The Eastern League (EL) is a Minor League Baseball (MiLB) sports league that has operated under that name since 1938, with the exception of the 2021 season, during which the league operated under the moniker Double-A Northeast. The league has played at the Double-A level since 1963, and consists primarily of teams located in the Northeastern United States.
Muncy Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field is a minor league baseball stadium in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is home to the Williamsport Crosscutters, a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. The official seating capacity is 2,366. Opened in 1926, Bowman Field is the second-oldest ballpark in minor league baseball. Bowman Field was also the home field for the Wildcats of the Pennsylvania College of Technology for more than a decade through the 2021 baseball season.
Curtis Thomas Simmons was an American professional baseball left-handed pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1947 to 1950 and 1952 to 1967. Along with right-hander Robin Roberts, Simmons was one of the twin anchors of the starting rotation of the "Whiz Kids", the Philadelphia Phillies' 1950 National League (NL) championship team. A three-time MLB All-Star, he also played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, and California Angels.
Samuel Wilson Breadon was an American executive who served as the president and principal owner of the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1920 through 1947. During that time, the Cardinals rose from languishing as one of the National League's doormats to a premier power in baseball, winning nine NL pennants and six World Series championships. Breadon's teams also established the highest regular season winning percentage of any owner in franchise history at .570. His teams totaled 2,470 wins and 1,830 losses.
The Interstate League was the name of five different American minor baseball leagues that played intermittently from 1896 through 1952.
Bicentennial Park is a baseball and softball stadium in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The park, originally named after the bicentennial year in which it was renovated, was officially renamed Earl F. Hunsicker Bicentennial Park after Hunsicker's death in 1987; it was renamed ECTB Stadium at Earl F. Hunsicker Bicentennial Park in 2005. ECTB is an acronym for the Elite Championship Tournament Baseball, a youth baseball organization.
John George Bucha was an American professional baseball player whose 18-year career included 84 games in Major League Baseball (MLB) over three seasons. A catcher and native of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Bucha appeared in only two games for the 1948 St. Louis Cardinals, but was a full-year member of the 1950 Redbirds and the 1953 Detroit Tigers. He threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall and weighed 190 pounds (86 kg).
The Lehigh Valley IronPigs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. They are located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and they are named in reference to pig iron, used in the manufacturing of steel, for which the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania is well known. The IronPigs play their home games at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown.
The Allentown Chiefs were a minor league baseball team. They played in the Class A Eastern League, and started the 1957 season in Syracuse, New York. The team was purchased by the Boston Red Sox and was moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania, mid-season on July 13, 1957, and finished the season playing at Breadon Field in Whitehall Township, just north of Allentown.
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 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.
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.
Sports in Allentown, Pennsylvania has a rich tradition at all levels, including professional sports, the Olympics, and high school levels. While most Allentown residents support professional sports teams in New York City or Philadelphia, Allentown itself also is home to two major professional sports teams, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Triple A team of the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball, and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League, the primary development team of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Breadon Field was a minor league ballpark in Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania, located on the east side of MacArthur Road, about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) north of the U.S. Route 22 interchange outside of Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Edward Benson "Ed" Lytle, also known as "Dad" Lytle and "Pop" Lytle, was a professional baseball player and manager whose playing career spanned 12 seasons, including one in Major League Baseball with the Chicago Colts and the Pittsburgh Alleghenys in 1890. Over his major league career, Lytle, a second baseman and outfielder, batted .136 with three runs, eight hits and one doubles in 16 games played. He also played in the minor leagues with Colorado Springs, the Wheeling National Citys/Nailers, the Portland Gladiators, the Class-B Los Angeles Seraphs, the Class-A Kansas City Cowboys, the Los Angeles Angels, the Binghamton Bingoes, the Allentown Buffaloes, the Class-A Wilkes-Barre Coal Barons, the Class-B Hartford Bluebirds, the Class-A Rochester Brownies, the Class-A Montreal Royals, the Class-B New Castle Quakers, the Class-B Wheeling Nailers, the Class-A Milwaukee Brewers, the Class-B Fort Wayne Indians and the Class-B Wheeling Stogies. Lytle also managed in the minor leagues with the New Castle Quakers in 1899 and the Wheeling Stogies from 1899 to 1900.
The Hagerstown Owls were a Minor League Baseball team based in Hagerstown, Maryland, United States. The team played in the Inter-State League (1941–1952) and the Piedmont League (1953–1955). Their home games were played in Municipal Stadium.
The St. Louis Cardinals, a professional baseball franchise based in St. Louis, Missouri, compete in the National League (NL) of Major League Baseball (MLB). As the game of baseball garnered interest in the United States in the 19th century, professional baseball in St. Louis became rooted chiefly in one disestablished Major League club – named the Brown Stockings, the same as the Cardinals' earliest name – which is loosely connected, but does not fall within the scope of, today's Cardinals. The Brown Stockings became St. Louis' first fully professional baseball club when they gained accession in the National Association (NA) in 1875. However, the NA folded after that season. That winter, with five other former NA teams, St. Louis established a new, eight-team league called the National League (NL) and began play the next season. Despite early success, Brown Stocking players were found to be connected to game fixing scandals, which forced bankruptcy and the club's expulsion from the NL. This scandal also abrogated their professional status but some members maintained play as a semi-professional team, primarily operated by outfielder Ned Cuthbert, until 1881.
The St. Louis Cardinals, a professional baseball franchise based in St. Louis, Missouri, compete in the National League (NL) of Major League Baseball (MLB). After decades of early futility in the National League, St. Louis baseball encountered a renaissance with 11 World Series titles and 18 National League pennants since 1926. Sam Breadon's purchase of the majority stake in the club in 1920 spurred this revival; he then assumed the role as team president and assigned the young, enterprising Branch Rickey as his business manager, functioning as a prototype of today's general manager. In his tenure as owner until 1947, Breadon's Cardinals won nine NL pennants and six World Series titles. During this era in Cardinals franchise history, they also totaled 2,898 wins and 2,171 losses in the regular season for a .572 winning percentage.
The Sunbury Indians were a minor league baseball team based in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. They began play in the Interstate League in 1939 as the Sunbury Senators and were renamed the Sunbury Indians in 1940. Despite the nicknames, they were unaffiliated with any major league baseball team. They played at Meredith Park. The team relocated to Hagerstown, Maryland, after the 1940 season as the Hagerstown Owls.
The Slatington Dukes were a minor league baseball team based in Slatington, Pennsylvania. In 1932, the Dukes played a partial season as members of the Class D level Interstate League, joining the league when the Tamaqua Dukes team relocated from Tamaqua to Slatington during the season, only to have the league fold less than two weeks later. Slatington hosted Dukes' home minor league games at Victory Park.
