Over the weekend I had the pleasure of visiting City Island in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, home to FNB Field and the Harrisburg Senators. The Sens are the AA affiliate of my hometown MLB team (that would be the Washington Nationals), an appropriate junior partner if I ever heard one in both city and nickname.

I’d been to FNB Field once before, back when it was Metro Bank Ballpark in 2012. Prior to that it was Commerce Bank Park and before that Riverside Stadium, hosting the Sens since 1987 (and some form of baseball for a hundred years prior). That’s pretty long standing as minor league parks go, as is the Senators-Nationals connection. That one’s been in place since Day One of the big league club in 2005.

If you’re wondering, yes, the ballpark really is on an island, right there in the middle of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania’s capital city. They say the river’s a mile wide and a foot deep, though I didn’t check either stat. It is wide, though seemed pretty deep as well as my son and I walked over the Walnut Street Bridge that connects the island to downtown. There we found the famous Palumbo’s Italian Eatery, an authentic old-school pizzeria rivaled only by The Italian Store and perhaps Naples itself.

My son and I got to the ballpark early, of course, as one does, and got to see a lot of pregame. There ended up being a 75-minute “rain” delay, though I’m pretty sure there was no actual rain falling at any point. A cynical part of me thought it may have been a plot to sell more beer, though if that were the case I guess I was okay with it. They kept us entertained with some Jumbotron shenanigans, and we had our fill of ice cream in upside-down plastic batting helmets. Classic. They also had a cartoonishly large soft pretzel for sale but we would have needed about a dozen other people to help us with that one. Or a few more hours of “rain.”

FNB Field is S-tier as minor league parks go, and I’ve been to quite a few. At this point in my life I tend to go only to places I know will be amazing, and I’ll never tire of being right.
Note to future self: don’t wait a dozen years until next time.