Lehigh Valley IronPigs
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| Lehigh Valley IronPigs Founded in 1993 Allentown, Pennsylvania |
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| League titles | 1995 | ||
| Division titles | None | ||
| Owner(s)/Operated by: Joseph Finley, Craig Stein | |||
| Manager: Dave Huppert | |||
| General Manager: Kurt Landes | |||
The Lehigh Valley IronPigs are a Minor League Baseball team, serving as the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. The team plays its home games at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Previously, the team operated as the Ottawa Lynx (2007), in Ottawa, Ontario, becoming a Phillies' Triple-A affiliate only in its last year of operation in 2007 before moving to Allentown. Preceding the Lynx, the Philadelphia Phillies' Triple-A team was known as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, which existed from 1987-2006 until the franchise was purchased by the New York Yankees and renamed the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees.
The name is a reference to pig iron, used in the manufacturing of steel, for which the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania is world renowned.
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[edit] History
The Lehigh Valley has not had a Major League-affiliated baseball team since 1960, when the Allentown Red Sox left for Johnstown, Pennsylvania.[1] The Allentown Red Sox played at Breadon Field (later called Max Hess Stadium) from 1958-1960, at the site where the Lehigh Valley Mall stands today.[2]
The region was previously home to two independent baseball teams: the Allentown Ambassadors of the Northeast League and the Lehigh Valley Black Diamonds of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The Ambassadors played at Bicentennial Park in Allentown until the team was disbanded in 2004. The Black Diamonds moved from Newburgh, New York in 1999 and were expected to move into a new ballpark near Easton, but the project never came to completion and ultimately was terminated. While the Black Diamonds waited for their new stadium, they played as a traveling team.
In 2003, Joseph Finley and Craig Stein began actively pursuing their interest in bringing affiliated baseball to Allentown. Initially, the duo pursued a Single-A franchise when the Ottawa Lynx, the AAA affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, were rumored to be moving to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. When the city of Harrisburg did not upgrade Commerce Bank Park to AAA standards, the Baltimore Orioles shifted their interest to Allentown because of its proximity to the Mid-Atlantic. The Phillies also looked into moving their AAA operations to Allentown from the Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre region. For the 2007 season, the Phillies shifted their AAA affiliate to Ottawa, leaving Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre after 18 seasons, while the Orioles affiliated with the Norfolk Tides.
The move of the Phillies' Triple-A affiliate to Allentown has been extremely well-received, as the Phillies have a large fan base in the Allentown area, and because the move to Allentown will permit Phillies' players to rehab in Allentown without significant transportation time as compared to Ottawa. (Allentown is just 60 miles north of Philadelphia.)
The IronPigs franchise will televise all 72 of its home games, a rarity for a minor league team. Local cable outlet Service Electric TV2 carries IronPigs games; the station reaches nearly one million subscribers, predominantly in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. In addition, TV2 will feed its telecasts to Blue Ridge Cable TV-13. Selected Saturday night home games are telecasted over the air on WFMZ-TV 69, which also carries into the Philadelphia area as well as western New Jersey. All 144 IronPigs games are also be covered on local radio.
On Monday, April 14th, 2008 the Lehigh Valley IronPigs broke their 11 game losing streak by defeating the Richmond Braves 3-1 at their new home stadium Coca-Cola Park. This was not only the first home win for the team, but their first win ever as the LV IronPigs.
[edit] Mascot
On December 1, 2007 the IronPigs selected "PorkChop" as the name of their mascot from 7,300 submitted names. On December 2, 2007 the name was changed to Ferrous, derived from the chemical name for iron, because of the complaints from the Puerto Rican population that "Pork Chop" was a racist term.[3]
[edit] Season-by-season records
| Season | League | Division | Regular Season | Postseason | Awards | ||||
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| Finish | W | L | Win% | GB | |||||
| 2008* | IL | North | 6th | 18 | 39 | .316 | 17.5 | ||
* - Current season.
These statistics reflect games played through May 31, 2008.
[edit] Current roster
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Lehigh Valley IronPigs roster
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| Players | Coaching staff | ||||
Starting rotation
Bullpen
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Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
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Manager
Coaches
Disabled and Inactive List
* - On Philadelphia Phillies 40-man roster Roster updated 2008-05-16 |
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[edit] References
- ^ "Eastern League History". Ballpark Digest. Retrieved on 2007-07-28.
- ^ Dan, Sheehan; Jay Hart. "Will baseball be very, very good to the Valley with a AAA team?", The Morning Call, July 1, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-07-28.
- ^ IronPigs Hear More Complaints In 'PorkChop' Mascot Name Flap - Sports News Story - WCAU | Philadelphia
[edit] External links
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| AAA | AA | A | Rookie |
| Lehigh Valley IronPigs | Reading Phillies |
Clearwater Threshers Lakewood BlueClaws Williamsport Crosscutters |
Gulf Coast Phillies VSL Phillies |
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