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Introduction
- Rutgers University Press
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L ike many New Jersey residents, I have been a frequent attendee at the minor league and unaffiliated independent professional baseball parks in New Jersey since their introduction to the state in 1994. I never really gave much thought as to why I’ve come to enjoy the experience of spending summer afternoons and evenings in this way. I wrote it off to my being a baseball junkie, and the fact of having professional baseball so close to home and accessible made it easy for me to 1 Introduction Sparkee, General Admission, and friends. Commerce Bank Ballpark, Bridgewater . Photograph by Bob Golon, 2005. attend. As the years have passed, I’ve noticed that the crowds at these games are much different from those at Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, or the Phillies’ ballpark in Philadelphia. There were more kids, more young families, and more young couples in attendance. But the full impact of what was taking place in New Jersey did not occur to me until I had a firsthand experience with the baseball clubs of the state. In the spring of 2004, while I was an adult reference librarian at the Bernards Township Library in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, our children’s librarian, Antonette D’Orazio, asked me if I would put together a presentation about baseball for children. Given my interest and previous work with baseball research and history, this seemed like a fun idea. But, she added a requirement: it would have to have a New Jersey flavor and slant, as our children’s librarians were interested in teaching the young boys and girls more about our state. I said, “Sure, no problem,” then walked away, scratching my head. What would I do? Most of my baseball research and the presentations that I had done at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown dealt with New York City and major league events. These stories, although entertaining , would not fit the criteria. The research presentation on the 1915 Federal League Newark Peppers and Harrison Field that I first did for the Society for American Baseball Research in 1996 would certainly fit, but it also would have reduced a room full of eight- to twelve-year-olds to tears of boredom! I fondly remember when, in the late 1950s, my father would drive me past the abandoned Ruppert Stadium in Newark. He would stop the car and tell me stories about when he would sit in the bleachers and root for the great Newark Bears in the 1930s. The Bears were, after all, a Yankees farm club. Nice memories, but I doubt the kids in Bernards Township would care that Tommy “Old Reliable” Henrich and Charlie “King Kong” Keller played for the Bears. The story and presentation needed to be something new and fresh that the kids could identify with. It had to emphasize fun with the game instead of performance statistics and the pressure of wins and losses. But most of all, it had to be about New Jersey. It finally dawned on me that we have no fewer than eight minor league and independent professional teams currently playing in New Jersey. We could draw a big map of the state, place stars over where the teams are located, and do a presentation about our New Jersey baseball clubs, emphasizing pictures of their mascots , logos, and stadiums. I could certainly do that, but it needed to have a little something extra. I needed something fun to give to the kids. 2 No Minor Accomplishment [44.197.191.240] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 14:30 GMT) Introduction 3 I decided to sit down and write letters to all eight of the franchises, describing what I was doing, and I asked for their help and support. I asked if they could send something; a hat, a ball, a stuffed animal, a pennant, anything that I could use as a giveaway, in return for my mentioning their generosity to the parents who would also be sitting there. As I sent out these letters, I fully expected to get what I will call “major-leagued.” What does it mean to get ‘major-leagued’?” Getting “major-leagued” means getting the distinct feeling of fan-unfriendliness that has developed around big-league baseball ever since the contracts got larger, the advertising became more expensive and intense, the games got longer, and the postseason got a lot later at night for those of us on the East Coast. It’s the attitude...