The Naval aircraft carrier USS Yorktown participated in Pacific Theater battle campaigns during both World War II and the Vietnam War. Next month, the old battleship will serve as a launching pad of a different kind.
On June 18, the Class A South Atlantic League plans to stage the first round of its Home Run Derby on the flight deck of the Yorktown, which since 1975 has been a museum ship located at Patriot's Park, which sits at the mouth of the Cooper River in Mount Pleasant, S.C., a suburb of Charleston. The championship round will then be held the next day as a lead-in to the Sally League's All-Star Game.
Here's television station WCSC:
The 10 Home Run Derby competitors —five from the Northern Division and five from the Southern Division—will each take 10 swings in an inflatable batting cage that will be placed on the flight deck.
Four players will move on to compete in the final round at Riley Park, home of the Charleston RiverDogs.
The Coast Guard will assess and note the longest homers to determine the finalists.
Eco-conscience [sic] individuals have no need to worry; The RiverDogs have hired kayakers and personnel on jet skis to retrieve the balls that will be hit into the Charleston Harbor.
Sounds like a swell idea and all, though the last time bombs went flying around Charleston Harbor, things didn't end so well.
[WCSC, via Larry Brown Sports]