MLB has a squirrel, AAA has a mouse.

As  a sports photographer for the (AAA) Syracuse Chiefs, a day at the ballpark with the home team on the road is something of a busman’s holiday.  So – I snapped a couple of hundred shots of the  Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees hosting the Buffalo Bisons, and decided to head for home.  A buzz in the crowd drew my attention to a confrontation on the field where SWB  third baseman Ramiro Pena had come to the aid of shortstop  Corbin Joseph who was going head to head, so to speak, with – with – a mouse.  The mouse, which made its way to short left field in the bottom of the seventh avoided capture for several minutes. 

Joseph and Pena attempted to capture the critter in their gloves, but when Joseph tried to barehand it, it bit him and attached itself to his pantleg.  

  

After some crowd-pleasing fruitless pursuit, the two managed to trap him with their gloves and transport him to head groundskeeper John Stewart.  Stewart then transported the little guy out of the stadium and released him in the woods.  

 

OK – so that’s about as strange as it gets, right?  No.

On my way out, I came across Andrew Berlucchi, one of the Chief’s interns holding an ice pack on his shoulder.  He had dislocated the shoulder while performing his duties at the ballpark – tonight, that was putting on a Dunkin Donuts coffee cup costume and throwing tshirts to the fans.  That’s right – the former college and independent league professional catcher had dislocated his shoulder on his  first  shirt toss of the night.

As a true athlete, he sucked it up and finished the tosses left handed.  Kind of fitting since ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte pitches for SWB.  Ironically, he is on the DL at the moment.

Luckily, the Buffalo trainer was able to pop Andrew’s  shoulder back into place.
There is no word yet on a possible rehab toss in Auburn.