OK, it’s hokey

OK, it’s hokey--guys wrestling in blimp-size sumo wrestler suits, fans screaming themselves hoarse for free pizza and waiters with loaded trays foot-racing around the bases.

OK, it’s flag-waving--the national anthem and “I’m Proud to Be an American” with fireworks exploding overhead.

OK, it’s cute. Little kids begging autographs and hugging a fuzzy costumed mascot, even though they--and team management, for that matter--can’t define what sort of animal it’s supposed to be.

It’s all this because it’s minor-league baseball, and Mission Viejo worked hard to bring it home.

After two years in Long Beach--and winning the Western Baseball League championship both years--the Mission Viejo Vigilantes opened at Saddleback College in May. They finished the first half of the season dead last and are losing more than winning in the second half.

But attendance, officially hovering around 2,000 a game, is holding up, in part because of such antics. After all, in the minor-est of the minor leagues, what happens between innings can be as important as what happens on the scoreboard.