Saving the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees is Now a Community Project

Keeping the Scranton Wilkes-Barre (SWB) Yankees in northeastern Pennsylvania has been a major concern at this web site for a long time. It started out as a major objective at this web site and spread into the local community. Now more local people are interested and involved and writing about their ideas to keep the Yankees in northeastern Pennsylvania. Keeping the Yankees here has become a community project, and The Citizens Voice newspaper has stated a blog about the SWB Yankees.

This franchise is the Triple A farm team for the New York Yankees, and they are experiencing attendance and financial problems in northeastern Pennsylvania. It has been pointed out that the these Yankees are one of the best entertainment values in the area, and that many people really enjoy watching them play at the stadium.

Naming a Minor League Team

A new theory is emerging that the team may have added to there problems by taking the wrong name. An effective name for a minor league team reflects the history of the area where they play and not the parent club. Minor league baseball teams have been in Northeastern Pennsylvania for generations and these teams are usually called the "Barons" a name that has meaning to local fans. The name Barons refers back to the Coal Barons who developed the coal mines in the area, and transformed Northeastern Pennsylvania into the energy capital of the country. A century ago, this area was as important as Saudi Arabia is today. The fans seem disappointed that the new team is called the Yankees.

The Philadelphia Phillies had their Triple A team, The Red Barons, here for about twenty years and recently moved out and the Yankees moved in. Calling the team the Red Barons was a smart move by the Phillies as it honored the history of the region and the baseball tradition that had been established in the area. The name honored the two former professional teams that once played in Northeast Pennsylvania at the A level, the Scranton Red Sox and the Wilkes-Barre Barons. Of course, the Scranton Red Sox were affiliated with the Boston Red Sox, while the Wilkes-Barre Barons were affiliated with the Cleveland Indians. The Wilkes-Barre Barons played from 1939 to 1952, and the last four years they were the Wilkes-Barre Indians. When the Phillies established the Red Barons as their Triple A affiliate in 1989 that was a remarkable development. Fans young and old throughout the area saw the Red Barons as their team. It did not matter that they were the first National League team to have a farm team in the area.

The Local Fan Base

The Philadelphia Phillies probably have the largest fan base in Northeastern Pennsylvania followed by the Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox. There are also significant numbers of Pirates, Orioles, Dodgers, and Giants fans. The Pirates have fans as they are in the state of Pennsylvania, the Orioles have fans as they are very close, and the Giants and Dodgers have fans since they both played in New York.

The problem is the Yankees are the love em or hate em franchise of Major League Baseball. Many of the fans of the just mentioned teams simply hate the New York Yankees Calling the new farm team the Yankees was a major mistake

The SWB Yankees of 2011 suffered through the poorest attendance in the 22-year history of Lackawanna County Stadium. Average attendance for 2011 was 4,880, and attendance has been falling since the Yankees moved here in 2007 as the Philadelphia Phillies decided to relocate there Triple A team to Lehigh Valley.

Choosing a Name

In Lehigh Valley, the Phillies choose a name with historical meaning just as the the Red Barons had historical significance in Northeastern Pennsylvania. When the Phillies moved there farm team to the Lehigh Valley they had a community contest and chose Iron Pigs as the team name. The name is a tribute to the historic steel industry in which iron pigs were cast to supervise the handling of the product.

The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs drew 9,200 fans per game in 2011. This almost doubled the SWB Yankees attendance.

Source: Paul Golias, Yankees moniker a marketing mistake, The Citizens Voice, October 11, 2011.

http://citizensvoice.com/sports/yankees#axzz1dGZcOo20