By Tim Binnall
A minor league baseball team in Pennsylvania will celebrate an unusual local cryptid this season when, for one night only, they will take to the field as the Squonk. Said to inhabit the northern forests of the state, the curious-looking critter was first detailed in the 1910 book 'Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods.' The "always unhappy" Squonk was said to sport "misfitting skin" that made it so unsightly and uncomfortable that the pig-like creature constantly wept about its unfortunate state and could "dissolve itself in tears" should it be frightened or the need to escape from capture arise.
Undoubtedly due to its wholly unique and rather sympathetic depiction, the Squonk has become wildly popular among cryptid fans in recent years, with all manner of merchandise and even an annual festival celebrating the peculiar critter. As such, it should come as no surprise that a local minor league baseball team has gotten in on the action and adopted the creature as its own. Earlier this week, the Philadelphia Phillies AAA affiliate, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, reportedly revealed that, for a game on June 6th, the team will play as the Squonk.
In announcing the forthcoming cryptid celebration, the IronPigs also smartly unveiled an array of special Squonk-branded merchandise to mark the occasion. Remarkably, in a testament to the growing popularity of local legendary creatures across America, the Lehigh Valley team is not the only group undergoing such a one-night-only transformation. This coming June, Ohio's Mahoning Valley Scrappers minor league baseball team will similarly play as the Grassmen, in honor of a Bigfoot-like cryptid said to live in the area.