I’m not sure who’s responsible, or if there’s a reasonable “fair share” of blame to be handed out to both parties, but the State College Spikes ended their affiliation with the Pittsburgh Pirates over the weekend. The Spikes will return to the parent organization that brought baseball to Happy Valley, the St. Louis Cardinals. You can read about it here. Some folks are thrilled by this move; some who live in my house are not.
Isaac is a die-hard Pirates fan. He can’t pronounce their names, but he can tell you how many homeruns #22 and #24 have, if #18 or #2 is playing second base tonight, and how the team did over the past few days. He’s watching the chase for the wild-card like he’s one of the owners. And he has LOVED having the Spikes as the short-season low A affiliate of the Bucs.
We sat in the stands lots of nights this summer, clapping and yelling until our throats hurt…Wal-Ker Gour-Ley clap, clap, clap-clap-clap. From the beginning of this season his favorite was DJ Crumlich. DJ was kind enough to sign a ball for him one night. It meant something to him that his favorite guys here in State College might someday play for his favorite team in the Bigs. He looked at the pictures of former Spikes now in the majors every time we entered the stadium.
I’ve been the chaplain (sort of like a pastor) for the Spikes from day 1, when they were a Cardinals team. While I have nothing against the Cardinals, I have loved the connection with the Pirates. It was special knowing that “our guys” would ascend the ladder from State College to West VA, eventually to Altoona and Pittsburgh.
I’m sure that there are some great guys in the Cardinals system, and I know that I’ll enjoy working with them, too. But at least for now, there are a couple of sad guys in my house, wearing the black and gold of mourning, watching to see if “our guys” can catch a break and play their way into the playoffs.
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