KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? Shhhh : don’t tell the boss, but I did something Thursday I’ve been wanting to do for years.

I slipped out of the office and drove 29 miles to CommunityAmerica Ballpark to take in one of those 12:05 p.m. “businessman’s special” baseball games.

Actually, I guess in my case it was more of a “busman’s special,” but however you cubby-hole it, the bottom line is everybody should do it at least once in a lifetime.

By now, I’m sure you know about the Kansas City T-Bones. They’re not a major-league team, and they’re not a minor-league team. They’re tweeners. They’re the southern outpost of the independent Northern League, and they make road trips to such igloos as Edmonton and Calgary.

This is the T-Bones’ third season performing between the Kansas Speedway and Nebraska Furniture Mart. They’ve made it a success, too, because they make it fun at the old ballyard with countless between-innings hijinks. I’d tell you about the race between Sizzle, the club mascot, and the ice cream cone, but you’ll have to see it to believe it.

On another note, I was happy to see the bull’s-eye prize still is in effect. If a batter hits a home run into the bull’s-eye high above and beyond the left-field fence, some fan will win $1 million. Yeah, right. The odds of that are similar to throwing a bowling ball into the Lawrence Outdoor Aquatic Center from the top of the Campanile.

Unlike most minor-league teams that have massive personnel turnovers every year, the T-Bones have been able to build a little name recognition with players like Eddie Pearson and Rick Prieto, a pair of 30-somethings who have found a home in Kansas City.

Or Tonganoxie. Ray Brown, the T-Bones’ veteran first baseman and another familiar name, lists Tongie as his place of residence.

6Sports video: T-Bones shut out Saltdogs (06-02-05)

Prieto is an all-star center fielder, while Pearson generally is acknowledged to be the league’s most feared hitter. Or as T-Bones’ skipper Al Gallagher has quipped: “What else can you say about the Barry Bonds of the Northern League?”

Well, all I can say is Pearson looks more like the Calvin Pickering of the Northern League. The program lists Pearson at 225 pounds, but it doesn’t say when.

Who’s that catching for the T-Bones? Sean Flynn. The name is familiar. Sure enough, Flynn was Kansas University’s backstop in 2003. For the last two summers, Flynn, who spent his first three college seasons at Texas-Pan American, has been toiling for Evansville, Ind., in the Frontier League, another independent league. He’s the T-Bones’ backup catcher.

Here are some other observations about the day I played hooky at the ballyard:

¢ Northern League umpires wear shirts of a color difficult to describe. They look like a mixture of bananas and pea soup, if you can imagine such a concoction. It’s the worst fashion statement I’ve ever seen in the world of arbiter-dom.

¢ You have to love the quirky outfield distances at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. Straightaway center is 396 feet from home plate, but it’s 409 feet to right-center and 411 feet to left-center. Or maybe it’s an optical illusion.

¢ You’ll find the usual ballpark concessions. However, I did one double-take. On the third base side, a stand offers deep-fried Twinkies and deep-fried Oreos. What? No deep-fried Pop-Tarts?

¢ Quote from a fan sitting nearby: “Do you really need binoculars at a place like this?” Not unless you want to see the whites of their eyes.

Now for some game information: T-Bones starter Jon McDonald tossed a five-hitter, and K.C. blanked the Lincoln Saltdogs, 3-0. McDonald, a 27-year-old former Florida State hurler, struck out seven batters and lowered his earned-run average to a gaudy 0.83.

According to the digital sign in the outfield that measured the speed of his pitches, McDonald was overpowering the Saltdogs with 82-mph fastballs. Ten miles per hour faster and McDonald might be pitching 21 miles east at Kauffman Stadium. So near and yet so far.