Charlie Hustle

Pete Rose
1941 - 2024
One of the greatest professional baseball players who ever lived passed away today at age 83.

June 26, 1991 - Municipal Stadium - West Palm Beach, FL

Pete Rose is a controversial figure in the sport for several reasons that I'm not going to discuss, but he'll always be one of my favorite ballplayers and not just because of his incredible career, or the fact that he helped lead the Phillies to their first World Series Championship in franchise history.  I met him just a few days before my 11th birthday at a minor league game between the West Palm Beach Expos and the Sarasota White Sox.  He was in attendance to watch his son who was playing for the Sarasota at the time.  This is not only a special memory for me because I got to meet one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, but because this was the first ballgame that I ever attended.  You can't ask for a better memory than that.

My dad took a photo of us with my 110 camera.  Unfortunately, there was something wrong with the lens and every picture on the roll came out blurry like this one, but that's me on the left in a Miami Heat shirt holding the program from the game, and the man to my right in the sunglasses is baseball's all-time hit king.

Mr. Rose was extremely nice when we met him.  The red and white thing that I'm holding in my right hand in that photograph is this 5x7 card.  He had a small stack of them that he had autographed ahead of time, and he was giving them to every kid who came up to him.  There may have been some adults who got one too, but I'm pretty sure it was just something he did for the kids.  I still have this card in a frame on my bookshelf to this day.

The fact that he is MLB's all-time hits leader (4,256) is the most well-known of his accomplishments, but it's far from his only line in the record book.  When he retired after the 1986 season, he had the highest career fielding percentage for a right fielder (99.14%) and the highest National League career fielding percentage as a left fielder (99.07%).  He still holds the career record for most at-bats (14,053), plate appearances (15,890), games played (3,562), and winning games played (1,972).  He's the only player in baseball history to have played at least 500 games at five different positions (first base, second base, third base, left field, and right field).  He has the most career singles (3,215), and the most runs (2,165), doubles (746), walks (1,566), and total bases (5,752) by a switch hitter.  He also still holds the National League record for career runs (2,165), doubles (746), and games with five or more hits (10), and he has the longest consecutive-game hitting streak in the National League in the modern era (44).  He won Rookie Of The Year in 1963, NL MVP in 1973, World Series MVP in 1975, and is a 17 time All-Star with three World Series championships, including the Phillies first championship in what was their 97th year in existence.

There will never be another Pete Rose.

Body By Plymouth, Soul By Satan

Christine
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
The Mahoning hosted a car show earlier tonight prior to a screening of the 1983 John Carpenter film based on a Stephen King novel about the most diabolical vintage automobile to ever be immortalized in celluloid and print, Christine.

Show banner designed by Andrew Kern

Show poster designed by William Sebastian

Our friend Bill is a very talented artist and someone who collects and restores classic cars, so there was no one better suited to design the poster for this Sunday night screening.

There was one special guest automobile in attendance with all of the other cars that were brought out to the lot.  Ronnie Ciarmello brought out a car that he has owned for the last fourteen years; a 1957 Plymouth Fury which has been lovingly dubbed as Christine's big sister, Mallory.

The car used for Christine was a 1958 Plymouth Fury.  Mallory (named after Mallory Knox from Natural Born Killers) was built in the last week of August 1957, which was one week before the 1958 Plymouth Fury was introduced.  Due to it being built during the changeover to a different model year, Mallory was produced using some '58 Fury parts.  Additionally, the V emblem on its grill is from one of the '58 Fury vehicles that was used during the Moochie chase scene during the filming of Christine.

There's nothing quite like a cup of hot apple cider with whipped cream and cinnamon to help keep you warm on a cold night in late September at the drive-in.  Very tasty!

 

Christine is undeniably an 80's classic and a horror movie classic.  It premiered in theaters when I was three years old, and it's one of the many movies that I discovered when I worked for Blowout Video when I was a teenager.  It's been over twenty years since I last saw it, so I forgot how great it really is.  It's another film that I never imagined that I'd be able to see on 35mm at a drive-in theater.  No matter how many times I come here, it never ceases to amaze me how this place makes you feel like you've traveled back in time and that you're truly experiencing a movie the way that audiences did when it was brand new.

Last, but not least, they started Mallory up at a pivotal scene during the movie, complete with eerie green interior lights.  I was glued to the big screen so I didn't get to see this, but Johnny Wheats captured the moment with these incredible photos.

Bloomsburg Fair Food: 2024

Bloomsburg Fair
Bloomsburg, PA  (2024)

Tonight was the final day of the 2024 Bloomsburg Fair.  It's time to reflect on the resilience of the human body and the fact that it is capable consume massive amounts of salt, fat, and sugar and still remain functional.  Before I tempt fate any further with statements like that, here are some of the different foods that I had on the fairgrounds this year.

My first stop for food at this year's Bloomsburg Fair was May's Bar-B-Q, and there was a bit of strategy behind this choice.  While I love trying the new and unusual foods that are available every year, I find that the portion sizes aren't usually big enough to be filling.  I stopped at May's first because, first and foremost, their sandwiches are very tasty.  You can get them in either ham, chicken, or pork, or if you're an absolute glutton like myself, you can get one of each.  Each of the sandwiches are topped with a delicious homemade relish.  They're a bit on the small side (picture a Chicken Little sandwich from KFC), but they pack the bun with meat so they're very satisfying.

May's Bar-B-Q was among the best values for your dollar that you could get in previous years at the Fair, but those days seem to be over.  I remember stopping after the Rick Springfield and Eddie Money concert in 2018 and picking up a few sandwiches from this stand for $3 each.  Last year, they were $5 each.  This year, they're up to $5.50.  Inflation has hit pretty much every vendor at the Bloomsburg Fair to some degree, but the percentage of the increase here seems to be higher than most of the other stands.  I'd still recommend them, but they're off of the "enjoy the fair on a bargain" list.

Next up was The Grill Reaper, which is a food vendor that knows how to market their product.  The place caught my eye for its name and logo, but it kept my attention with a variety of specialty cheeseburger options such as the Taki's Cheeseburger (made with Chili Lime Taki), the Reaper (made with jalapenos, ghost peppers, and a "reaper sauce"), the Yeehaw (topped with bacon, onion rings, and barbecue sauce), and the Beast Burger (topped with pulled pork, mac & cheese, and barbecue sauce).

I had the Teriyaki Cheeseburger, which was a burger topped with grilled pineapple, bacon, lettuce, sriracha mayo, teriyaki sauce, and American cheese.  It was pretty damn tasty!  I'm going to have to start making them like this at home.

Apple cider ice cream floats are a yearly tradition at the Bloomsburg Fair for my wife and I.  We pick them up from The Apple Cart in the back corner of the agricultural building and bring them to the tables near the fountain in the horticultural building.  They're still one of the best values on the fairgrounds at just $3.50, and they're especially refreshing on a hot and sunny day like we had on Sunday.

Next up was a giant bowl of poutine from Famous Fries.  I had every intention of bringing this home, but it smelled so good that I devoured the entire thing like a wild animal right next to the stand.  It's made with fresh cut french fries topped with white cheddar cheese curds and brown gravy, and it's not only delicious, but they give you a hell of a lot of food.

I've had poutine when we were in Canada, and I've eaten a lot of what was essentially an Americanized poutine at the Blue Comet in Hazleton when I was a teenager.  Those were diner fries topped with American cheese, brown gravy, and with parmesan cheese shaken on top.  They were both good, but the poutine at the Bloomsburg Fair has them both beat.

I've walked past the giant Peter Piper's Pickles sign a few times at the Bloomsburg Fair over the years, but I've never stopped to see what they had before this past Sunday.  The Pickled Cajun Shrimp sign caught my eye, but they didn't have the shrimp boil going when I was there.  What they did have was a pretty big variety of very tasty pickles.

Horseradish Pickles (left) - Old Bay Pickles (right)

The man behind the counter sensed my disappointment in not being able to try the Cajun shrimp boil, and he mentioned that the horseradish pickles that they sold tasted like shrimp cocktail.  I was skeptical, but he let me try a sample and I'll be damned if he wasn't right!  They don't taste like shrimp necessarilly, but the crunchy texture of the pickle and the flavor of the horseradish reminded me of eating shrimp dipped in cocktail sauce.

The horseradish pickles were so good that I stopped by their stand on Tuesday to pick up some of their Old Bay flavored pickles.  Those are equally tasty, and I'm told they're especially good if you chop them up and mix them with imitation crab meat in a sandwich.

I realize that I have written about Mr. Sticky's several times before, but it's worth repeating because their walnut sticky buns are one of the best things I've ever eaten.  We always make this one of our last stops of the day so that we can bring them home and have them for breakfast the next morning.  They have two stands at the fair.  If you want to avoid the line, go to the smaller stand that's closer to the display buildings instead of the larger stand that's right by the exit to the parking lot.  It's the exact same sticky buns in both stands, and you'll save yourself at least 10 minutes of waiting in line.

Our first stop for food on Tuesday was a roast beef sandwich from Top Of The Beef.  They have ham too, but almost no one ever gets it because their roast beef sandwiches are so damned good!

The person who took my order at Top Of The Beef mentioned to me that the Bourbon Chicken stand is amazing and that she was going to head back to pick up more from them before the end of the Fair.  Say no more, ma'am!  I ordered two scoops of bourbon chicken with pinto beans and rice.  They give you a hell of a lot of food which makes it a tremendous value, but when you're at a place with so much good food to try, getting full at one stand isn't necessarilly the best idea.  I'm definitely going to get food from here again next year, but I think that it's going to be one of the things that I bring home for the next day in the future.

 

Angie wanted a Cookie Monster Funnel Cake, so while I was going to town on my Bourbon Chicken meal, she was enjoying this.  She got through a little more than half of it before she got full, which means that I got the rest.  Apparently, my slow transition to becoming my grandfather is right on track.  I generally think that funnel cakes are too sweet for me, but this one was very good.

If I made any mistakes with my food choices at the fair this year, it was getting something as large as the Bourbon Chicken, and getting two scoops of Peachy Paterno ice cream from the Penn State Berkley Creamery.  Don't get me wrong, the chicken meal and the ice cream were both delicious, but I was so over-stuffed after having the both of them that I couldn't eat anything else for the rest of the day.  It's my own fault.  I have an issue with lactose and I know it.  Milk and cheese don't usually have too bad of an effect on me, but ice cream tends to make me feel bloated for the rest of the day.  No more ice cream at the Fair for me after this season.

And that's a wrap on another year at the Bloomsburg Fair.

Horror At The Bloomsburg Fair

The Fair - No Escape
Andrew Shecktor  (2024)

There was a table of authors at the back of one of the buildings at the Bloomsburg Fair this year who were signing and selling copies of their book.  This one drew me in as soon as I laid eyes on it.  A horror story that takes place right here that references specific people, places, and things on the Fairgrounds?  Sign me up!

I haven't started it yet, but it's not long so I'm going to set aside some time this weekend to read it.

 

Mr. Shecktor's book wasn't the only horror to be found at the Bloomsburg Fair this season.  This incredible Audrey II cake was on display along with the other cakes, cookies and brownies that were entered into the baking competition.  It won second place in its category, but it would have absolutely taken home the blue ribbon if I was judging.

I didn't see a name on the tag, but whoever was responsible for this cake did one hell of a job.  It couldn't have been easy to get the head to stand up on the stem like that.

There were a few food vendors that got into the Halloween spirit, including The Meating Wagon.  I was pretty full by the time we passed by here so I unfortunately missed out on trying their food, but the display was very cool!

Finally, one of the vendors near the rides at the back of the Fairgrounds had this tapestry flying over their tent.   If you found yourself at the dinner table with this group, it's a pretty safe bet that it would be your last supper.

Jen's Toy Den

Jen's Toy Den
Bloomsburg Fair (2024)

The vendor tables at the Bloomsburg Fair were always a lot of fun when I was a kid.  My grandparents would let me pick out a few things every year.  I remember getting a 1980 Topps Burger King Philadelphia Phillies team set, a black and white plastic boomerang, a wooden rubber band gun that held 12 "shots", packs of Garbage Pail Kids, and little plastic toys that I'd keep in a blue and white cooler by their back door to play with when I visited their house on weekends.  None of these things were expensive by any means, but to me they were absolute treasures.

We found one vendor this year that was exactly the kind of table that I would have gravitated towards when I was growing up.  They had a wide and random selection of the kind of toys that I would have asked my grandparents for in the 80's.  Nothing they sold was expensive.  In fact, I don't think anything cost more than five dollars.  Looking through this stand was like taking a trip back in time of happy days in my childhood at the Bloomsburg Fair.  Here are some of the things they had that stood out.

These little Fortune Teller Miracle Fish were at just about every kid's birthday party that I went to when I was in elementary school.

 

The whoopie cushion, hand buzzer, and snapping gum brought a huge smile to my face.  I had all three of these when I was a kid, and I annoyed my family to no end with them.

The rest of these things aren't necessarilly things that I remember seeing back in the 80's, but they're the kinds of toys that they sold at places like the Bloomsburg Fair, the Hometown Farmer's Market, and at the drug store in the mall back in the 80's.  They're the things that my grandfather would have called "crap" before smiling and handing me a dollar to bring one of them home.  It wasn't fancy, but I was happy to play with them, and seeing them still brings a smile to my face today.