If you have been following along over the past few days, I have been writing about a scenic route that I took from my home in VA Beach up to a work assignment in NJ. To recap, I traveled north, then slightly northwest through Pennsylvania Dutch Country, aka Lancaster County, to get to and experience a small piece of Reading, PA baseball history, past and present. I stopped in at historic First Energy Stadium, dubbed by the stadium as “America’s Classic Ballpark” and “Baseballtown.” I caught a glimpse and investigated George Field, home of the Reading High School Red Knights. And then, through the magic of Google Maps, I spotted another field to check out on my way to NJ – Coca Cola Park, home of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
Unlike my previous leg of the trip, the one from Wilmington, Delaware to Reading, PA which took me literally through miles and miles of corn fields, this leg was much more direct and highway specific. I cruised from Reading over to Allentown in short order and arrived in the empty parking lot of Coca Cola Park, home of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Monday in the minor leagues is typically an off day with no scheduled games on the docket. And with the day turning into evening, I was already thinking this would be a perimeter visit only, which I am totally okay with. I parked in the 99% empty parking lot right in front of the stadium and started out on foot to see what I could see.
The Lehigh Valley IronPigs are the Philadelphia Phillies AAA Affiliate. I have now visited three of the four Phillies MILB clubs – Jersey Shore Blue Claws, Reading Fightin’ Phils, Lehigh Valley IronPigs – which are all in fairly close proximity to the big club in Philadelphia. The one outlier, the Clearwater Thrashers, who are in FL and also serve as the Phillies Spring Training site. Lehigh Valley has been the AAA Phillies affiliate since 2008. Coca Cola Park was opened in 2008 and remains the home stadium for the IronPigs. From what I could find about the Allentown area and according to the internet which is always correct, Lehigh Valley has a storied history of both minor league affiliations and professional independent baseball leagues.
After turning the corner past the front gate entrance, I noticed a large and familiar object positioned just under the scoreboard in the centerfield area of Coca Cola Park. I walked back to my rental car and drove around the back side of the stadium and found a cutout, a giant cutout of a Martin guitar. Speaking of storied history, Martin Guitars are some of the most sought after acoustic guitars for musicians like me who know a few chords to professionals who play stadium tours. Turns out, the C.F. Martin & Company Guitar factory is located just about 15 miles from Coca Cola Park in nearby Nazareth, PA. How cool is that giant guitar!!!
I made one more stop in the back parking lot of Coca Cola Park to see if I could get a few more views of the field itself. With the gates locked and the stadium closed, I did what I could to snag a few photos. From the exterior, it looks like an amazing baseball park. If it were any other day or perhaps earlier in the day, I may have had a shot to get inside and walk around. No worries, I was happy to photograph what I could.
Happy with what I saw and eager to get off the road after a long day of driving, I departed the parking lot area and back onto the highway for the last leg of my scenic route to NJ. I had a blast driving through the picturesque villages and farms of Lancaster County on my way to Reading, PA. Reading is an amazing baseball town and very much on my list of best baseball spots to visit. The Allentown, Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania is really nice and it’s baseball field is not too shabby either. After nearly 9 hours of driving and stopping and photography and baseball experiences, I finally landed just south of Newark, NJ on Monday night. Overall, it was a fantastic scenic route of baseball experiences visiting baseball stadiums and learning about the storied history of baseball in both Reading and Allentown, PA, USA.
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