Outskirts Press, INC.

"The Circus Is In Town!"

A family vacation in Reading, PA, to see a baseball game, made notable by a state-line billboard that read: “Welcome to Pennsylvania. America starts here.” What did Pennsylvania have that New Jersey didn’t? “Well ... Minor League Baseball for one,” I muttered to myself. In fact, the Garden State hadn’t been home to a minor league team for 12 years, when the Jersey City Indians finished their 1978 season and left town. The Hilliards would soon be moving to rural Sussex County in the northwest corner of Jersey. What passed for family entertainment during the summer months? The neighborhood Dairy Queen was mobbed on Friday nights. The local diner was always crowded on weekends. The main attraction?... the county’s Farm & Horse Show – but only for 10 days in early August. Other than a single bowling center and a pair of old-time movie theatres, the closest entertainment destination for young families could be found at a large mall more than an hour away. After that weekend at Reading’s Municipal Stadium, I’d found what was missing in the community we’d be calling home - America’s national pastime. But how to go about filling this void? And to what lengths would I personally be willing to go in order to turn this thought into reality? The Circus Is In Town describes the childhood, teenage, young-adult and family events that would shape my decision to table a successful business career for a road less traveled. A roller-coaster ride as unpredictable as a Ryne Duren fastball punctuated the next eight years. With a level of detail that could be chronicled only by the one person who experienced every waking moment, I take readers from the germ of an idea to full-blown reality – replete with pitfalls, internal discord, bureaucratic obstacles, crushing defeats and triumphs of the mind and heart. And then there’s the baseball, itself. For anyone looking at getting into the business of baseball, The Circus Is In Town is surely a cautionary tale. For fans of the game, it is pure joy. For either, it’s a must read.