Wilmington Blue Rocks
Dad and I make our way to Frawley Stadium in Wilmington, Delaware, to see the High-A Wilmington Blue Rocks host the Hudson Valley Renegades. And I get to throw out another first pitch!
Judy Johnson Field at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium in Wilmington pays homage to two local baseball heroes.
William Julius “Judy” Johnson grew up in Wilmington and enjoyed a 17-year career in the Negro leagues from 1921-1937, playing third base for the Hilldale Daisies, Homestead Grays, and Pittsburgh Crawfords. A lifetime .304 hitter, Johnson also did stints as a player-manager in the Negro leagues. He would later serve as a scout and one of the first African American coaches in Major League Baseball when he joined the Philadelphia Athletics staff in 1954. Johnson was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975, and his statue is prominently displayed near the ballpark’s front gates.
Former Wilmington Mayor Daniel S. Frawley is honored for playing a major role in bringing Minor League Baseball and the Blue Rocks name back to Wilmington, lending his full support to the construction of a ballpark on the site of the old Dravo Shipyard in the city’s Riverfront District. The ballpark opened in 1993 as Legends Stadium, then took on the mayor’s name the following year.
The original Wilmington Blue Rocks were formed in 1940 in partnership with Philadelphia Athletics owner Connie Mack as a Class-B Minor League team in the Interstate League, serving players to the A’s. The Blue Rocks were named for the blue granite found along the banks of the Brandywine Creek that flows through downtown Wilmington. The team was sold to the owner of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1944 and drew more than 170,000 fans that season to old Wilmington Park. By 1952, however, that number had dipped below 42,000, and both the team and the Interstate League folded at the end of the year.
Just around the corner from the main entrance to Frawley Stadium is the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame, honoring Johnson and many other athletes from the state.
Amateur baseball in Wilmington can be traced to the post-Civil War period. The dominant club to emerge from that scene was the Wilmington Quicksteps, who in 1883 joined the newly formed Interstate Association of Professional Baseball Clubs. The following year, they replaced the Philadelphia Keystones in the fledgling “major league” known as the Union Association.
The Quicksteps were succeeded by a host of clubs that struggled to gain a financial foothold: the Blue Hens, the Chicks (with future Yankees manager Joe McCarthy), the Powder Monkeys (named for the DuPont Gunpowder Mills just north of town), the Shipbuilders (featuring “Shoeless” Joe Jackson), and a host of Negro league and semi-pro teams.
The museum does a nice job telling Johnson’s story and covering other baseball greats from Delaware like Dallas Green, Dave May, Delino DeShields, John Mabry, and Paul Goldschmidt.
The Ballgame
The current iteration of the Blue Rocks became possible when the Class-A Peninsula Pilots were purchased in 1992 and moved to Wilmington after 30 years in Hampton, Virginia. As members of the Carolina League, the team was affiliated with the Kansas City Royals (1993-2004), Boston Red Sox (2005-06), and the Royals again (2007-2020) before joining the Washington Nationals in the High-A South Atlantic League in 2021.
The Blue Rocks were particularly hot in the 1990s, winning Carolina League titles in 1994, 1996, 1998, and 1999. They added another championship in 2019.
Frawley Stadium seats 6,404. Wilmington averaged 2,505 fans in 2023, eighth in the South Atlantic League. In addition to Jackie Robinson’s 42, the team has retired three numbers: Johnny Damon (18), Mike Sweeney (33), and, from the earlier Blue Rocks franchise, Robin Roberts (36). Other notable alumni include Eric Hosmer, Carlos Beltrán, Zack Greinke, Clay Buchholz, Jacobi Ellsbury, Mike Moustakas, and Sean Manaea.
Dad and I made a quick stop at The Quarry, the Blue Rocks team store, where Dad picked up his baseball de la nuit and I selected Wilmington’s powder-blue home hat as my anointed one Perfect Hat.
The store’s collection included a display of gear representing Mr. Celery, a special mascot who CELE-brates on the field when the Blue Rocks score a run, dancing to Blur’s “Song #2.”
For the second night in a row, I had been invited to throw out the first pitch. Dad and I were called to go onto the field and wait for further instructions near the Blue Rocks dugout.
Wilmington mascot Rocky Bluewinkle came along and graciously posed for a selfie with the two of us.
The Blue Rocks were celebrating Italian Heritage Night — the second of three such promotions on our three-week journey. My first pitch was proceeded by several other first pitches from local Italian-Americans. I appreciated my Irish-Czech Dad and I being tacked on to the ceremonies.
My first pitch the night before with the Jersey Shore BlueClaws had been a little inside. This time, I tossed the ball inside and in the dirt. Rocky Bluewinkle, my ersatz catcher, struggled to dig it out. Not my best effort. Behind home plate, Dad delivered his dramatic strikeout call nonetheless. Aside from feeling the need to up my training regimen, it was a truly fun experience.
Wilmington’s opponent for the night was the Hudson Valley Renegades, the High-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, who had won the South Atlantic League North Division in the first half of the season and would finish runners-up to the Greenville Drive in the league championship series. The BlueRocks, on the other hand, were on their way to the worst overall record in the division.
There was some interesting synchronicity to the night’s starting pitchers. Both were playing in their first professional season, both were Florida natives, and both had pitched as part of the same staff at the University of South Florida. Wilmington’s former USF Bull was right-hander Brad Lord, an 18th-round pick of the Nationals. Lord pitched in 18 games for the Single-A Fredericksburg Nationals before being promoted to the Blue Rocks two weeks earlier.
Brad Lord
Baron Stuart
The Renegades countered with undrafted 24-year-old Baron Stuart, who had left USF in 2022 to pitch as a fifth-year senior at the University of Pittsburgh. Stuart had done well enough in 11 starts with the Tampa Bay Tarpons to earn his promotion to the High-A level and was making his first appearance for the Renegades.
Lord set down the Renegades in order on just eight pitches in the first inning. Stuart gave up a single but nothing further, and we were underway.
Looking for something other than typical ballpark fare, I went down the right-field line to Chickie’s & Pete’s — a Philadelphia-area institution — for a buffalo chicken cheesesteak. I paired it with Crabfries and a Woo Hoo Brew, a New England-style IPA from Wilmington Brew Works featuring Mr. Celery on the can. The Crabfries came with Old Bay-style seasoning and a side of cheese sauce, which was a bit of overkill on top of my gooey but delicious mess of a cheesesteak.
The Renegades broke the scoreless deadlock in the top of the fourth inning on an error, walk, and a sacrifice fly — not much to be alarmed about for the home team.
Renegades right fielder Grant Richardson made a much more emphatic statement in the top of the fifth with a leadoff home run to right field. Meanwhile, the Blue Rocks toiled at the plate, scattering just four hits in the first five innings with nothing to show for it.
Stuart finished his outstanding night for the Renegades after retiring the side in order in the sixth. He left the game with no earned runs and five strikeouts, his best performance of the year. Stuart would begin 2024 with an invite to the New York Yankees spring training camp.
It was a claustrophobic night for Mr. Celery, who remained in his cage near home plate, restrained from his joyous on-field frolic by the Blue Rocks inability to put a run on the board. There was some fun on the field between innings — a race to put items in a mini shopping cart, a cornhole toss, a relay race with kids dressed as Dunkin’ Donuts coffee cups, and our second eyeball race in two nights.
Hudson Valley added another run in the eighth inning on a walk and a single. Three Renegades relievers combined to shut the door on Wilmington, giving up just one hit in the final three innings. The home crowd never had much to whoop about as the visitors came away with a 3-0 win.