A Father’s Day treat: Trenton Thunder baseball

For Father’s Day, I treated myself to a Trenton Thunder baseball game, spending an enjoyable couple of hours in New Jersey’s capital city as the home team fell 8-3 to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.

This was only the second time I’d been to a game in Trenton. The first was several years ago when the team was the AA affiliate of the New York Yankees. The Yankees yanked their affiliation when the minor leagues shrunk, and the Thunder signed on to the MLB Draft League, a showcase for high school graduates and college players hoping to catch the eye of pro scouts.

I’d seen the Draft League Thunder play at Rider University in 2021, when I was one of only a few fans in the bleachers on the college’s field in nearby Lawerence Township.

It was a completely different experience Sunday as nearly 6,000 people turned out for the Father’s Day matinee. From a bright blue sky with a smattering of clouds, the sun streamed down on the fans in the stadium, a modern park in Trenton’s Riverfront development along the Delaware River.

The Scrappers pounded the Thunder’s pitching staff, and the Thunder finally got some runs in the 6th inning. The quality of play was solid and entertaining, and for $15 I got a nice field-level seat just off third base. There was a nice variety of food and drink in the concession stands dotting the concourse, including Philadelphia-area favorite Chickie’s & Pete’s. At another stand, I got a hot dog and was mistakenly given a Bud Light instead of a Budweiser, but I made up for that by getting a fine IPA at the Swedesboro Brewing stand closer to my seat in section 120.

The game had a family atmosphere, with lots of kids from youth-league teams in the stands. A fair number of fans wore Yankees jerseys and caps, but it seemed to me that more people were wearing Phillies caps and shirts. A woman sitting near me sported a Twins cap, and I wore my new “wishbone C” vintage Indians cap, a nod to the Scrappers, based in Niles, Ohio.

The Thunder have long had golden retriever “bat dogs,” and I recall only seeing one pick up a bat after one of the Thunder players got a hit. The Thunder publicity team rolled out family-friendly inning-break events, including a trash pickup competition sponsored by Waste Management. This is New Jersey, after all.

Baked by the sun, I decided to leave after the sixth inning but stopped in the air-conditioned team store to scope out the merchandise. I didn’t buy anything, but I will on my next visit to a game. I’ll bring friends along.