The town of Jamestown, New York, has been without baseball since the short-season Class A Jamestown Jammers left in 2014 for the greener pastures of West Virginia. That void will be filled this summer when Jamestown fields a team in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League.
The team today announced its identity, the Jamestown Tarp Skunks, a Brandiose creation, which combines with the city’s history with its stinky fauna.
The “Tarp” aspect of the name, according to General Manager Frank Fanning, derives from “Mr. Howard Ehmke, former Chautauqua County resident, MLB Pitcher, 1929 Philadelphia A’s World Series Champion, 1983 Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame Inductee, and the founder of the Ehmke Manufacturing Company – who produced the original infield tarp. He is proudly our Father of the Infield Tarp.”
The “Skunk” half of the name, again per Fanning, represents “a very common creature at Diethrick Park, a creature which has made a habit of pestering and wreaking havoc on baseball team employees for decades at Diethrick Park; specifically living inside the infield tarp, and under the visiting bullpen’s bench. Skunks are also seen wandering the concourse in the evenings.”
The Tarp Skunks will take the field for the first time May 29, 2020.