A Flooded Stadium Went Viral, but the Home Team Didn’t Quit
The New York Times
The Somerset Patriots lost cars and equipment to Hurricane Ida’s aftermath — and had fish swimming in the on-deck circle — but the Yankees affiliate returned home a week later.
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — Shortly past sunrise on the day after Hurricane Ida’s remnants brought torrential rains, Dan Purner, the groundskeeper for the Somerset Patriots, drove his pickup around vehicles that had been abandoned on main roads when Hurricane Ida’s remnants had brought heavy rains overnight.
The baseball team, which is in its first season as the Yankees’ Class AA affiliate, was in Maryland on Sept. 2, but water awaited Purner at TD Bank Ballpark. When he arrived at 7:30 a.m., puddles dotted the warning track. If that was the worst of it, he thought, the field would be fine.
But then the floodwaters started seeping in under the right-field fence. Within 15 minutes, the rising tide reached the infield; another 15 minutes later, the muddy water rested in Row G of the stands. Fish swam by the on-deck circle, and the flooding had lifted outfield wall pads off brackets and carried them more than 300 feet to home plate.