| Allentown, PA - Bicentennial Park |
| The Park A trip to Bicentennial Park, home of the independent Northern League�s Allentown Ambassadors, leaves one with a strange urge to put up a fence or shoot someone out of a cannon. There is a chain link fence separating the parking lot from the concession area behind the grandstand. OK. There is a high, black chain link fence behind home plate. Well, the field is sort of close to the seats, so maybe a net wouldn�t be adequate. It does make it difficult to see the action, though. Speaking of that, there is another rather high chain link fence that goes down the lines. For a stretch of maybe 15 feet, it drops to about 3 feet high somewhere past the infield down left, and again near the oufield wall. The outfield fence is so close that there is a huge net (like the kind you see at a circus) extending high over the wall. The park was once a softball field, I hear. Not the best place to see a game, but certainly unique. The mascot is Uncle Baseball, a character dressed like Uncle Sam with a baseball head. This was also the first ballpark I visited in which �waitresses� take your food and drink order and bring the items to your seat. |
| The Games 1) I saw the Ambassadors play the Adirondack Lumberjacks (Glen Falls, NY) on the night of July 17, 2001. That afternoon, I was in Frederick, MD for a game. When the day was over, I had seen 38 runs score. Adirondack scored 5 runs in the top of the 1st, 4 on a grand slam by right fielder Rodney Clifton. Allentown scored 4 in the bottom of the inning, 3 on a double by left fielder Rafael Alvarez. We had a ballgame. Adirondack went up 10-4 after the top of the 5th, scoring 1 in the 3rd, 3 in the 5th on a 3-run HR by third baseman Jesse Ibarra, and 1 in the 6th. Allentown came back with 5 in the 5th, making it 10-9 Adirondack, then 4 in the 7th, going up 13-10. In the Allentown 8th, the Adirondack pitcher made two bad throws to 1st base on bunts, leading to another run. That proved to be the decisive run, for Adirondack scored 3 in the top of the 9th, leaving 2 men on base. The final was 14-13, Allentown. All 18 starting batters reached base at least once, with 16 reaching 2 or more times, although 3 were hitless. Interestingly, with runners on 1st and 2nd and 2 out in the top of the 6th, Ibarra hit a single, apparently driving in the runner from 2nd. Allentown appealed at 3rd base and the runner was called out. With the 3 runs that Adirondack scored in the 9th, the score would have been 14-14, and who knows how the game would have ended. 2) I went back to Allentown on August 4, 2002, after seeing most of a Somerset Patriots game, to see the Ambassadors play the Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs. After 2 batters in the bottom of the 1st, Allentown lead 1-0. They scored 2 more in the 2nd. In both frames, leadoff batter Jorge Diaz was driven in by #2 man Vernon Spearman. Allentown pitcher Chet Medlock retired the first 8 hitters, and faced the minimum through 3 innings, before Albany exploded for 4 runs on 5 hits in the 4th. They went on to win, 10-3, scoring 3 in the 5th and 3 more in the 7th. Albany�s 3-5 hitters drove in 2 each and #6 batter Carlos Sepulveda drove in 4, 3 on a triple. For Allentown, Diaz reached all 5 times up, twice on errors, and was a HR short of the cycle. |
| Copyright 2002 Chris Trapani All photographs and text on this website and webpage are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the holder of the copyrights, Chris Trapani. Direct all e-mail inquiries to [email protected]. |
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