A different kind of night in the Hook

I spent last night in Marcus Hook for the finals of our annual charity softball tournament, the Daily Times/Exelon Champs ‘n’ Charity Classic.

You can read all the details here on the thrilling comeback win by Barnaby’s/Lefty’s, which came out of the losers bracket, taking the opener and then snagging the crown by winning Game 2 as well.

For some reason I could not get pas the idea that something was different in the Hook last night.

As I sat on the first-base line doing some commentary on our live-stream of the game, online editor Vince Carey pointed it out.

There was no flame.

That flame, emanating from the stacks at the sprawling Marcus Hook refinery, was emblematic of the city.

Now it’s gone.

So are hundreds of jobs at one of the icons of Delaware County industry.

There is now talk at Sunoco Logistics is looking at the site for its extensive pipeline network, using those to tap into the state’s burgeoning Marcellus Shale drilling work.

It was one of the seven potential uses of the site pinpointed in a $100,000 study performed for Delaware County Council.

But there’s a problem with that kind of solution for the Sunoco site in the Hook.

That type of facility will not need anywhere near the number of jobs the refinery did.

That’s the sad math that this tiny borough, emblematic of blue collar Delaware County, is facing.

And it loomed over the town like a shroud last night.