On the Road:Harrisburg

Recently as part of this summers attempt to see all the Pirate minor league affiliates,we traveled to Harrisburg to see the visiting Altoona Curve (Pittsburgh AA) against the hometown Harrisburg Senators.
Usually we travel to Altoona to see the Curve,but after Battlin Bob's autograph issues last year with a Curve usher,we decided to try Harrisburg as a way to see another stadium and perhaps make signing easier for us and them.

The visiting team is almost always easier to get things signed from.
I have always wondered why that is so,one would think the home team could use the PR aspect,but my best guess is that so many more children go after the home team and rarely bother the visitors.
Just a theory.

In any event,the trip from Hagerstown was easy,fast and direct.
Battlin Bob drove and he had been here before,so it was not problem for him.
The fast part?Not so sure Bob found it so fast as I thought so because I slept half the way there after getting off work just a few hours before.
Upon arriving on City Island,which really is a small island accessible from the city by bridge,we found (as Battlin Bob had told me) that the hike from the parking lot was quite a trek.
It includes lots of steps to reach Commerce Bank Park,so if you are bringing kids or people that have problems with lots of walking,keep that in mind.

The stadium (being on a island) is surrounded by water,so the Susquehanna River runs parallel to the park and is very visible when waiting in line for tickets along the left field line.
The river is especially attractive when leaving the stadium at night as the Harrisburg skyline really lights up the river and its bridges.

Harrisburg is planning to begin a renovation this off season,so I wanted to see a game there before the work started.
It is a pretty basic late 80's (1987) facility and it shows its age in spots.
The Senators do not really have a "team shop" as it is more like a trailer that had everything marked and you ask the employee to get what you want to buy.
I would imagine that might be the first thing that gets finished for the 2009 campaign.
A pro and con for the Harrisburg souvenir area.
Pro:Plenty of 3XL shirts!
I didn't get one,but it is rare to have big guys size shirts in just about every design,
Smart thinking.
Con:Only carried the Senators set and no Eastern League top prospects either.
Boo.

Seating has three levels with a box (10),middle range (8) and general admission (6).
Battlin Bob and I bought the middle range and regretted it as some of the metal bars were visual obstructions.
We spent most of the night in GA with Ryan and Joe Plum making a cameo appearance. which included him catching a foul ball on a bounce.
Boxes (very close to the field) or General Admission is the way to go.

Harrisburg also features some of the friendliest ushers that we have seen as well.
They guided us to the best area to talk to the Altoona players for autographs and gave us the lay of the land up front.
We could stay as long as we wanted in the box seat area until the umpires walked onto the field.
When the Blue comes out,we then had to leave.
Terrific work there!

You have to choose which team that you want to work for the evening as the clubhouses are connected to the dugout and we (of course) chose Altoona.
I had an Altoona and Lynchburg set (for those that had been called up) and hoped to get what I could.
We were able to get Jamie Romak first and asked him why he wasn't on the Canadian Olympic baseball team.
He grinned and said "I wasn't asked!"
Romak then said that some of the qualifying camps were when he was injured at the beginning of the year so he wasn't able to participate in those.
When you are dealing with Olympic committees you have to jump through every hoop.
Next was Battlin Bob's favorite Brad Corley,who is always accomodating and I told him that he hit one of the longest two homers in Hagerstown over the last four years (Justin Maxwell was the other).
Corley replied "Which one?The one to left or the one to center"?
Don't let anyone tell you that players forget as soon as the game is over!
Brad then talked about how difficult the Muni is for power numbers and I told him that he should have seen it 15 years ago!
I was able to get everyone that was in the Lynchburg set signed and some of the Altoona guys.
Players included Jim Negrych,Shelby Ford,James Boone,Pat Bresnahan and Jeff Sues.
Sues always seemed to be a guy that I missed out for various reasons and was nice to finally get him.
I told Jeff that and he said that it will get worse because he was moved up too late to be in Altoona's set,yet was moved before Lynchburg's came out.
Therefore,he has no cards for 2008.

Blair Johnson then ran up to me and hollered "hey,Shawn,what are you doing up here?" and talked for about five minutes about his callup,seeming to finally get healthy for the first time in quite a while and signed his Hillcat card.
As he moved away,he turned around and said "how do you like my bag?".
The bullpen ball bag was pink with pictures of the Bratz dolls all over it and the Curve bullpen makes the pitcher with the least seniority carry the Bratz bag.
I told him it was lovely and that he would be done with it soon enough.
Blair has always been a class act and it is nice to see him move up the ladder.

This was the first Altoona game for Jose Tabata and we had never seen him before,so we were unsure what to expect.
His signing reputation had not been good,but as has been noted in the past-Yankee and Red Sox prospects can grow tired of the autograph scene really fast.
Jose didn't say much,but signed the card that I had and a ball for the Battler and that was good enough for us!


As we moved to our seats,we saw Jared Hughes,who had made his Altoona debut the night before and was charting.
We talked to him for a bit about the callup and we would catch up with him after the game to sign his card and chat further.
We got closer to our seats and saw Cory Van Allen,charting for the Senators and talked for a bit and would get his cards signed later as well.

The game was kinda blah,a 6-2 Senator win.
Not really memorable other than Jose Tabata showing flashes of his ability,as he slid under a Zach Segovia tag on a wild pitch and uncorking a great throw that almost gunned down a Senator at the plate.
Yoslan Herrera started for Altoona and was hammered,while Jeff Sues replaced him and left after two batter with an injury.
Sues just cant catch a break.

After the game,we were able to talk to both pitchers.
Van Allen signed two cards and an SAL ball.
Cory has also begun to add a bible verse to the card as well.
Jared talked to us about the trade with the Yankees and the arms brought into the system.
He said that it made him wonder,but yet the competition was something that he enjoyed and looked forward to as he can only control his performance and no one elses.
Jared also talked about the night that Eric Krebs was hit in the face at Potomac.
He said the ball smacked off his face so hard that it bounced to the third baseman position.
Krebs told the trainer that he was fine and wanted to stay in and pitch!!!
Jared said the ball was measured at 140 MPH off the bat!
Yikes!

All in all,Harrisburg is a good autograph park,average for watching a game,nothing special,but not awful.
Reasonably priced food,but you miss the game while you stand in line.
Not bad to get in and out of and the fans were pretty well behaved.
I would say that I liked it enough to make a Altoona and Akron game next year against the Senators.

Photo Credits
Ryan Heimberger