ALLENTOWN, Pa. (WHTM) - Lehigh Valley was granted a minor baseball team in 2008 after the Baltimore Orioles ended their ties with the Ottawa Lynx and the Philadelphia Phillies would acquire the team.
The next challenge was adopting a team name and the newly built stadium.
According to mentalfloss.com, the Allentown Morning Call, a local newspaper, hosted a contest for locals to decide on the team name.
The newspaper got it down to eight team names that include:
- Crushers
- Gobblers
- IronPigs
- Keystones
- Phantastics
- Phillies
- Vulcans
- Woodchucks
Mentalfloss.com says that in the contest's final round, the newspaper received over 10,000 votes and the winning name was IronPigs.
According to both metalfloss.com and news.sportslogos.com, the submission came from a local man, Ronald Steele.
When Steele was asked about the submission, he told AP," It was the weirdest name out there, I guess."
What exactly is an IronPig? The name comes from eastern Pennsylvania where steel mills forged "pig iron."
In an interview with mentalfloss.com, former IronPigs president Chuck Domino said, " We chose a name that bonds the Lehigh Valley's steel-making heritage to the fun of the Minor Leagues and also the way we plan to operate the franchise, which is boldly with an emphasis on a uniqueness that will set the Lehigh Valley IronPigs apart from anything that the people of the Lehigh Valley have previously been exposed to."
The IronPigs represent the history of steel making in Allentown and fans have embraced the team.
Since the IronPigs are the AAA minor league team for the Philadelphia Phillies, most fans that attend the games are there to see the Phillies' top prospects.
Not to mention that IronPig games are some of the most attended games in minor league baseball.
Since becoming a team in 2008 the IronPigs have:
- All-time record 983-999
- One Division title (2018)
- Three wild card berths (2011,2016, and 2017)
0 Commentaires