Iron Pigs End 2008 Season

The inaugural season of the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs has mercifully come to and end. And unfortunately for the new Allentown based minor-league baseball team, the 2008 campaign ended as woefully as it began.

The Iron Pigs were by far the worst team in the International League. Lehigh Valley, the triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies finished with a 55-89 record, 33 games behind division champion Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the IL North.

Lehigh Valley never recovered 3-24 start of the season in the month of April. The Iron Pigs had just moved from Ottawa, Ontario, to move into brand new Coca-Cola Park to give the city of Allentown, Pa., its first look at minor-league baseball in close to 50 years.

All was not lost for the Iron Pigs even with the disaster of the field. The team rebounded to win games in May giving the fans something to cheer about. They produced a couple of players that are now in the major leagues with the Phillies.

And all things considering, the team did pretty well at the box office in their brand new digs.

Lehigh Valley Among IL Leaders in Attendance

The Iron Pigs drew 602,033 fans to Cola-Cola Park this season averaging 8,479 fans per game. They were fifth in the league in attendance behind Louisville, Pawtucket, Buffalo and Indianapolis.

Since capacity of Coca-Cola Park is 9,000, the Iron Pigs did as well as could be expected, even for a team out of contention from the start.

They even outdrew the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees 40 miles to the north, who were eighth in attendance drawing 485,999 fans averaging 7,147 per game.

Before moving south, the Phillies triple-A affiliate use to play in Scranton and was called the Red Barons. That was before new owners, Craig Stein and Joseph Finley, purchased the team to move it down the northeast extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Iron Pigs Players get September Call-ups by Phillies

Lefthander J.A. Happ, who was with the Phillies during the season, got was recalled by the team on Sept. 1, when major league teams can expand their rosters.

Happ was 8-7 with a 3,60 ERA with 135 innings pitched. He was second in the IL in strikeouts with 151, just one behind the league leader Bill Murphy of Syracuse.

Andy Tracy, the team’s first baseman, is also with the big club. The first baseman batted ,288 with 22 home runs and 85 RBI for the Iron Pigs.

Brett Myers, the Phillies starting right-handed pitcher, now appears to be on the right track after being sent down the Lehigh Valley in July to straighten out his pitching problems.

Lehigh Valley has Future in Allentown

It’s unknown weather the Iron Pigs can have winning teams in future seasons. A lot depends on the Phillies minor-league system. Most of the organizations prospects are in the lower levels.

But the team should do well financially in the Lehigh Valley regardless of their record on the field. The big league Phillies are close by.

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