Chilling in Canton

The 1993 Harrisburg Senators complete a remarkable comeback 32 years ago today as they rally from an 0-2 series deficit to win their third straight road game in the Class AA Eastern League best-of-5 finals against the Canton Indians.

The Senators outscore Canton 23-4 over the series’ final three games, including 8-0 in the title-clinching game.

“I do remember Canton being ready to celebrate each day when we showed up to the ballpark,” Senators pitcher Rod Henderson later says. “I just remember us approaching each game like we did in the regular season. We took BP and did our pregame work like it was another day.”

The Senators celebrate on the field after Game 5 and then celebrate in the clubhouse with Canton’s champagne

And then they obliterate Canton in the fifth and deciding game, a game that Harrisburg’s Glenn Murray caps by driving home three runs over the final three innings.

Just prior to that, Senators left fielder Tyrone Horne changes the momentum in the fifth inning of a 1-0 game by climbing the wall in left-center to take away a home run from Canton’s Ryan Martindale.

Before the last game, Senators general manager Todd Vander Woude shrewdly makes arrangements to purchase from Canton the 48 bottles of champagne the Indians have been chilling since returning from Harrisburg with a seemingly commanding 2-0 lead in the series.

“I forget the cost,” Vander Woude says a few years later, “and, yes, the bottles were still chilled.”

Chilled, and then swilled in the Senators’ clubhouse after Game 5.

“Just to know,” relief pitcher Ed Puig says, “that the champagne was theirs, it tasted even better when we drank it.”

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