The St. Paul Saints are back and staying weird

The eccentric St. Paul Saints, independent since 1993, play their first game at CHS Field on Tuesday as an affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.

Owned in part by Bill Murray, the team is known for having some of the funniest promotions in baseball.

• Who can forget the Michael Vick chew-toy night or when they skewered Anthony Weiner by giving out "tweeting wiener" boxer shorts with a picture of a bird snapping a photo of a hot dog?
• The Pioneer Press did a top-20 Saints promotions list a few years ago.

Worry not: The team is still going to have a lot of fun, which is what co-owner Mike Veeck says baseball needs these days.

• "That's what's exciting to me. We need change, desperately, as an overall industry. We need to appeal to kids, and we need to do it quickly, fervently and passionately. Kids want to have fun," Veeck told the Star Tribune.

What to expect: The weirdness will continue.

• It includes the Sloppy Seconds Giveaway Series — which sees the team gives out unused freebies from last year — and A Look Back on the History of the Twins-Saints Affiliation (the two teams have been affiliated for all of 8 games).

Oh, and on the field: The team will be stocked with high-end talent, including Ryan Jeffers, Jhoan Duran, Brent Rooker and, depending on how things shake out, top prospects Jordan Balazovic, Trevor Larnach and Alex Kirilloff.

Tickets for the team's 60 home games are available here.