Back to the Railriders

Derek Jeter stands on a pile of silver bats and laurels and holds a glove made of gold
in his Hall of Fame bobble head. In the photo, the figurine almost looks like him. 

It was a big night at PNC Field as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders continued the celebration of  Derek Jeter weekend. Fans lined up early at the entrance gates in order to get the Derek Jeter Hall of Fame bobble head. Jeter was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020, but there was no induction ceremony because of the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.

Instead the Hall of Fame is honoring Jeter and the others from the class of 2020 with an induction ceremony in Cooperstown this year on September 8. No players received enough votes in 2021 for induction. Other awards from 2020 and 2021 will be presented in a broadcast-only ceremony July 24 on MLB Network.

I was one of the lucky people to get through the gates before the bobble heads ran out. Lucky, plus I qualified for 15-minute early entry as a season ticket holder. I had actually bought a small package of tickets for the bobble head games in 2020 that included the Derek Jeter figure and five others. The credit that carried over from the cancelled season made it possible fro me to get the quarter-season package with a small, additional investment.

The lost free squeezy penguin lives on in my photograph and in my memory.

But wait, there's more. Americold, a cold storage company that was looking to hire people, had a table in the ballpark concourse full of information and free trinkets. One of the trinkets was a foam stress penguin that I decided I should have, even though I didn't need a job. I also took a flyer that I promised to pass along to someone who might need work.

But wait, there's more. Further along the concourse, a gentleman spotted my ballpark pin lanyards and asked me, "Do you have an American flag pin?"

"Not with me," I told him. I'm sure I've got a couple of flag pins somewhere around the house, but I never thought of adding one to my baseball pin collections.

"Here," he said, and handed me a waving American flag pin.

I asked him where it came from, and he said it was from a box of pins that were being given to a group of kids who would be holding a flag in the outfield during the National Anthem. I wanted to know if he was from the American Legion or another veterans group, but he was off to his mission before I could find out.

New Vejigantes (you'll have to look it up) and Baby Bombers pins from the Railriders,
and a free American flag pin from a good-hearted gentleman.

I added the flag to my Railriders and Iron Pigs lanyard, which is separated from my other AAA pins, although I've been wearing them both to AAA games. I also bought a couple of new pins from the Railriders store, because they have one of the best selections of pins in all the minor leagues.

The sad news is that I lost the squeezy penguin when I got up for a walk during the seventh-inning stretch. I put it in my pocket, but it popped out at some point. I retraced my steps to see if I could find it, but no luck. I gave up my search and started back to my seat while the second t-shirt toss was happening down on the field. 

A free white t-shirt with a simple black "R" logo over the heart
and a huge red Shop-Rite logo on the back.

Out of nowhere, a white blob whizzed by my face and fell onto the concourse. No one else was around so I was able to scamper over and pick it up. This is my sixth free Railriders t-shirt. One was a promotional giveaway, one was a reward for completing a health walk challenge, and now three or four have come from t-shirt tosses. One might have been in a mystery grad bag I bought, so technically not free, but the value of the items in the grab bag was way more than what I paid.

Too bad about the penguin, but quite a haul by evening's end.

The game was fast, 2 hours and 26 minutes. A solo home run from Armando Alvarez in the second inning and a two-run homer in the third from Hoy Park, gave the Railriders an early lead on the Rochester Red Wings. Park doubled in the seventh to score Christian Perez for the second time. The Red Wings scored a run in the eighth, but that would be it for Rochester. Final: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders 4, Rochester Red Wings 1.