Red Barons Alumni Association

Greg Legg Finally Gets A Bobblehead

But unless they put him in the lineup tonight, he’s wearing the wrong uniform.

The Red Barons Thank You. Please Have a Good Night and Drive Carefully

All the best to John Davies, who retired from his post as Public Address Announcer at PNC Field / Lackawanna County Stadium.  As always, Donnie Collins has it covered in the Times-Tribune.

“I wish I made a diary,” Davies said. “There were a lot of great memories.”

There certainly were.  

RailRiders Announce Greg Legg Day

The Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders will honor Red Barons fan-favorite Greg Legg with his own bobblehead and pre-game celebration on April 6.

At this time, details are unknown.  Whether Legg will be depicted wearing a Red Barons uniform or whether the franchise will re-retire #14 is certainly worth speculating about.   Here’s hoping both are in the affirmative.

All Aboard

I assume you’ve heard it before, “well, you can’t please everyone.”   If you’re in the people-pleasing business, you can at least try.

I have no idea why Rob Crain and company picked the slogan “All Aboard” for the inaugural RailRiders campaign, but it probably has a little to do with trying to provide something for everyone at a game.  

I’d also like to think It has something to do with reconnecting with the local fans and making inroads with more than a handful of disgruntled ones.  It’s still early.  The jury’s still out.  But, I think you can see the progress.

The SWB returns to the caps in 2013.  The great unveiling of the new team name, logo, and uniforms featured Greg Legg.  It even kicked off like every SWB Red Barons and SWB Yankees home game has since 1989 with the voice of PA announcer John Davies.  That’s important to people (like me).

I hear there will be other nods to the past around the renovated ballpark.  Hopefully, there will be some throwback SWB logo merchandise since it was sold with the franchise.

What got me thinking about all of this was my lack of attention to the road on my drives around NEPA.  I’ve even driven past a RailRiders billboard or two that has a flying baseball on it, very similar to the one that appears on the original Red Barons logo.  That ball just happens to fly out of the team’s All Aboard slogan.

Subtly, they’re sending a message.  ”There’s room in the train car for everyone.”

Fellow Red Barons diehards, whether you jump on or hesitate, just know that someone out there is trying to figure out how to get you in and bring you back.  Someone is listening.  After the last few years, I’m all aboard on that.

Looking for a Couple Two-Tree New Mascots

While I’m sure it’ll be two very cute anthropomorphic boy and girl porcupines, it’s fun to propose these two as the new mascots of the SWB RailRiders.

I imagine one has spent the last six years or so living the hobo lifestyle, making half-hearted attempts looking for a new minor league town to call his home.  The other knows a thing or two about being rode out-of-town on a rail (pending appeal).  Both deserve a second chance.  Why not at the new-and-improved ballpark?

Welcome to Beautiful PNC Field, Home of Your SWB RailRiders

It’s official, the team once known as the Red Barons will be renamed the RailRaiders. Let’s just be glad the SWB is back on the hats and merchandise. Y it was replaced in the first place is beyond me.

Great to see Greg Legg model the new SWB hat. Now re-retire #14.

Congrats Terk!

Former Scranton Wilkes-Barre Red Barons General Manager and all-around great guy Bill Terlecky was recently named Futures Collegiate Baseball League’s 2012 Executive of the Year for his work as the North Shore Navigators GM.

Ballpark Digest has it covered here. 

Great work, Terk. 

Stadium Construction April to October