Reading Fightin Phils (Eastern League) @ FirstEnergy Stadium (Reading, PA)

When a place calls itself "Baseballtown", you have to check it out

*This trip occurred on July 22, 2025.

Reading, PA is probably best known for these five things:

1. The Reading Railroad (which was actually based in Philadelphia)
2. Pretzels
3. The Pagoda
4. Taylor Swift
5. Baseballtown

Of course, since this is a series about SPORTS, we’re going to focus on that last one.

Minor League teams came and went in Reading for a while until 1967, when the Reading Phillies (or R-Phils as they’re sometimes called) played their first season in the Eastern League as an affiliate of, unsurprisingly, the Philadelphia Phillies. Since then, the only thing that's changed is the team's name (when they became the "Fightin Phils" in 2012); the nearly 60 year affiliation is tied for the longest in Minor League Baseball (alongside the Detroit Tigers and their Single-A affiliate in Florida). As a testament to this history, the team has retired five numbers; all five of those players are in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and all but one made their MLB debut with the Phillies. The team has also consistently been among the leaders in attendance in the Eastern League for a long time. It’s hard to find numbers, but one thing I saw had them leading the Eastern League in total attendance eleven times between 2000 and 2019.

Normally, I wouldn't consider coming here: it's an almost two hour drive from where I live (which is pretty far by my standards), and game times are SUPER inconvenient (5 PM Sunday starts and 7 PM every other day). However, an opportunity to cut that drive time in half (one way) came up, so I figured I'd try and take advantage of that...until other plans made that trip less feasible. Thankfully, I found other games that were also earlier in the day, so I decided to go with one of those (in this case, this game started at noon). The super nice thing about Reading is that tickets can be had for as low as ten dollars; you end up getting a large seating area down the right field line (though views are somewhat obscured by netting and the awkward angle)¹.

The stadium the R-Phils have called home for their entire history was opened in 1951, making it the oldest stadium in the Eastern League by over 30 years (it was the oldest stadium in Double-A until 2025 due to a relocation). Currently known as FIrstEnergy Stadium, it has a very different vibe from a different, former FirstEnergy Stadium in Ohio which is famously haunted by the sadness it has manufactured since 1999. Instead of being a place where fans question their morals while cheering for a potential serial sex offender, Reading is known for its atmosphere: a much more exuberant, carnival-like place known as “America’s Classic Ballpark”. This is strongly evident the minute you walk through the gates, where concession stands line the plaza and there are games as you approach the outfield (this is all on the first base side). These are the main concession stands for the whole stadium, as the grandstand and other areas of the stadium feature much smaller concession areas. Side note: while they do have crab fries, they’re not Chickie's and Pete’s - not sure exactly why that is.

When you’re walking around the stadium, you can kinda feel just how old it is. The grandstand isn’t the most comfortable place in baseball as it’s almost 75 years old (and is kinda cramped inside), but it does have the benefits of shaded seats and what appear to be concession stands on top of it (plus the obligatory team store - which also has a unique history). The concourse and field are not only level with each other, they’re pretty much at street level; as the ground you walk on outside of the grandstand is “road gravel”. There’s also many, MANY references to the history of baseball in Reading all over the park, including the teams that played prior to the arrival of the R-Phils², a “Reading Baseball Hall of Fame”, and my personal favorite: a display commemorating which Reading Phillies alumni played for the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies (the year the team became “World Champions of Baseball”³). Unfortunately, I could not find a corresponding display for 1980...

The concourse does NOT wrap around the field (it’s broken up by a large building in center field which was built in 2024 to help the team meet MLB specifications for Minor League stadiums), but it does have fan areas in the outfield (i.e. between the foul poles). In left field, you have a boardwalk-style area with a few concession stands and high tops (some of this area appeared to be reserved), and in right field...there’s a damn swimming pool. Google says there are three other MiLB stadiums with pools, but I can think of only ONE Major League stadium with a pool (Arizona), and I thought that was SUPER COOL as a kid. I couldn't figure out when the team added it, and I forgot to ask how many times it’s been hit by home runs (I’m sure SOMEONE has been keeping track), but the game’s lone home run did end up in this area.

The most notable thing about “Baseballtown” is something I learned when preparing for this trip: THERE’S (LEGITIMATELY) FREE PARKING! This is an ASTOUNDING rarity in Minor League Baseball, so that is a massive plus for me (and I’m sure a lot of fans). The lots are kinda compact (for lack of a better term) as they’re all fairly close to the stadium, so as you might expect, getting in and out is a bit awkward. I will note that there does exist a paid lot, but I’m not sure which one of the lots it is - I assume it’s right next to the stadium though (near their event center). Also, shout out to the dude who had a DALLAS COWBOYS front license plate (Pennsylvania cars do not typically have front plates as the state issues only one plate per car) - that’s a BOLD thing to have in Pennsylvania (especially eastern PA).

This was a “camp” game (i.e. the summer version of a school game), though the atmosphere felt more like Brooklyn than Staten Island (i.e. the two school games I went to). The R-Phils - or, rather, the “Reading Hot Dogs” (as that was the identity they used for this game) - ended up coming back from a 3-0 deficit to win 6-3 (scoring two runs each in the sixth through eighth innings). Fun fact: one player from each team had played in High-A earlier in the year, and I saw them both play at their High-A teams (Jersey Shore and Brooklyn).

As an aside, it turns out that it’s only ~50 minutes to get from Reading to Allentown (in fact; both teams seem to share scoreboard graphics). While I feel like this COULD lead to someone wanting to try to see both in one day (which given Reading’s late Sunday games is somewhat feasible), I feel that the days when that is possible are rather rare (especially when both teams do “Camp Day” on the same day...).

And yes, this means that I’ve visited three of the Phillies' four MiLB affiliates. Don't expect the fourth one anytime soon however - it's in Florida, and I have no plans of traveling down there...

MERCH

When looking into the R-Phils, I saw that their team store had undergone some form of renovation prior to the 2025 season. As it turns out, as part of the construction of the new center field building, the team’s clubhouse/locker room was moved from the grandstand to the new building, and the team store was expanded into the space once occupied by the clubhouse (they were adjacent to each other, though apparently the team store didn’t exist until 1992 according to Wikipedia). This means that not only is the team store rather large (especially by Minor League standards), it’s also historic, as part of the space was once occupied by players who went on to become Major Leaguers! To honor this, a few lockers used in the old clubhouse now serve as displays; I don’t remember how many lockers they had, but I did see two: one for Ryan Howard and one for...Darin Ruf.

I went a little crazy on hats here - ending up going home with SIX of them:

• Two versions (fitted and flexfit) of their home hat (A red hat with their “F” logo)
• A fitted navy hat with their “F” logo; while this hat usually has a diamond pattern (as it’s meant to be a batting practice hat), I found one that was the “normal” fabric
• A fitted red hat with a blue “R” (their road hat)
• A flexfit blue and red hat featuring an “R” topped by a train (throwback)
• A flexfit red hat with an “R” styled like the Phillies logo from the ‘70s and ‘80s

I didn’t get a jersey as they’re sublimated (Go “Fightin in Phils”!), but the team did offer something that is VERY uncommon: free customization! Most teams charge for this, so that’s another thing that sets the R-Phils apart (even if the customization isn’t the highest quality).

In terms of other things, I got a BallQube to display the official MiLB baseball I got in Brooklyn a while ago, plus I also ended up getting a Phillies City Connect from a store near Allentown on my way home from the game. I did see a t-shirt with “Baseballtown” on it that I thought about, but I didn’t like it enough to justify getting it. There was also a hat with a Keystone logo on it I wanted, but it was not available in my size and there were no flexfits either...