When it came to the top Minor League Baseball promotion of 2017, one idea literally eclipsed the rest.
On Aug. 21, the United States experienced its first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in 99 years. The ideal place to watch this phenomenon, during which day turned into night as a result of the moon obscuring the sun, was from within a 67-mile-wide strip of near-total darkness known as the path of totality. Seven Minor League teams were within the path of totality: the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, Idaho Falls Chukars, Bowling Green Hot Rods, Nashville Sounds, Greenville Drive, Columbia Fireflies and Charleston RiverDogs. All seven of these teams held a ballpark event that day as the eclipse made its approximately 1,500-mile southeasterly journey across the United States.