Bee swarms are a relatively common occurrence, but swarms that delay a sports event are a little more rare. We’ve seen bees invade the field before in baseball, though, and Sunday brought the latest example, with the Corpus Christi Hooks (the Houston Astros’ double-A affiliate in the Texas League) having a swarm occupy their home dugout before a game against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (the Kansas City Royals’ affiliate). That led to a delay, as Astros’ special assistant to the general manager Kevin Goldstein and others relayed on Twitter:
This is the home dugout and we are officially in the first bee delay of my career. Best thing about baseball? See something new every day. pic.twitter.com/C8dunp4iMr
— Kevin Goldstein (@Kevin_Goldstein) July 8, 2018
A swarm of migrating bees has found a home in the @cchooks dugout. Game vs. @nwanaturals will be delayed @MiLB pic.twitter.com/n5vfrlAOpj
— George Vondracek (@GeorgeVondracek) July 8, 2018
Some on Twitter opted to criticize the team for delaying the game instead of just postponing it, saying they wouldn’t be able to find a beekeeper to remove the swarm on a Sunday. Well, they did.
Yeah, well they found one. Never doubt the wherewithal of a minor league front office staff. https://t.co/IIssjwNIs8
— Kevin Goldstein (@Kevin_Goldstein) July 8, 2018
That is an impressive turnaround from the Corpus Christi front office, and it let them get the game in as planned, albeit with a bit of a delay. And fortunately, no one had to go full Nicholas Cage.
Baseball is better with the Bees!-Wally Backman #NewBritainBaseball
This happened a few years ago at Tempe Diablo Stadium during an Angels spring training game. The bees clumped up on the crowd noise microphone so that audio feed sounded like a bad science fiction movie.