Definitely prefer minor league ball to major league. The Trenton Thunder brought minor league ball back to Jersey. The franchise used to be in Ste-Catherine; but if there’s one thing we’re good at in Jersey, it’s stealing someone else’s teams. Mercer County built the stadium along the gentle curves of the Delaware River where an old wire company had left town many decades earlier. And Mercer County Waterfront Park and the Thunder have begun a renaissance in our capitol city. This is AA Ball. The stadia are small and friendly, the prices reasonable, and the games a lot of fun, even if they do give out the Philadelphia Enquirer on Sundays. The Thunder were a franchise of the Boston Red Sox, but in deals that only baseball can understand, the Red Sox franchise is now in Portland (I’ve been to Portland to see the SeaDogs play. My sister is a fan.) The SeaDogs were a Florida Marlin franchise, but that franchise moved to Norwich. The Norwich Navigators were the Yankees AA franchise, but now it’s the Trenton Thunder. We’d rather have the Yankees franchise here, and so did the Yankees. One of the new teams in the Eastern League is the Altoona Curve. (I don’t know where Altoona stole them from, but it’s a great name.) I haven’t seen the Curve play yet, and I’ve only been to Altoona once. Oh, yes, something that curves. Baseballs, the Delaware River, and the Altoona Curve. I took the train to Chicago last year. The Pennsylvanian stops in Reading (home of the Phillies), Harrisburg (home of the Senators) and runs up the curves of the Susquehanna River. Beyond Altoona are the mountains. How to climb the mountains, and maintain grade? Bridges, tunnels? No, instead, an engineering marvel. The railroad runs into a valley, ever gaining height, back out of the valley, higher yet, around the curve of the mountain, and continues up the other side. You can look out the window of the train, and see, across the valley, the tail end of the train. It was quite a sight. And, someday, I’ll have to go to Altoona, and see the Curve play. © Paul (AHikingDude@aol.com) ~INDEX PAGE~