expansion (baseball) franchise. We can’t even fill up our minor league park.”

Then-Orlando SunRays General Manager Pat Williams responded with a challenge: If the double-A SunRays could fill the stadium, Greene would have to eat his words.

“The date was set, and on the field was a lovely table with a fine linen cloth, fine china and Waterford crystal,” said Valerie Suzanne Nash, the team’s director of sales. “Orlando filled the stadium with more than 6,000 fans, and they all watched while the Orlando Magic Girls fed Mr. Greene a shredded copy of his article.”

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In the doghouse: The Class-A Beloit Brewers had a pitcher last season named Dave England, who had the unique talent of being able to bark better than most dogs. So the team invited eight fans onto the field to match their barks against England’s in a pregame contest, complete with judges.

“The kid who won it got a big bone and free tickets to a game,” said Herm Sorcher, Beloit’s public relations director. “It was pretty funny seeing grown men bark like dogs.”

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Bandini bandits: The triple-A Toledo Mud Hens give away a “Mystery Prize” each home game. Prizes have included a 40-pound bag of dog food, a bale of hay, a bag of manure and a pair of size 68 denim overalls. The team also has Funny Nose and Glasses Night, Martian Antenna Night and Arrow Through the Head Night.

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Boogie men: The Class-A Port Charlotte (Fla.) Rangers this season helped set a world record for most people at one time doing the Boot Scootin’ Boogie line dance that is so popular in Country Western bars.

After a July 17 game, 1,029 people, including Port Charlotte players Jim Clinton and Todd Guggiana, established the mark along the warning track of the field. The feat drew attention from several television and radio stations and will be replayed on The Nashville Network’s “Crook and Chase” show.

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All the King’s men: The “Flying Elvises,” West Georgia Chapter, jumped from a plane and landed on the Columbus (Ga.) RedStixx’s field before Friday night’s Class-A game against Greensboro.

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Good Humor team: The Class-A Medicine Hat Blue Jays once held a “Sundae at the Park,” in which a 150-foot banana split was built along the third-base line, and kids were invited onto the field to gobble it up.

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Crutch hit: After two-sport phenom Bo Jackson injured his hip in 1991, the Wichita Wranglers and a local radio station teamed on a promotion they called, “The Bo Jackson Crutch Races.” A field of 16 was pared through preliminary heats to two, who raced around the bases on wooden crutches. The winner won free air fare to any U.S. destination.

“It probably didn’t sell any tickets, but it got a lot of air time on the TV stations here,” Shaad said. “It just added to the craziness of minor league baseball.”