It had been two decades since Chris Berman and Stuart Scott made the big announcement during the 11 p.m. Sunday night edition of SportsCenter. Broadcasting from Fenway Park following a 5-3 Yankees win over the Red Sox on July 17, 2005, the anchors revealed plans for SportsCenter Across America, an “unprecedented enterprise” in which ESPN would visit a different state each day to highlight a sporting event.
The logistics of transmitting from 50 states in 50 days would make any television executive’s head spin, but the network pulled it off. Its top anchors, from Linda Cohn and Steve Levy to Kenny Mayne and Scott Van Pelt, fanned out across the country to bring unique and fun sports stories into viewers’ homes every day for more than seven weeks.
It took a full 20 years before ESPN was willing to try something so ambitious again.
Much changed during that time, not just in sports media, but in the United States. The nation looks and feels different than it did in 2005, when a 20-year-old LeBron James averaged 27 points per game and Lance Armstrong was lionized for winning his seventh straight Tour de France. Americans have weathered scandals and superstorms, protests and pandemics. And while there have been -- and continue to be -- challenges, some things haven’t changed all that much. At 40, James poured in 24 points per game last season.
On June 27, Van Pelt took to the airwaves (or streaming signals, as the case may be now), to announce SportsCenter’s 2025 cross-country adventure: 50 States in 50 Days. The nationwide tour is brought the show and its on-air talent to every state in the union this summer as a way of connecting with the millions of fans who make sports what they are -- and reminding viewers of what really matters.
“The reason I am still here and enjoy it as much as I ever have is that sports remain the greatest thing we’ve got,” Van Pelt said. “For as fractured as things occasionally feel along the lines of red and blue, as in these supposed ‘colors’ of states, we are still red, white and blue, and our greatest connector in divided times has always been sports. … The real people, the places, the games we get to enjoy together -- things that we value because they matter so much to us all -- that is why we are coming to every one of the great states in our country.”
The network unveiled its 50 States in 50 Days schedule, and it was clear that some of the choices took some creativity. How do you spotlight a state known for its world-class skiing in the middle of August? Meet the University of Vermont soccer team! Others -- such as spending July Fourth in New York for the Subway Series and hot dog-eating contest -- were no-brainers.
When it came to New Jersey, the behind-the-scenes team at ESPN approached Ryan Smith with an idea that the SportsCenter host loved immediately. A Philadelphia native who resided for 10 years in Montclair, N.J., Smith knew all about the state’s baseball history, how the first officially recorded, organized game took place in 1846 at Hoboken’s Elysian Fields. Having lived in a town where spots such as the Bluestone Coffee Co. are regularly packed, Smith also was well aware of New Jersey denizens’ obsession with diners. So, when his colleagues told him that the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate, the Somerset Patriots, would be hosting a game at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater on July 12 in the guise of their alternate identity, the Jersey Diners, he was all in.
“You think of Jersey and you think, OK, it’s got a lot of things going on,” Smith said. “It’s got food, it’s got sports. But what defines it? The best diners I’ve ever been to have been in Jersey. They have like 500 diners or so; it is the diner capital of the world. The fact that they’re doing this promotion where [the Patriots] basically rip off their old name -- new jerseys, new branding, diner food, fireworks in the background tonight -- it’s magical, man. So, for us, we get to tell the story of Jersey through one baseball game. In TV land, it just doesn’t get any better than that.”
From co-chairmen Jonathan Kalafer and Josh Kalafer on down, every member of the Somerset front office was beyond thrilled to be selected. But the expectation was not that the increased exposure from being featured on ESPN would transform the Jersey Diners into a national phenomenon.
That much had already been done.
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Patrick McVerry’s heart sank. The longtime executive had spent more than two decades growing the business and brand of the Somerset Patriots, helping steer a six-time Atlantic League champion ballclub toward success at the gate and in the community -- the envy of nearly any independent baseball team in the country. A restructuring of organized baseball following the COVID-19 pandemic had led to the exhilarating news that, beginning in 2021, the Patriots were moving to affiliated ball under the umbrella of the 27-time world champion New York Yankees. Instead of fringe players competing for love of the game (and sure, hoping to cash a one-in-a-million lottery ticket of making the Majors), the team’s roster would now be stocked with some of the top young prospects playing for the most famous organization in sports.
But in one of the first meetings with Patriots brass, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman looked at McVerry with his steel blue eyes and told him, “We’re changing the name to Somerset Yankees.”
McVerry was speechless. The Patriots’ Continental soldier logo was ubiquitous in Central Jersey, adorning bumper stickers, storefront windows and apparel throughout Somerset and its neighboring counties. It was an emblem of Bridgewater’s proud place in the American revolution: Gen. George Washington and his men established a key stronghold there known as the Middlebrook encampment, which is where the first official 13-star flag of the United States was raised in 1777 and where it still waves 24 hours a day by order of Congress. How was the Patriots’ president and general manager supposed to tell his colleagues that their perfect moniker was getting shelved?
“Ah, I’m just [messing] with you,” Cashman said with a grin.
The fun was just beginning. While the Yankees poured hefty resources into TD Bank Ballpark to upgrade the facility, the Patriots’ staff got to work, as well, looking for ways to take their operation to the next level. While their permanent name wasn’t going away, the Patriots were at liberty to come up with an alternate identity to shake things up on occasion.
Alternate identities have been in vogue for some time in Minor League Baseball, with teams switching up their name and uniform for a night in favor of something different, something creative. It is often tied to local cuisine or culture, something that, teams hope, will create a buzz and get fans excited.
With that in mind, the Patriots’ marketing team put their heads together to try and come up with something New Jerseyans would fall in love with. Food is always a good place to start, but Garden State staples such as tomatoes or corn just didn’t scream excitement at the ballpark. The pork roll vs. Taylor ham debate is always a lively one, but the Yankees’ previous Double-A affiliate, the Trenton Thunder, had already gone there. The staff members went home for the night knowing they hadn’t yet hit on a home run idea.
Then Hal Hansen had an epiphany. The Patriots’ senior director of sales and marketing had grown up in nearby Cranford, where The Rustic Mill was the go-to hangout spot after all kinds of events. Whether it was coming down from the euphoria of a high school musical performance or recalibrating after a funeral, the local diner was the place to do it over a plate of french fries and a milkshake.
“Diners mean a lot to people,” Hansen said. “It’s a place to gather with friends and family in good times and sad times, and it’s just such a part of the local foundation. And I’m grateful that I had that in the town I grew up in.”
The next day, he essentially ran into the office of senior vice president of marketing Dave Marek. “I’ve got it! It’s diners,” Hansen said. “We celebrate diners. That’s what we do.” They called in McVerry, and the ideas started flowing like water from a fire hose. Diner booths on the concourse! Classic jukebox tunes! A lineup card on the scoreboard that looks like a waitress’ order pad! They got on the phone with graphic designer Ryan Foose of Fooser Sports Designs, and on June 8, 2024, wearing bright blue jerseys with neon pink lettering and pink-and-white checkered bands around the sleeves meant to invoke the imagery of their namesake, the Jersey Diners were born.
Sparky Lyle thought they were joking with him. The esteemed manager emeritus of the Patriots, who led the team to more than 1,000 Atlantic League victories -- including five league titles -- and whose likeness, along with that of team founder Steve Kalafer, is cast in a bronze statue outside the stadium, still comes around frequently, traveling from his home near Pottstown, Pa., to slip into uniform and greet fans or venture out into the community. Now in his 80s, Lyle is forever remembered by Yankees fans as the lights-out reliever who won the 1977 American League Cy Young Award and helped bring back-to-back World Series championships to the Bronx.
“You know I’m a professional baseball player, right? I’m wearing a cup of coffee hat?” he remarked incredulously upon learning he’d be swapping out his Patriots duds for Jersey Diners gear that first night.
“Oh, wait till you see this,” said Somerset’s vice president of communications and media relations, Marc Russinoff, as he handed Lyle a Diners jersey with his retired No. 28 on the back.
“I put it on,” Lyle recalled recently, “and I said, ‘Oh boy, this is going to be fun.’”
He wasn’t the only one excited about the new threads. As soon as the gates opened, fans eagerly filed into the team store, snapping up Diners T-shirts, hats and, of course, those sparkling bright blue jerseys. The cash registers could barely keep up.
Rob Crossman grew up in Bloomfield a short walk from Holsten’s, where Tony Soprano and his family sat in a booth, tucking into an order of onion rings just as The Sopranos series cut to black forever. But farther down Broad Street, the Nevada Diner was the senior director of merchandise’s go-to spot. “The Nevada Salad -- I just remember that mozzarella cheese on there was fantastic!” Crossman said. Like Hansen, he understood how embedded diners are in the local culture, and he hoped that the alternate identity would appeal to a wide swath of fans. He was floored by what he saw unfurl in front of him and soon came to a realization:
“We’re going to need more merch.”
The team set a single-game sales record that first night, and by season’s end, Jersey Diners gear constituted nearly 40% of all merchandise sold and contributed to a 51% increase in sales over 2023, as well as an average attendance increase of 42% compared to non-Diners games.
“It really took off because it just resonates with everyone, I think,” Crossman said as he pointed out some of the new items available in 2025, such as a Jersey Diners organic blend from Somerville-based Ambee Coffee Co. “We open up the gates, and this place just gets flooded. It’s actually kind of overwhelming.”
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It’s not just the appealing gear that has made the Jersey Diners such a hit. The Patriots tapped a cultural vein that runs straight to the heart of nearly every New Jerseyan. The Garden State loves its sports teams, but outside of the New Jersey Devils, locals mostly root for teams with either New York or Philadelphia in their name. And New Jerseyans are generally fine with that. They love their state for what it is: a diverse microcosm of America, a melting pot of good people who work hard and play hard, where almost anything you could want is within arm’s reach. The state might not boast majestic mountains or endless fruited plains, but it has character -- and characters. (Sopranos Night in Somerset is also quite popular.)
That’s why the diner works so well in New Jersey. New York City’s Michelin-starred restaurants are great for special occasions, but more often, locals would rather enjoy a good meal made from scratch in a place that’s a little more down to earth, where you don’t have to think about which fork goes with which course, where the servers seem like neighbors and there are no bridges and tunnels with $18 tolls to cross.
“The people are the best part,” said 56-year-old Dino Bonis, whose family has owned and operated the Golden Corner in Bound Brook, just a mile away from TD Bank Ballpark, since 1989. “We meet so many people that have come in for years. The grandparents used to come in when the kids were little, and those kids grew up, had kids of their own. Now, they’re coming in with their kids -- it’s like three generations that we’ve seen, and it’s just amazing.”
Lyle was a regular at the Golden Corner during his New Jersey days, ordering up three eggs basted in butter with ham and home fries. “That’s the way my mother used to make breakfast,” he said. “My grandkids call them ‘Dippy eggs.’” And he was more than happy to put on his neon blue-and-pink jersey on July 12 for the fourth of six Diners games this season. (Aug. 7 and Sept. 5 were the remaining two.)
By the time ESPN arrived for the 16th stop on its summer tour, the Jersey Diners were already a full-blown sensation. What was once just a corner section of Diners gear now takes up nearly half the team store, and online orders for Diners merch have shipped to all 50 states. After an offseason in which the organization (and, in particular, the Diners identity) was recognized by everyone from Baseball America to MLB Network to Minor League Baseball and the Yankees themselves, Patriots staffers have made a habit of spotting Diners gear out in the wild, whether in the crowd at Yankee Stadium -- neon pink stands out rather easily amid an ocean of navy blue and white -- down the Shore, at concerts … anywhere and everywhere.
“It just shows you how much all the Jerseyans love their diners,” Lyle said.
MiLB’s 2024 “Golden Bobblehead” winner introduced a new mascot this year just for Diners games, a giant coffee mug named Joe, naturally. And while the line of merchandise continues to expand in order to meet fans’ demands, the original hats and jersey remain hot commodities. Catcher Rafael Flores (now in the Pirates’ farm system after he was dealt at the Trade Deadline for David Bednar) secured a few Diners caps for his friends back home before he was promoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on July 19, as did fellow Californian Cole Gabrielson. The outfielder recalls just one diner, the Peninsula Creamery, where he grew up in Palo Alto -- an omelet and a waffle were his go-to order -- but the 25-year-old USC product has come to understand and appreciate the significance of New Jersey’s diners, and its Diners.
“It’s a fun way to get the crowd involved,” he said. “We’re obviously rooted in the Somerset Patriots, but every few weeks, we roll out these jerseys, and it’s fun to get a new style, new colors on the field and a new identity to just roll out there and have some fun with. It’s a fun night at the yard, for sure.”
Everyone gets into the spirit during Diners games. Patriots account executive and operations assistant James Killeen made his rounds while sporting neon pink knee-high socks, as did center fielder Brendan Jones. “Turquoise and pink is not a very common color combo, and especially on a hot, sunny day, where it makes the colors pop even more, I think it looks great,” Flores said. “It’s always fun to throw on that jersey.”
Wearing a bright pink sleeve on his left arm, shortstop Max Burt put the Diners on the board with a two-run double in the second inning, which was greeted by Dion’s 1961 hit, “Runaround Sue,” blaring from the ballpark’s sound system. The sellout crowd of 7,229 was encouraged to do “The Twist” between frames, and specials at the concessions stand on July 12 included apple pie ($3.75), a Happy Waitress sandwich ($11.25) and disco fries in a helmet ($12.25).
Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, making his first start at Double-A, was hurt by four errors, and although Trystan Vrieling (who was traded to the Giants in the Camilo Doval deal) tossed three scoreless frames in relief, the Diners trailed the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, 6-3, entering the bottom of the ninth. A clip of Michael J. Fox playing “Johnny B. Goode” in Back to the Future hoped to inspire a rally, but it wasn’t to be. Somerset’s seven-game winning streak came to an end. It was nearly 9:30 p.m., but as the first notes of “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley & His Comets emanated from the speakers and the fireworks began to explode beyond the right-field wall, no one in attendance seemed too broken up over the Diners’ loss. It was a beautiful summer evening in Jersey, and wherever or whenever their night came to a close, there was a good meal waiting for them at the diner, just around the corner.
“I think the one thing people really don’t understand about Jersey is there are so many different pockets of it that almost in themselves seem like different states,” said Smith, who taped his final segment for the midnight edition of SportsCenter from the concourse at TD Bank Ballpark surrounded by Diners fans. “I think in that way, it’s the most diverse state in America. The diner experience encapsulates everything that New Jersey is about. And then to put that in Minor League Baseball, man, you don’t get any better than that.”
Nathan Maciborski is the executive editor of Yankees Magazine. This story appears in the August 2025 edition. Get more articles like this delivered to your doorstep by purchasing a subscription to Yankees Magazine at www.yankees.com/publications.