ALTOONA, Pa. -- A lot has happened since the last time the Altoona Curve hit the field in September of 2019, but make no bones about it this area and community are more than ready to experience professional baseball here once again.
It will be a welcome sight for all when the first pitch is thrown at Peoples Natural Gas Field on May 4 and rightly so. This is a community starved for professional baseball and a return even to the slightest bit of normalcy. Even with the smallest market in professional sports, Altoona is a baseball town through and through.
From Cricket Field to the Altoona Rail Kings and now the Curve, the history of baseball in this city is rich and deep. Soon baseball will be back, Curve burgers will be grilled and the Skyliner roller coaster will be creaking along with the crack of the bat.
Those sounds, those experiences are what make baseball in Altoona and across minor league baseball great. They give a lifetime of memories each trip to the ballpark something fans and players alike have been unable to do for over a year.
The future for the Pirates begins in Altoona and has for over 20 years. It's where we saw the evolution of Neil Walker, Andrew McCutchen and the promise in Jameson Taillon, Tyler Glasnow and Mitch Keller. It's also where we saw cult heroes come to life before our very eyes in Brad Eldred and Adam Hyzdu.
Players like Nick Gonzales and Quinn Priester will get their chance to be looked and idolized much like the guys mentioned above and like the guys who will come after on their journeys to the majors. Will they be added to the history books for Altoona? Anything is possible in minor league baseball and that's what makes it so great for small towns like Altoona.
At long last we get to see the next batch of prospects blossom and grow just like those who've come before. And if there's anything the last year has taught us: any opportunity to have those experiences and see live baseball is a welcome one for this city and community.
YOUR TURN: What's the biggest thing to look forward to with minor league baseball's return?
