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History of professional baseball in Allentown, Pennsylvania

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The history of professional baseball in Allentown, Pennsylvania dates back 138 years, starting with the formation of the Allentown Dukes in 1884 and continuing through the present with its hosting of the Allentown-based Lehigh Valley IronPigs , the Triple-A Minor League affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball , who play at Coca-Cola Park on the city's East Side.

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30-640: Professional baseball premiered in Allentown in 1884, when the Allentown Dukes completed one season in the original Eastern League . Four years later, the city fielded a Central League team, the Allentown Peanuts , which also folded after a season. In the 1890s, a series of baseball clubs emerged in the city. The Allentown Colts played in the Pennsylvania State League from 1892–93. The next year,

60-496: A meeting of the three signatories to the national agreement was called for May 5, 1884 to ratify the Eastern League's request. The Union Association of Base Ball Clubs stood in opposition to this agreement and was a bitter rival in the battle for organizational hegemony. The following teams were slated to play in the Eastern League as of January 1884. Monumental Club of Baltimore and Quickstep Club of Wilmington ended up playing in

90-551: A new park was built on the city's South Side, Fairview Field (now Earl F. Hunsicker Bicentennial Park ). The team won the league championship that year. The next year, 1940, the league was upgraded from Class C to B, and the team became the Allentown Fleetwings, a St. Louis Cardinals franchise. The Philadelphia Phillies took over in 1941, playing a season as the Allentown Wings, but the franchise reverted to St. Louis

120-508: A team located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania , but the request for admission was declined. On the second day of their gathering the assembled representatives voted to change the name of their league to the Eastern League of Professional Base Ball Clubs. According to one newspaper account of the day, the decision to change the league's name was related to a desire to avoid confusion with the rival Union Association of Base Ball Clubs. The formation of

150-519: A two-sport letterman in 1957 played for the A-Sox. He had the best pitching record on the club at 16-9. Heffner later played in the majors for the Red Sox, Cleveland Indians and California Angels in 1968. The A-Sox's best season was 1960. On September 3, 1960, the Red Sox kept its Eastern League playoff hopes alive with a 7-6, 3-2 sweep of Williamsport at Hess Stadium, the second of four straight doubleheaders

180-580: Is remembered as the pitcher who served up Roger Maris ' 61st home run in 1961 while playing for Boston. Another player who appeared at the stadium was Curt Simmons , a native of Egypt, Pennsylvania, who pitched at Max Hess Stadium in a rehab assignment for the Asheville (NC) Tourists, a farm team of the Philadelphia Phillies . The presence of Curt Simmons filled up the stands. For the 1960 season, Bob Heffner , who graduated from Allentown High School as

210-720: The Philadelphia Phillies ' AAA-level Minor League baseball team, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs . The IronPigs, a member of the International League , are the first Major League-affiliated club to play in the city since 1960. During Summer 2008, the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum introduced an exhibit, "Play Ball! Baseball in America and the Lehigh Valley," celebrating the history of baseball in Allentown and

240-513: The 1920s, the name the Allentown Dukes was revived for a semi-professional team that played four seasons (1923–26) at Edgemont Field, a new ballfield at Second and Susquehanna Streets. On September 7, 1923 the Dukes played an exhibition game with the New York Yankees at Edgemont Field. The Dukes tied the score at 7–7 in the eighth inning. In the ninth, Babe Ruth struck out with the bases loaded, and

270-409: The A-Sox played to close out the season. Two days later, Allentown's playoff bid ended in a 5-4, 11-inning defeat at Springfield in the first game of a Labor Day doubleheader. The holiday crowd of 1,297 at Hess Stadium witnessed the last professional baseball game in Allentown for 37 years. After the 1960 season, the team was relocated due to a lack of attendance (average of 650 fans per game in 1960),

300-619: The Allentown Cardinals returned as a member of the Class A Eastern League . The team won the league championship in 1955, but had its final season the next year, 1956. Midway through the 1957 season, the Syracuse Chiefs, an unaffiliated Eastern League team, moved to Allentown on July 13 to finish out the season. The Allentown Chiefs were replaced a year later by a Boston Red Sox franchise. The Allentown Red Sox played three seasons at

330-670: The Cardinals returned to Allentown in 1954 as a member of the Eastern League for three seasons, through 1956. The Allentown Red Sox franchise dates to 1933 as the Reading Phillies . It became a farm team for the Red Sox in 1938 as the Hazelton (PA) Red Sox. In 1957, the Red Sox purchased the former Detroit Tigers Eastern League team, the Syracuse Chiefs , and moved the club to Allentown mid-season, being operated as an unaffiliated team for

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360-640: The Dukes scored in the bottom of the inning to win 8–7. The semi-pro team led to the start of an Eastern League team under the same name in 1929. League champions the next year, the team was renamed the Allentown Buffaloes in 1931. At the end of the 1932 season, the league collapsed, and the Buffaloes folded. In 1935, the city landed its first Major League farm team, when the Brooklyn Dodgers moved their Reading Brooks franchise here just six games into

390-412: The Eastern League included a provision that batters must run after receiving three strikes or seven balls. The completion of five full innings was deemed sufficient for a complete game to have been played in the event of darkness or rain. In a change from past practice, teams were also required to remove "all obnoxious persons from the grounds in the space of fifteen minutes" under penalty of forfeiture of

420-530: The Whitehall ball park, which was bought by Hess's department store owner Max Hess, Jr., and renamed Max Hess Stadium. When the Red Sox left at the end of the 1960 season, the stadium closed and was demolished in 1964. Today, the site is the home of the Lehigh Valley Mall , which opened in 1976. The ballfield was located near the mall's entrance from MacArthur Road. In 1997, professional baseball returned to

450-526: The balance of the season. The Red Sox ended their affiliation with their Eastern League team in Albany, New York after the season and reassigned it to Allentown for the 1958 season. Owned by Joe Buzas , the team played for three seasons at Max Hess Stadium (formerly Breadon Field ), owned by Max Hess, Jr., owner of the Allentown Hess Brothers department store. Former Allentown player Tracy Stallard

480-573: The city with the startup of the Allentown Ambassadors , an independent team that played in the Northeast and Northern leagues. The club, which had its last full season in 2003, was based at Bicentennial Park in South Allentown. The city unveiled Coca-Cola Park , a $ 48.4 million, 8,500-seat stadium, in 2008. The stadium was constructed on Allentown's east side to serve as the home field for

510-407: The game. The inaugural season was to run from May 1 to October 1, 1884. Each team in the association to play a 98-game season in which every team was to play each other a total of 14 times during the year. Four regular and two substitute umpires were to be provided by the league, sufficient to handle the 8-team league's possible four daily match ups; in the event of absence of an official umpire,

540-633: The league, including the Philadelphia Athletics , the New York Metropolitans , and the Buffalo Bisons . New clubs were admitted to the league for the coming year located in Newark and Trenton , New Jersey and Harrisburg and Allentown , Pennsylvania , bringing the total number of teams for the Eastern League at the time of its founding to eight. A bid was made by a representative of

570-543: The new league effectively put an end not only to the Union League from whence it sprung, but also tolled the death knell of the short-lived Inter-State Professional Base-Ball Association, which had included teams from Allentown, Harrisburg, Reading, Trenton, and Wilmington. The Eastern League played baseball according to the rules of the American Association , with only minor modifications. Rules changes unique to

600-603: The next year. Renamed the Allentown Cardinals in 1944, the team played at Fairview Field until 1948, when St. Louis Cardinals owner Sam Breadon built a new park. Breadon Field , a steel and concrete stadium that seated 5,000 fans, was located just north of the city in Whitehall Township . The demise of the Interstate League at the end of the 1952 season resulted in a one-year lull for the franchise. In 1954,

630-649: The season. The Allentown Brooks , like the Dukes and Buffaloes, played their home games at the Allentown Fairgrounds. The club, which was in the New York–Pennsylvania League (forerunner of today's Eastern League ), finished out the 1936 season, but did not return the next year. In 1939, the Boston Braves established an Interstate League club, again using the name the Allentown Dukes , and

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660-567: The short-lived Union Association instead, the latter as a late-season replacement team after starting the year in the Eastern League. Allentown Red Sox The Allentown Red Sox ( A-Sox ) were a minor league baseball team, affiliated with the Boston Red Sox and based in Allentown, Pennsylvania , that played from 1958 through 1960 in the Eastern League . At that time, the Eastern League

690-589: The surrounding region. Eastern League (1884%E2%80%931887) The Eastern League of Professional Base Ball Clubs (1884–1887), was a professional baseball association of teams in the Northeastern United States . The league was founded in January 1884 when the Union League of Professional Base Ball Clubs added four teams and dissolved to reform as the Eastern League. In 1887, the first Eastern League

720-615: The team became Kelly's Killers, named for its player-manager, future Hall of Fame member King Kelly . Late in the season, Kelly moved the Eastern League's Binghamton Bingoes here as the Allentown Buffalos. Kelly, the era's most flamboyant figure, died of pneumonia that fall at age 35, and the Buffalos were dissolved. In 1895, the Allentown Goobers returned to Pennsylvania State League play for one season. In 1898, yet another team

750-612: The team moved to Johnstown, Pennsylvania on December 5, 1960, for the 1961 season played as the Johnstown Red Sox at Point Stadium. Over subsequent seasons, the club has remained in the Eastern League under different names in various cities: The Red Sox parted company with the franchise in 1995, signing a player development contract with the Trenton Thunder . Since 2003, the Portland Sea Dogs have been Boston's affiliate in

780-446: The visiting team was to name the replacement, subject to that individual's not being associated with the visiting club himself. The Eastern League was to be governed by a 7-member executive, consisting of a President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer, and a four-member board of directors, all to be elected at the annual meeting of teams. President of the league in 1884 was W.C. Seddon of Richmond, Virginia . The Eastern League

810-530: Was absorbed into the International League . On January 4, 1884, representatives of the Union League of Professional Base Ball Clubs met in Philadelphia to discuss affairs of their organization in the coming year. Delegates were on hand representing ball clubs located in Baltimore , Richmond, Virginia , Wilmington, Delaware , and Reading, Pennsylvania . Observers were also present from established teams outside

840-606: Was formed, re-using the name the Allentown Peanuts. The Peanuts played for three seasons in the Atlantic League, which succeeded the Pennsylvania State League in 1896. The league and the team were dissolved in 1900. Over the next two decades, the city saw limited play. In 1908, Allentown hosted a team in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey League , and a Tri-State League club played here from 1912 to 1914. Then, in

870-571: Was officially Class A, but, prior to the minor-league classification realignment that took place in 1963, that level was almost equivalent to Double-A . From 1939 through 1952, Allentown had hosted a Class B Interstate League franchise, the Cardinals —also the Dukes, FleetWings and Wings —and for much of that period, it was an affiliate of the namesake St. Louis Cardinals . When the Interstate loop folded,

900-669: Was to be governed by annual meetings to be held each year in Philadelphia on the second Wednesday of January. Annual dues were $ 100 per club, with $ 500 of this amount going to pay the salary of the league's permanent Secretary. The Eastern League was anxious to become signatories to the so-called tripartite national agreement between the National League, American Association, and the Northwestern League which governed mutual respect of player contracts and other matters. To this end,

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