A begining

August 10, 2008, the day of our, the Stadium Vagabonds founders, first road trip as we set off for central PA for the day. It begin with a visit to Gettysburg and the Eisenhower farm, but the real scope and purpose of the day was a Harrisburg Senators and York Revolution home game on the same day. Commerce Bank Park, the new bank name of the Senators stadium is located in downtown Harrisburg. The stadium is in one of the most unique locations in all of the minor leagues, an island located in the river which cuts through downtown Harrisburg, sits a stadium that appears to be ancient, but is not so. The home field of the AA team of the Nationals looks like it is a high school stadium.

This is one of the few minor league stadiums, which I honestly believe the town needs a new stadium. Almost all the time, I prefer the old stadiums, but Commerce Bank Park is terrible, and significantly worse than all the Atlantic League stadiums. If Harrisburg can finance a new stadium in Allentown for the Iron Pigs, they should be able to do so in their own town.

James and I then headed to York, an independent Atlantic league team, locate in the home of the Peppermint Patty. Sovereign Bank Stadium, which has to have a new stadium name, as Sovereign is no more, was a completely opposite of Harrisburg as words could allow. As James and I made our way to the box office, a season ticket holder asked us if we were going to the game, and we affirmatively replied. She handed us two front row seats, as she had extras.

The game just got better and better. The stadium is arguably the best in all of minor league baseball. The crowd was really into the fight with the Riversharks and enthusiastically cheered for free food from Pizza the Hut. The rules of the promotion were as follows. The opposing player with the lowest batting average in the starting lineup was the "Cheesysticks Player of the Game". If he struck out in the game, the entire crowd received a coupon for the item from Pizza the Hut. The Revolution won 3-2, and there is nothing better than 5,000 Americans screaming "REVOLUTION".

Overall, it was a great day in the middle of the Commonwealth. York developed and built one of the best stadiums and fan bases I have ever seen in the Minor Leagues, despite the fact it is an independent team. While Harrisburg is the opposite, and they serve as the current AA team of the Nationals, which explains alot about the current state of Washington baseball.