The Syracuse Chiefs are enduring one of their losing-est baseball seasons ever, but last week the International League cellar-dwellers won three games in a row to please the hometown fans at NBT Bank Stadium.
This weekend the ball-club will celebrate a “What If” night by changing the team’s name from Chiefs to Salt Potatoes for one game only, at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5 versus the Rochester Red Wings.
Before the start of the 2017 International League season, the Chiefs began asking fans what name they would assign the Chiefs if given the chance. Hundreds of suggestions based on what Central New York means to them. Chiefs management narrowed down the list of names to the “Salt Potatoes” in time to get Minor League Baseball approval and merchandise made.
Herm’s the man!
He’s yet to receive recognition from the front office, but Chiefs’ photographer Herm Card — a former teacher who also shoots freelance for Eagle Newspapers — is the guy who first suggested the tasty tater moniker.
Card, who knows local history like the back of his hand, wanted to pay homage to the legend that salt potatoes were invented by Irish-born salt boilers who toiled on the shore of Onondaga Lake in the 19th century. During the 1800s, salt boilers here routinely cooked up a lunch of small, unpeeled, substandard potatoes by simply boiling the tubers in the free-flowing salt brine.
Online counterpoint
Although salt potatoes remain well-recognized as a Central New York phenomenon, tastecooking.com food writer Mary-Frances Heck says similar dishes have been served elsewhere for hundreds of years.
In the early 17th century, she reported, Canary Island inhabitants boiled their taters in sea water to create papas arrugadas. Heck also pointed out that a dish called “papa salada” has long been a staple in the salt-mining town of Zipaquira, Colombia.
‘Salt City’ celebrated
“Syracuse is the Salt City, so what better way to represent our city than to re-name the team the Salt Potatoes for a day?” said Chiefs General Manager Jason Smorol, a Liverpool resident. “We’re proud to be from Central New York, and this is a fun, unique way to represent our history.”
At Saturday’s game, the team will wear specialty Salt Potatoes jerseys and caps. Salt Potatoes merchandise is already selling briskly at the stadium’s Whistlestop Souvenir Store. The Aug. 5 SuperSaturday giveaway will be a replica Salt Potatoes jersey for the first 1,000 fans, and fireworks will follow the game.
Horn Dogs bark Aug. 9
Free concerts presented by the Liverpool Is The Place Committee continue under the new roof at Johnson Park at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2, with Grupo Pagan Lite.
On Monday, Aug. 7, pianist Joe Altier — also known as Just Joe — will perform classic rock, and on Wednesday, Aug. 9, The Horn Dogs will bark at the park.
Diner defunct
Is anyone really surprised that the American Diner has closed?
Owner Mike Tassone was plagued by plenty of problems including a guilty plea to welfare fraud last year. And some observers think that his menu, which openly criticized liberal politicians, may have turned off some customers, although the place was usually crowded.
Anyhow, Mike threw in the towel in mid-July, leaving a note on the diner’s doors: “Thank you and God Bless you.”
Now the popular spot next to the railroad tracks is for rent. Interested commercial or retail enterprises can call the landlord at (315) 469-5593.
Contact the columnist at [email protected].
