Yankees Minor League Team Renames Itself ‘Trenton Pork Roll’

The Trenton Thunder will ham it up this Spring Image by iStock

By Jenny Singer January 25, 2018

For reasons unknown, baseball is not seen as relevant as it once was. Unrelated, no doubt, is the choice by the New York Yankees’ minor league team to rebrand themselves one day a week as “the Trenton Pork Roll” during their 25th anniversary season (they will continue to be “the Trenton Thunder on other nights.)

Like an immigrant at Ellis Island picking a more American name, the Yankees’ minor-league offshoot has selected a name that is American as apple pie, or in this case, as American as a ham sandwich. The team will wear uniforms bearing images of Taylor ham, the name for the popular New Jersey pork roll — and snack stands at the team’s field will serve pork products.

The kicker? The promotion will only occur at Friday night games.

There’s no crying in baseball, and it looks like there’s not much kashrut either.

Jenny Singer is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

Jenny Singer is a freelance writer with pieces in Vox, the Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Teen Vogue, and more. She was previously a staff writer at Glamour and the Forward, and she’s currently getting an MFA in nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO