In Trenton, Age Ain’t Nothin’ But A Number

The Trenton Thunder is known for a couple things. Yeah, they’re a Yankees minor league team, so when Yanks players are on rehab assignments, they sometimes pitch in Trenton. (Roger Clemens did earlier this year.) They also have a golden retriever as a bat, uh, dog. He had a bobblehead of himself this year.

But whatever aphrodisiac the Trenton Thunder have (or possibly has), they might want to start bottling it up and selling it; it might be a more lucrative than minor league baseball. So far this year, a whopping 11 couples have gotten engaged at Thunder games, a team record. (This stat is, sadly, not in the new SABR Baseball List and Record Book.) It’s unclear if these couples all first met at a Trenton Thunder game and are picking a cute place to get engaged or if they’re just yahoos who get engaged at a baseball game.

But one thing is clear: There was a little near-Lolita action going on in at least one of the new happy engaged couples.

The latest engagement took place Thursday for Jessica Margerum, 20, of Bristol Township, who goes by Jessyka, and Michael Birbeck, 26, of Falls Township. As the big question appeared on the scoreboard, Michael lowered to one knee, and Jessica’s screams alerted the fans around them.

The pair became friends four to five years ago, but waited to date until Margerum finished high school. Birbeck, a youth minister at First Presbyterian Church of Levittown, felt it was inappropriate to date a member of his youth group. Spending more time together, they realized they were meant for a deeper connection.

Congratulations, Jessica Jessyka! Your future husband wanted you from the time he first laid eyes on you when you were 15.

Love hits a home run at Thunder games [Bucks County Courier Times]