Lehigh Valley IronPigs

The logo 2008-Present.

The **Lehigh Valley IronPigs** are a minor league baseball team that plays in the International League. The IronPigs are the Triple-Aaffiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. The team plays their home games at Coca-Cola Park, which is located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The brand new Coca-Cola Park, which opened for the start of the IronPigs' first season in 2008, seats up to 8,100, with a capacity of 10,000, and cost $50.25 million to complete. In 2016, *Forbes* listed the IronPigs as the fourth-most valuable Minor League Baseball team with a value of $43 million.

The IronPigs name is a reference to pig iron, used in the manufacturing of steel, for which the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania is world-renowned.

## History

### Ottawa Lynx (1993-2007)

The Lehigh Valley IronPigs were founded in 1993 as the Ottawa Lynx, who played at Ottawa Baseball Stadium in Ottawa, Ontario from 1993–2007 before moving to Allentown. As the Lynx, the team was affiliated with the Montreal Expos from 1993–2002, the Baltimore Orioles from 2003–2006, and the Philadelphia Phillies for the 2007 season only. The Lynx were the only International League franchise based in Canada at the time of their existence, and during the club's last years there, the team had difficulty attracting fans. The Phillies were unhappy with the local ownership of their previous affiliate, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, and affiliated with the Lynx when Orioles ended their relationship. The Red Barons are now the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders and serve as the affiliate of the New York Yankees. The Phillies signed a one-year Player Development Contract (PDC) with the Lynx while Coca-Cola Park was being constructed, and relocated the team to Allentown upon its completion.

### Teams in Allentown before the IronPigs

Prior to the arrival of the IronPigs, the Lehigh Valley had not had a Minor League-affiliated baseball team since 1960, when the Allentown Red Sox left for Johnstown, Pennsylvania. 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.

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 Eastoncalled the Lehigh Valley Multi-Purpose Sport Complex, 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.

### Lehigh Valley IronPigs (2008-present)

The IronPigs have been extremely well received in Allentown, given the Phillies' large fan base there, and the move permits Phillies' players to rehab without significant transportation time. The name "IronPigs" was well received by the fans in the Lehigh Valley.

## 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 complaints from the local Puerto Rican population, who alleged that "Pork Chop" was a racist term, despite the name being submitted by a young girl who lived in the Lehigh Valley area. The current mascots for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs are Ferrous and FeFe. Ferrous wears the number 26, which is the atomic number for iron. FeFe is named after the abbreviation for iron, Fe.