Curve officials had hoped to host a championship celebration Sunday afternoon in Altoona, but the quirky logistics of minor league baseball prevented that from happening.
It may not be the explanation people want to hear following the city's first professional sports title - and some already have expressed frustration over the lack of a parade or something similar - but here goes:
Curve general manager Rob Egan said Saturday evening that the plan was to hold a reception at the Ramada Inn in Altoona at around noon Sunday. Manager Matt Walbeck and some players would be in attendance, and the event would be open to fans.
Walbeck then said after the game that no such event could take place because the Pirates already had made travel arrangements for him and some other members of the team.
Most of the players made the trip back to Altoona on the bus following the clinching win over Trenton. Now, it stands to reason that they could hang around town for the better part of a day to take part in a celebration, and frankly, it would seem like they would owe that to the city that supported them all season.
Doing that, however, is not as simple as it sounds, again because of the unusual inner workings of the minor leagues.
A lot of the Curve players did not have a home to come back to in Altoona. Their apartment leases were up at the end of August, and many were living out of hotel rooms throughout September - often two or more per room - trying to save money.
First-year Double-A players only make about $1,800 a month. For them to stick around another day in Altoona would have meant additional hotel costs and/or scrambling to find someplace to stay.
Because of all that - and to get back to their lives away from baseball - most of the players already had made arrangements to head out of town first thing Sunday morning.
Talking with EL president Joe McEacharn and Curve owner Bob Lozinak, whose former team in Albuquerque won six titles, both made it clear that no minor league championship teams ever have parades or follow-up celebrations.
Fine, I told both of them, but this one is different because it's Altoona's first title, and it would be classy to hold an event here. But the logistics, they noted, make it almost impossible.
That indeed turned out to be the case, in spite of the Curve's efforts to make it happen.
Cory Giger is the host of "Sports Central" from 4 to 6 p.m. daily on ESPN Radio 1430 WVAM. He can be reached at 949-7031 or cgsports12@aol.com.
