Litchfield Park, AZ –

It all started at an August game in Anchorage. The Anchorage Mighty Moose were set to play the Wasilla Sled Dogs in the second game of a Surf and Snow Amalgamation three game series. Harold Belafonte, the recently signed #1 pick of the New Orleans Trendsetters was getting ready to step into the batting cage for some rounds of BP. For Belafonte, his rise as the #5 overall pick in the 2040 draft had drawn a lot of attention to the young 18 year old. So far, Belafonte had been a bit withdrawn. He had even expressed the hope that he would start his career at Rookie level Bridgetown in Barbados, which also happened to be his hometown. Instead, Harry found himself in Anchorage, AK, playing to small crowds in cooler temperatures in a city where the sun only set for a few hours a night. “To be honest, I was pretty lonely”, said Belafonte. “I had not spent much time away from home and was a little bummed when I skipped Rookie ball where I could see my family. Even though I was excited to begin my career and pretty pleased the organization felt I was mature enough to skip that level. It was still pretty daunting.”
Harold kept himself as busy off the field as he could. Spending time in the weight room, working on extra ground balls at 3B and picking the brains of fellow players and especially manager Dave Nash, the former Trendsetters slugger and all-time franchise RBI leader. “Skip is great”, explained Harold, “He has so much big league knowledge and is so good at passing along ways to get yourself focused and mentally prepared for the game. He was a pretty successful big leaguer and I just hope I can have a career close to what he had.”

Belafonte kept himself busy off the field by taking part in the Mighty Moose Make the Grade program the team started in 2031 which rewards kids with free books and free tickets when they make the honor roll. Belafonte was a favorite among the young students as the powerful third baseman would often pull off a trick where he would hold a small child in each large hand and bench press them in the air while the children screamed in delight. The kids started taking to calling him “The Hulk” when he visited. These school visits continued throughout the summer until finally the team held it’s annual Mighty Moose Make the Grade Game in August where kids who had completed the program all got free tickets to enjoy the game. Roughly 3,800 children from 1st through 8th grade took in the game and it was obvious who their favorite player was. It was Harold Belafonte. The gates had opened early so the kids could watch batting practice and all eyes were on Harold Belafonte as he hit one towering home run after another. The kids were now seeing if “The Hulk” could hit another one out and cheered every time he did. One student began to scream “Hulk! Smash!” after every home run and pretty soon all the students were joining in. With every home run Belafonte hit, the kids would scream “Hulk! Smash!” Belafonte’s teammates started cracking up and eventually even they joined in. As Belafonte’s teammate Cam Engleman described it, “It was hilarious! Two to three thousand kids all pounding on their seats screaming “Hulk! Smash!” every time he hit a home run. There was no way we weren’t going to call him that. We even yell it out when he hist the post-game spread in the clubhouse because that guy can put burgers and hot dogs down like nobody’s business!

Hopefully, Harold “Hulk! Smash!” Belafonte will hear those cheers in a Trendsetters uniform soon. He made a good start of it in 2040 batting .310 at SS-A ball with 26 home runs in just 248 at bats. Belafonte is expected to take his talents a little further South in 2041, as he is expected to begin the season in Single-A Ensenada playing 3B for the Ensenada Las Brujas Malvadas, the Single-A champions in 2040.