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One Patch of Grass

  1. 1908 Harrisburg Giants with Spottswood Poles (1st row, 2nd from right)

    Photo courtesy of Reid Poles

  2. Hall of Famer Oscar Charleston was the Harrisburg Giants' player-manager from 1924-27.

  3. 1936 flood put City Island and its ballpark, lower right, under water

  4. Pro baseball returns to City Island in the early 1940s

  5. Max Patkin made his debut as the Clown Prince of Baseball in 1946 on City Island

  6. Satchel Paige on the Island in the early 1950s

  7. Brooks Lawrence became the first former Senators pitcher selected to the All-Star Game for Cincinnati in 1956

  8. Eleanor Engle pictured shortly after becoming the first woman to sign a baseball contract in 1952

  9. City Island under water during the 1972 flood

  10. Construction of RiverSide Stadium in the winter of 1986-1987

    Photo courtesy of Harrisburg Senators

  11. With general manager Rick Redd looking on, David Ellis shows off his tickets as the Senators' first customer in 1987

    Photo courtesy of Harrisburg Senators

  12. Aerial view of Opening Day 1987

    Photo courtesy of Harrisburg Senators

  13. Jim Neidlinger delivers a pitch on Opening Day 1987

    Photo courtesy of Harrisburg Senators

  14. The Senators playing before another packed house in 1987

    Photo courtesy of Harrisburg Senators

  15. Moises Alou played on the island during the 1989 and '90 seasons before amassing 2,134 hits and 332 home runs in a major league career that included six appearances in the All-Star Game

    Photo courtesy of Harrisburg Senators

  16. Pitcher Randy Tomlin and third baseman John Wehner in 1990

    Harrisburg Senators photo

  17. Actor Dennis Haysbert warms up for the 1993 shooting of "Major League II" on City Island

    Photo courtesy of Harrisburg Senators

  18. The Senators' dugout lineup card from Game 5 of the 1993 EL finals

  19. The Senators celebrate the 1993 Eastern League championship in Canton, Ohio

    Photo courtesy of Harrisburg Senators

  20. Vladamir Guerrero takes BP in 1996

    Photo courtesy of Harrisburg Senators

  21. Before bringing his eyebrows-to-ankles strike zone to the major leagues, Vladimir Guerrero was golfing pitches for hits in 1996 on City Island

    Photo courtesy of Harrisburg Senators

  22. Milton Bradley's historic swing in 1999

    Photo courtesy of Harrisburg Senators

  23. Teammates swarm Milton Bradley at the plate after his game-winning grand slam

    Photo courtesy of Harrisburg Senators

  24. Pitcher Cliff Lee as a Senator in 2002

    Photo courtesy of Harrisburg Senators

  25. The official boxscore signed by Seung Song from his controversial no-hitter in 2003

  26. Ryan Zimmerman making new fans in 2005

    Photo courtesy of Harrisburg Senators


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About One Patch of Grass

For more than 100 years, minor league baseball has been played in hundreds of cities, towns and 'burgs from Maine to California. And, every one of those cities, towns and 'burgs from Orchard Park to Rancho Cucamonga has shared a commonality of great moments on the field, oddball occurrences off the field and encounters with hundreds of players who have passed through on their way either to starring in the major leagues or, more likely, to toiling in 9-to-5 jobs in the real world.

Only one place can claim a uniqueness of its own, a place where one-of-a-kind moments have occurred on the same patch of grass since 1890.

The place: City Island, a 63-acre parcel of land that sits in the Susquehanna River, a short walk from downtown Harrisburg to the grandstand behind home plate. Fans today can look upon a field where, plus or minus a foot or two in location and elevation, baseball has been played in the same spot as it was in 1890, when Frank Grant and Hughie Jennings became the first pair of black-and-white teammates who eventually were inducted into the Hall of Fame; in 1928, when Babe Ruth umpired a kids' game in the afternoon before homering on the same field later that day; in 1952, when Eleanor Engle became the first woman to sign a pro baseball contract; and in 1999, when Milton Bradley – the player, not the board game company – launched a Hollywood moment of a homer that was beyond anything Bernard Malamud ever conceived for his fictional Roy Hobbs.

Their stories, and dozens more, are profiled in the book One Patch of Grass.

The Reviews Are In for One Patch of Grass

People have been talking about One Patch of Grass since the book's release in May 2012. Here are what the critics have to say:

Take a Peek Inside

Here's a sample of One Patch of Grass, this one is on wunderkind pitcher Stephen Strasburg. Click here to take a peek.

Have a Question?

Just drop a line to raindelay8@aol.com.

About the Author

Andrew Linker is an award-winning sports writer who has spent more than 30 years working for newspapers and magazines up and down the Susquehanna River with most of that time spent covering the Harrisburg Senators after their return to City Island in 1987. He and his wife Michelle and their daughter, Annie, live 15 miles outside Harrisburg, about the same distance some old-timers claim Babe Ruth hit his homer against the Senators in a 1928 exhibition game on the island.

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