The Prince of Harrisburg

Tom Prince in 1987

Tonight marks the 38th anniversary of Tom Prince’s stunning two-out homer in the bottom of the ninth inning off Todd Frohwirth to force extra innings as the Harrisburg Senators rally to beat the Reading Phillies 4-3 in 13 innings of the fifth and deciding game of Class AA Eastern League semifinals on City Island.

The Senators, in the first season of their modern era, then defeat the Vermont Reds to win the 1987 EL title.

The title is the first of Harrisburg’s six championships in a 12-year span that ends in 1999 with Milton Bradley’s even more stunning two-out, two-strike, ninth-inning grand slam to beat Norwich in another deciding Game 5.

Alas, the Senators – once the scourge of the Eastern League – have not won a championship since then.

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