The nation found out on Monday that Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg was hired to be the Lehigh Valley Ironpig’s new manager.
Their next thought was, “Who the heck are the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs?”
If Sandberg was hired by the Durham Bulls or Toledo Mudhens… they would have blinked and moved on to something else. My search notes in the blog stats shows that people have been looking for more information on us Pigs.
For those who don’t know…
The Ironpig’s brought baseball back to the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania in 2008. The area hosted many teams in the early 20th century until the last team pulled out in the early 60’s and the ballfield was plowed over to build a mall. For a short time we had an independant league team called the Ambassadors but they left after a few years. We also had a National Pro Fastpitch team until last year called the Philly Force. (I still wish it had been associated with the local area and not Philadelphia)
The home field of the Ironpigs is called Coca Cola Park. Just another park named for its corporate sponsor. Glad to have the park and thankful to Coca Cola for helping us build it. The park is located in Allentown, PA in a location that is easily accessable by highway and from the city itself. Kind of hoping that a certain minor league hockey team finds a new home in that same area soon too.
Come Visit us at Coca Cola Park!
Most folks, not from Pennsylvania, know of Allentown only for the song by Billy Joel called, well.. “Allentown”. All the factories haven’t closed down yet and some of the old have been turned into a casino. (Yes, I know that is located in Bethlehem) My dad retired from Bethlehem steel after many years and the entire site of the plant was turned into a casino recently. This is part of the naming contest held prior to our team’s arrival. Iron and Pigs. There are some pig farms around. You can just sniff if you’d like to find one but the Pig referred to in Iron Pig is to the Pig Iron involved with producing steel.
So the Ironpigs. That’s what the team became.
The Lehigh Valley is made of of a region centered by three cities. Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton.
So we have the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs. Easy enough right? So enough history.. about the team.
The Ironpig’s record has been awful posting 3 losing seasons. Not once has the team’s record been over .500. Keep in mind winning the first game of the season would put the team at 1.000. In fact, it took about 3 weeks for the 2008 team to earn its first win. We are not yet acustomed to winning.
On a more positive note.. The Lehigh Valley fans and Ironpig staff have combined for a more impressive achievement. In 2008 the Ironpigs finished 3rd in attendance for all of minor league baseball. In 2009 we finished 2nd and in 2010 we drew more fans per game than any other minor league team.
It’s a good show despite good baseball. We do see good baseball, I shouldn’t say that… but in the past it has been the visiting team putting on the show for us.
We have seen many major league stars in rehab appearances. Dice K has been here twice. We’ve seen Dontrell Willis, Shane Victorino, Brad Lidge, Carlos Ruiz, Ryan Madsen among others. Not to mention we had JA Happ (Now in Houston’s rotation) for a full season in 2008. We’ve seen many future stars as well.. Domonic Brown in the Phillies organization and many others with visiting teams.
So baseball doesn’t seem to be a huge draw.. but this park is pretty. The fun and happy atmosphere and family friendly environment just builds the fun. I can’t count how many times I heard, “I never knew this was so much fun.. I will be back!” Some say that with an Arnold accent while others think back to McArthur returning to the Phillipines. Either way, people come back.
I realize I am rambling on about the team and park and area that I love. There is so much else to say and to see.. I will leave it up to you to visit us and find out and discover for yourself.
Who are the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs? Well, the Noise Nation invites you to stop by next summer and find out for yourself.
OinK!
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