08/04/2026
Grangers Entertain Twilight Throng
-Special to Community Lifestyles by Douglas “Moonlight” Otlewski
Rochester…
The Rochester Museum was the setting, base ball was the attraction and a shimmering evening the stage for a vintage sporting contest at Van Hoosen Farm. For the second time in a fortnight, the Rochester Grangers again exploited the extra daylight afforded by the earth’s position at perihelion. The Canton Cornshuckers, a green and yellow-hued ectomorphic juggernaut, were in town to provide the opposition.
The Grangers showed their ginger in the early going, staying within hailing distance of their guests through seven innings. Then, with the maple tree in left field taking center stage, a ball struck by a Shucker batsman entered said tree but refused to exit the branches. By the time the ball could be retrieved from the clutches of the leafy giant the Canton strongman had circled the bases. An appeal lodged by a Granger trio to umpire Bob “Piller” Lytle was unavailing.
Contrary to the hopes of the Rochester faithful, the importune occurrence ignited the Cantonese bombers, who forthwith tallied a gaggle of aces to establish a prominent margin. With an outsized Rochester centric crowd cheering the home team on, the Grangers responded with their own bombardment, just falling short before retiring to the calf barn for birch beer and assorted fried comestibles.
With another vintage campaign drawing to a close, the Grangers embark upon a season-ending road trip to continue their quest to spread the nation’s game.
