Today’s game in Harrisburg was a family affair—I was joined by my mom, sister, and two uncles. The crowd was mostly made up of camp kids, so the fundraising was a bit limited. Thanks to Mark for getting us some great prizes—they have been some of the best we have received so far. The Harrisburg Senators were bought by the city of Harrisburg in 1995 for $6.7 million, just six months after the previous owner had paid $4.1 million. The mayor at the time wanted to keep the team in the city as part of a downtown revitalization project. In 2006 however, the team was put up for sale in order to combat a city budget deficit and was sold for $13.25 million with a clause saying that the team had to stay in Harrisburg for 29 years. Commerce Bank Park is set to undergo a major renovation project over the next couple of years that will include skyboxes, and tons of new seating. If you live in Harrisburg, you should get excited for the next season when you will start seeing such improvements.

My Uncle Patrick, who thinks of himself as quite the golfer, when in fact he is not quite a golfer, tried to show off his skills at a mini-putt set up inside the ballpark. The embarrassing result can be seen in the video taken here.

Afterwards my Mom started her three day journey with the Tour, and we headed to Williamsport to see the Crosscutters. Williamsport is more well known for the Little League World Series, but the Minor League baseball has been playing in the town since the 1920s. Thanks to Gabe for helping us out tonight and getting us an item for our raffle!

After we left I found out (thanks to Wikipedia) that Bowman Field played host to one of the more bizarre yet entertaining events in Minor League baseball—”The Potato Incident.” Back in 1987, the two worst teams in the league happened to be the Williamsport Bills and the Reading Phillies, and they were playing a meaningless game in late August. A catcher for the Bills, Dave Bresnahan, decided to play a joke/trick on the Phillies. The following is taken from Wikipedia: With a runner on third base, Bresnahan switched catcher’s mitts and put on a glove in which he had secreted a shaved-down potato. When the pitch came in, Bresnahan fired the potato down the third-base line, enticing the runner to sprint home. Bresnahan then tagged the runner with the baseball, prompting the umpire to award the runner home plate for Bresnahan’s deception.The president of the Eastern League took offense to what it perceived as Bresnahan’s affront to the game, banning the grandnephew of Hall of Famer Roger Bresnahan from its league.

That has to be one of the best pranks ever, simply because it took place during the game on the field.