Chris Swope Photography

Saturday, August 3, 2013

A Toast... to the Toastman

The smell of roasted peanuts, bratwurst, beer... and toast? While it's not what comes to mind when you think of a summer evening at the ball park, it is one of the things that makes WV Power baseball unique.
Armed with a loaf of bread, an impressive collection of handmade signs and an unrivaled love of baseball, Rod Blackstone, aka The Toast Man has been a fixture of West Virginia Minor League Baseball for nearly a quarter century.
During any given game you'll find him in the front row of section 107 at Power Park, with his trusty toaster working overtime on a folding table. What's the toast for you ask? Just wait for a strikeout at the hands of a Power pitcher... then you'll hear the chant.
"You are toast... You are toast... You... Are... Toast!" Then if you are anywhere within earshot of Rod, keep your head on a swivel

because that's when the toast starts flying! Never before have I seen kids at a baseball game climb over themselves for a piece of burnt toast. (But remember kids, as the followup chant says, "Don't eat the toast... you don't know where it's been!")

In between strikeouts, Rod is also the chief cheerleader for the Power and head heckler for the opposing team. Toting an impressive collection of handmade signs, the Toast Man has a cheer for every Power player. You can't help but join in. For the opposing players, Rod does his homework big time, pulling out searing stats on most every player the Power faces. No way will pitchers forget that rough outing where they were dinged for 8 runs. Trying to get that hitting slump out of your head? Rod will remind you every time you come up to bat. Forget about living down that ugly error last month.
Minor league baseball thrives on promotion and gimmicks to get people out to the park, because let's face it, minor league baseball can get pretty deadly without a little entertainment. For the WV Power, it doesn't get any more entertaining than the Toast Man.