While it was a mild October evening last night at the Whitney Grounds which hosts the Westfield Adult Softball Fall League, a brief blast of hot wind had everyone wondering what was going on. Little did anyone know, but we had just experienced a ghostly encounter. According to folklore, once a year in October it is thought that a train from update New York delivers to Westfield a team of ghost players from the Troy area to take on the ghosts players from the Whitney Grounds for one night. During the late 1910s through the late 1930s, Whitney was the home of Westfield baseball which hosted industrial league baseball, semi pro baseball and barnstorming professional games. While the grounds have been transfered to softball diamonds, the ghost players don't seem to care and of course work though the shortened outfield fences. Right around 8:30 PM, near the end of game one of a doubleheader between the Republican Softball team featuring four Westfield Wheelmen and Mobrice & Son's Construction, the tall trees on top of the Whitney dike began to sway rather loudly and without warning with leaves falling all around as if the hill was full of ghost fans waving and cheering that once populated Whitney as a viewing area. The waving trees were followed by an almost uncomfortable blast of hot air as if the ghost players had just entered the grounds. This makes sense as moments before the wave of the trees, the slow but sure screeching of an Amtrak train across the Westfield River could be heard coming from west to east. Although no odd or strange events took place during the game itself as there was no need for "haunting" as the brotherhood of ball players tend to leave it on the field, no matter the era. However, the post game meeting was an interesing forum for the ghostly players as they listened and watched as the Republican team leader (a Yankee fan) was offering a play-by-play, pitch-by-pitch account of the Yankee playoff loss against the LA Angels on his internet cell phone, taking place on the other side of the country. It was an up and down last few innings for the Yanks and just perhaps it was the ghosts of Westfield baseball that defeated the update New York ghosts by not allowing the Yankees to celebrate that night. By 11:35 the grounds had cleared of both players and ghosts for another year.
