Allentown Ambassadors


The Allentown Ambassadors were an independent baseball team that competed in the Northeast League and the Northern League from 1997 until 2003. They played their home games at Allentown, Pennsylvania's Bicentennial Park.

History

In 1996, Allentown was granted a franchise in the Northeast League, replacing the Rhode Island Tiger Sharks. The team faced difficulties before their inaugural season even began; 16-year Major League veteran infielder Ken Oberkfell was named the team's first manager in the summer of 1996. On December 19, 1996, Oberkfell would leave to become the manager of the Piedmont Boll Weevils of the South Atlantic League.
Former Major League catcher Ed Ott would be named Oberkfell's replacement for their inaugural 1997 season and the Ambassadors finished the year a 39-43 record, leading the league in runs per game, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. The Ambassadors drew 69,537, finishing third in the league in that category.
In 1998, the team continued to improve, sporting an impressive 52-32 record but lost in the first round of the playoffs to the New Jersey Jackals. They led the league in attendance with an impressive 122,000 fans on the season, an average of about 2,900 fans per game. In 1999, the league merged with the very successful Northern League to play in the new Northern League East division. The Ambassadors won the regular season title with a record of 47-39 but would lose in the playoffs, again to New Jersey.
In 2000, the Ambassadors saw their record fall to 42-43 and they missed the playoffs. Also, attendance started to slip as other teams in the league all started seeing increases in attendance. 2001 was another tough year for Allentown, once again in terms of attendance and also their record fell to 43-47, which was last in the South Division. In 2002, things took a drastic turn for the worse. The Ambassadors finished a miserable 26-64 on the season, 36½ games out of first place. They were also at the bottom of the league in attendance, averaging only about 1,700 fans per contest, which was no longer comparable with other Northeastern League teams.
By 2003, the team only made minimal strides in terms of their on-field play. They once again finished last in their division with a 32-58 record, 20½ games out of first. However, their biggest loss was in the attendance category. Once again, most league teams were averaging over 150,000 fans per season, but Allentown saw only about 40,000 fans for the year, or 888 fans per game. The attendance numbers were the fourth-worst in all of independent baseball. Grammy Award winning recording artist John Mayer performed at the park during the Ambassadors final season. Mayer's concert represented the most attended event in the venue's history.

Just weeks before the Ambassadors were to begin their 2004 season, team owner Peter Karoly announced that he was folding the team as the Ambassadors filed for bankruptcy while simultaneously announcing his support for an affiliated baseball proposal from a group led by Craig Stein and Joseph Finley, who were working on obtaining a $12 million grant from the state for a new baseball facility. The roster, for the most part, was dispersed through all the teams in the league, and whatever was left became part of a traveling team known as The Aces. The Aces played one season before the league replaced them with the Worcester Tornadoes.
In April 2008, professional baseball returned to Allentown, when the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the AAA-level Philadelphia Phillies team, began play at Coca-Cola Park, a new, 10,000-capacity stadium.

Results

Regular Season

SeasonGamesWonLostPercentageStandings
1997823943.4767th, Northeast League
1998*845232.619T-2nd, Northeast League
1999*864739.5471st, Northern League East
2000844143.4885th, Northern League East
2001*844143.4885th, Northern League East
2002902664.2897th, Northern League East
2003903258.3568th, Northeast League
Totals600278322.463—

*Denotes Playoff Team

Post Season

Single-Season Team Records

Batting

Batting

The Ambassadors had 20 former Major League players over their seven seasons of play. While the Ambassadors featured players that would be signed by Major League clubs, no Ambassador player, former Major Leaguer or otherwise, reached the Majors after playing with the Ambassadors.
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003