Fun Fest and Museum Trailer

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The Principal Family Fun Fest at Bruno Stadium in Troy, NY

This is the Principal Family Fun Fest, on its visit to the Tri-City ValleyCats Saturday night. The event is a mass of games and activities, mostly geared toward kids. But the cool thing is it has this traveling minor league baseball museum trailer.

That's basically what it is, a trailer. You enter at one end and exit the other. Museum pieces, like bats, gloves, baseball cards are all on display.

My wife and I had seen the fun fest before, four years ago before a game in Syracuse. I remember it because we saw it the day I proposed.

No, I didn't propose at the game. That all happened earlier in the day, on a boat. (There are multiple exits at a game, few on a boat) And we've been happily married for three years now. So, newly engaged, we went to see the Syracuse Chiefs, and wandered into the Fun Fest and Museum Trailer.

Signed Field of Dreams movie script

Inside the trailer is a bunch of minor league and baseball memorabilia. Among the pieces was a signed copy of a script for Field of Dreams, though maybe Bull Durham might had been a better choice for a minor league museum trailer. My wife and I went to the Field of Dreams movie site with my parents back in 2004. I also went there as a kid. Great place to have a catch. Though I hear it's being sold.

There was a Joe DiMaggio San Francisco Seals jersey and a bunch of playing figures with major league in their minor league uniforms. I took my wife's picture next to the Pudge Rodriguez one. She loves Pudge.

There was also a Bo Jackson autographed Birmingham Barons jersey, the signature faded, and a signed Derek Jeter Columbus Clippers jersey. The Buck O'Neil autographed glove was cool.
The Nolan Ryan autographed ball with unworthy 1991 Classic card

There were also autographed baseballs paired with cards. The Phil Niekro autographed was with a worthy 1967 card. The Nolan Ryan autograph, however, was paired with a decidedly unworthy 1991 Classic card. Though maybe it fits, I think that card was included in the minor league set.

The Visalia Oaks jerseys prompted my comment that I heard there was an opening in Visalia next year. When I prompted my wife that the line was from a movie, it took her a couple tries to guess it. She appeared to have forgotten her decision to guess "Bull Durham" whenever I asked what movie a line was from.
The CMC cards
That brings me to the 1990 CMC references. I saw a couple, one of them direct, the other not so direct. The direct one was the inclusion of three actual cards from the set in an array of minor league cards. I suppose any array of minor league cards has to include the CMC set. Two of the players chosen for inclusion were obvious ones, David Justice and Moises Alou, both players yet to be reviewed here. The other one, seemingly thrown in, was Mel Stottlemyre.
Baseball's Longest Game, Roger LaFrancois is not mentioned

The other reference was more subtle. In my interview with Batavia Muckdogs hitting coach Roger LaFrancois, he spoke of taking part in the longest game in professional baseball history. There it was in the museum trailer, a reference to that game, played in 1981 between Rochester and Pawtucket. LaFrancois caught a good 25 innings of the 33 innings played.

The Principal site has a schedule for the rest of the season, the last date is Aug. 21 at Shreveport.

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