We initially connected via email, later on a phone call and then during an in-person meeting a couple weeks ago when the Pittsburgh resident paid a visit to Jamestown where he attended a Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League game at Diethrick Park.

Will’s purpose in reaching out is because he’s working on a book about small-town baseball. In his reporting travels, he’s also writing an online blog.

This was part of his latest post, delivered via Twitter on Wednesday.

Wrote Will:

Two contestants in the mascot race near the finish line during an in-game promotion. P-J photo by Scott Kindberg

“The more time I spend visiting small-town ballparks, and reflecting on my time in them, I feel like I’ve begun to identify what — for me — and I won’t presume to speak for all fans — feels like a sweet spot to the fan experience one can find in the low minors. Games at this level don’t feel as corporate and impersonal as MLB (and even some AAA) while still featuring quality, affordable baseball in generally first-rate facilities.”

To Will I say, “Amen.”

While our city lost “minor league” baseball in 2014, Diethrick Park has been the home of the summer college game since 2015. And as the second season as the re-branded Tarp Skunks nears an end, it appears that fans are enjoying this iteration of America’s pastime even more than during a very successful 2021 campaign.

How do I know that to be true?

The stats back it up.

“There’s been, this year, a community absorption of the players,” said Greg Peterson, a member of the Jamestown Community Baseball LLC board of directors. “It has manifested itself in an increase in attendance from last year, which was a recent record; an increase in average attendance and total attendance; and, wonderfully, we’ve sold more merchandise this year than last year, which we didn’t think was possible.”

But possibility has become a reality that reaches beyond just wins and losses.

Although the Tarp Skunks found themselves in sixth place in the PGCBL West Division entering last evening’s game against Elmira, the relationship between the team and the community appears to be stronger than ever.

Peterson noted that since the players arrived nearly two months ago, their off-the-field activities include walking in the Memorial Day parade; playing in an exhibition softball game at Chautauqua Institution; signing autographs and playing games with customers at Wegmans; and participating in an ice cream-eating contest at the Town of Busti Library. Beyond that, Peterson noted that there has been an increase in park buyouts; an increase in sponsorship; and an increase in pregame tent parties.

“There’s been an up-tic in all that stuff,” he said. “The indices we look at (show) the community is embracing Jamestown Community Baseball LLC.”

And then there are those special moments that may fly under the radar to most fans on any given game day, but yet are an indication of the place that baseball has had in our area for generations.

One example of that was last night.

Seated next to the Tarp Skunks’ dugout was Gregg Bender, who was serving as a “bench coach.” Gregg’s father, Bob, was inducted into the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame in 2020 in recognition of his baseball prowess, including when he played for the Steel Partition Bombers of Jamestown’s Municipal League during the 1940s and 1950s. The bat boy for the Bombers in the late 1950s was Gregg.

The bat boy for last night’s Tarp Skunks’ game?

That was Karter Bender, who just happened to wearing the very same Steel Partition Bombers jersey — No. 0, in fact — that his grandpa Gregg wore 65 years ago.

How’s that for history?

As Year 2 of the Tarp Skunks’ season nears its conclusion, it appears that there is more history to be made in the seasons to come.

“We’ve gone from doubt (before the 2021 season) to full acceptance,” Peterson said. ” … Last year we kind of rolled that (mascot) out … and you had that (negative) reaction. Now? It’s embraced.”