Lehigh Valley IronPigs (International League) @ Coca-Cola Park (Allentown, PA)

"Well we're living here in Allentown..."

*This trip occurred on May 8, 2025.

The Lehigh Valley IronPigs have been in Allentown since moving down from Ottawa, Ontario in 2008 (and thus making the "International" in the International League's name a misnomer). Their move came with a $50 million dollar stadium named Coca-Cola Park, which doesn’t sound like a lot until you realize that it was apparently one of the most expensive minor league stadiums at the time it was built (other teams have since gone well past that cost). However, that $50 million investment seems to have worked very well: the IronPigs have been in the top 10 of attendance in all of Minor League Baseball every year since they debuted, and have even spent a few years as the overall leaders of MiLB in attendance (including the last two years). Part of that can likely be attributed to the fact that they’re the AAA affiliate of the nearby Philadelphia Phillies, so the fans are more invested in the team especially given that a number of the players are on the brink of playing for said Phillies (the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers also have their top minor league team in the area). Of course, there’s also the fact that the minor leagues are where a lot of MLB players do rehab assignments, so when a guy like Bryce Harper is in town for a few days (as he was in 2022), people tend to flock to you (even if it does remove the “less expensive, less of a hassle” factor that helps these teams draw).

My original plan was to go here for an 11 AM "education" game (i.e. a game designed for schools to make field trips to - like the game I went to in Brooklyn), but something came up and I had to switch gears¹; I ended up settling on a jersey giveaway night a few days later. I must say, though, that this place is VERY nice. It makes sense that it'd be better than most of the other parks I've been to recently (since it is the highest level of Minor League Baseball), but I honestly think I liked it better than Worcester's Polar Park (which I've been to a few times) despite being about 13 years older. A large part of that is the fact that Polar Park is crammed into an already existing city block, while Coca-Cola Park has tons of land around it, thus allowing more sprawl, so to speak.

Similar to ShoreTown Ballpark, the concourse wraps completely around the field, and there are a LOT of interesting things to see walking around, like the play area in the left field corner, a grassy hill in center, and the outfield bullpens underneath an LED ribbon used for the game's line score (as well as far too many bacon references and food items with bacon). The main gate area doubles as a plaza with tons of concession stands nearby (as well as the team store), so if you want to have a table while you eat, you (as well as a bunch of unique concession stands²). Speaking of the concessions, I felt that while I wouldn't call them "cheap", they seemed noticeably less expensive than some of the other stadiums I've been to (looking at you Hudson Valley...). There was also PYROTECHNICS around the park: Flamethrowers on top of some of the scoreboard "towers" and steam jets behind the plate (and basically right above where I sat). I'm guessing these are nods to the "Iron" in IronPigs: the steel industry that used to dominate the area (see: Billy Joel).

There are upper level seats here, but I didn't go up to check them out since I had some not-so-fun encounters with ushers in other parks. These seats are, surprisingly, MORE expensive than seats in the lower bowl (case in point: 15 dollars got me behind home plate PLUS the ability to pivot for no additional cost).

MERCH

This is where I tell you that the game was actually my second visit here; my first visit was just a “quick” stop at the team store to check a few things out. I couldn’t see much of the park from this quick visit, but the store is down the right field line right next to the main gate (as opposed to being behind home plate like a lot of other minor league team stores).

The team store here is rather large and has a VAST array of things - even if most of it is your standard fare. My first visit to this store is where I ended up at a "crossroads" moment for my hat collection when I had to decide between getting a flex fit hat like I'd been collecting since 2019 or going with a fitted hat (I collected fitted hats between 2005 and 2012, but then stopped once I realized that most of them didn't feel right). In terms of the jerseys, however, most of them were sublimated and the ones that had twill letters were glued on; throw in the fact that I found something less expensive on eBay and I wasn't super interested.

There was also a secondary merch area on the concourse that had shirts on which the team heat pressed the name and number of that night's starter due to him being one of MiLB's top pitching prospects (though strangely, it was basically near first base, making it less than 100 yards from the main store). However, the wildest thing I saw when I was at the team store: a rack of the opponent's shirts! I won't get into too much detail on the game since the visitors were the team I think I'm supposed to like, but I will say that based on the two prior nights, things may have been different had the rain that forced me to leave early not ended the game shortly after I left...