Yard Goats?

TheFugitive · July 17, 2015, 01:29:28 PM

It was announced a few days ago that the AA Eastern League New Britain Rock Cats minor league baseball
franchise will be moving next season into a new stadium and entertainment complex in Downtown Hartford.

The relocated team has been given a new name. The Hartford Yard Goats.

http://www.hartfordplaysball2016.com/home.html

Mind you the Eastern League is already home to a number of odd teams names
like the Richmond Flying Squirrels, Akron Rubber Ducks, and Altoona Curve.

ynkeesfn82 · July 17, 2015, 03:39:13 PM

New Britain is getting a new team hopefully. If not in 16 then in 17. Independent league baseball. One of the league's founders who owns a team in Bridgeport, CT was touring the stadium with Mayor Erin Stewart last week. The problem? The stadium still needs $500K in upgrades and New Britain is dead-ass broke.

Chuck E. Cheese · July 17, 2015, 05:47:34 PM

Too bad. Rock Cats sound cool. Yard Goats sounds like a little league underdog team.

BillyGr · July 18, 2015, 11:03:43 AM

Quote from: TheFugitive on July 17, 2015, 01:29:28 PM
Mind you the Eastern League is already home to a number of odd teams names
like the Richmond Flying Squirrels, Akron Rubber Ducks, and Altoona Curve.

At least two of those make sense:

Akron being the (original) home of tires so something with rubber in the name
Altoona being the home of the railroad item known as the Horseshoe Curve (where the tracks literally make a horseshoe shaped turn to help climb/descend the grade).
Maybe Richmond is known for squirrels?

TRU7536 · July 18, 2015, 01:43:06 PM

The Yard Goats are turning to be popular. On the news after they announced the logo, all the products they brought in to sell which was suppose to last all summer sold out in days and have to make another order of t shirts and such.

I cant wait until they open since I live downtown, I call walk to the games. Minor league teams are suppose to have crazy names and such. The name, colors, style of letters are all references to CT and Hartford History.

Dunkin is paying for the naming rights of the stadium and Travelers and many more corporations are buying into it as well.

ynkeesfn82 · July 18, 2015, 04:42:56 PM

I think there are going to be a lot of problems on Friday nights. There are already a lot of things going on in Hartford on Friday nights.

Anyway I haven't been to a Rock Cats game in 15 years. Right after I graduated high school. I got to go for free. One Saturday Morning I was listening to WMRD AM 1150 the little station in Middletown that broadcast the games at the time. The announcer said I have tickets for 5 different games and anyone who wants them can call up. I called up picked my tickets and they arrived in the mail a few days later. My dad and I went. We only stayed for the first game of a double-header.

And speaking of my high school graduation - it was held at The Rock Cats stadium. It was a great thing to graduate high school, but the night was miserable. It was in the upper 80s/lower 90s and the humidity was very high.

MikeRa · July 18, 2015, 11:40:40 PM

Quote from: TheFugitive on July 17, 2015, 01:29:28 PM
It was announced a few days ago that the AA Eastern League New Britain Rock Cats minor league baseball
franchise will be moving next season into a new stadium and entertainment complex in Downtown Hartford.

The relocated team has been given a new name. The Hartford Yard Goats.

http://www.hartfordplaysball2016.com/home.html

Mind you the Eastern League is already home to a number of odd teams names
like the Richmond Flying Squirrels, Akron Rubber Ducks, and Altoona Curve.

it should be noted that only 1 team in the Eastern League is owned by their parent club. That would be the Reading Fightin' Phils, and their owners, the Philadelphia Phillies

TheFugitive · July 20, 2015, 10:39:31 AM

I kind of like that Yard Goats logo t-shirt.

I did win free tickets to an Altoona Curve game once.
I think I was the only guy willing to call the radio station and then
drive 100 miles from Pittsburgh to the ballpark in Blair County.

TheFugitive · July 20, 2015, 01:21:11 PM

Quote from: Marc B on July 18, 2015, 04:42:56 PM

And speaking of my high school graduation - it was held at The Rock Cats stadium.

My daughter's high-school graduation was the very last event to ever be held at the
Civic Arena (Mellon Arena) in Pittsburgh.

My mom's college graduation had been the very first event held there.

JimSawhill · February 12, 2016, 08:44:15 PM

Quote from: BillyGr on July 18, 2015, 11:03:43 AM
Quote from: TheFugitive on July 17, 2015, 01:29:28 PM
Mind you the Eastern League is already home to a number of odd teams names
like the Richmond Flying Squirrels, Akron Rubber Ducks, and Altoona Curve.

At least two of those make sense:

Akron being the (original) home of tires so something with rubber in the name
Altoona being the home of the railroad item known as the Horseshoe Curve (where the tracks literally make a horseshoe shaped turn to help climb/descend the grade).
Maybe Richmond is known for squirrels?

A yard goat is a locomotive that gets railroad cars ready in the freight yard. Since DunkinDonuts Park is near the CSO Hartford yard, it is a nice name...

TheFugitive · April 08, 2016, 01:57:13 PM

The Yard Goats won their first game last night. In Richmond, Virginia.
5-4 over the Richmond Flying Squirrels.

Yard Goats.....Flying Squirrels.......Rubber Ducks......gotta love the Eastern League!

Their home opener is April 22. Any of you Connecticut guys going?

TheFugitive · May 16, 2016, 03:08:43 PM

Apparently the new ballpark in Hartford is STILL not ready for use?

The Yard Goats spent the first month of the season on the road.
Now it looks like they are playing a home series at Dodd Memorial Stadium in Norwich

giantsfan2016 · August 20, 2016, 05:00:48 PM

Quote from: TheFugitive on May 16, 2016, 03:08:43 PM
Apparently the new ballpark in Hartford is STILL not ready for use?

The Yard Goats spent the first month of the season on the road.
Now it looks like they are playing a home series at Dodd Memorial Stadium in Norwich

They still haven't finished. The inaugural home season in Hartford was canceled. They're still fighting about it. Will the stadium be ready by April 2017? Stay tuned.

TheFugitive · August 26, 2016, 01:22:36 PM

Latest is that the Yard Goats may NEVER play in Hartford!

http://www.baseballamerica.com/business/turmoil-hartford-continues-spiral/#BlQ5tsbrUimTtAhK.97

Shades of the Seattle Pilots/Milwaukee Brewers fiasco.

The Seattle Pilots joined the American League as an expansion team in 1969.
The plan was to expand Seattle's existing minor-league ballpark from 16,000 to 30,000 seats.
It never happened, due to labor disputes, cost overruns, and a horrendous summer that set
a Major League record for rained-out games.

As the Pilots were in Spring Training in Arizona the following March, Bud Selig
bought the team, and they opened in Milwaukee instead of Seattle.

TheFugitive · February 18, 2019, 09:24:19 AM

Citing concerns about fans with peanut allergies, the Hartford Yard Goats
have announced that they are the first professional baseball team to completely
ban peanuts and Cracker Jack from their ballpark.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/hartford-yard-goats-become-first-baseball-team-to-ban-peanuts-and-cracker-jack/ar-BBTvE0C?li=BBnba9I

Time to rewrite the song, I guess.

TheFugitive · September 10, 2024, 10:17:47 AM

The Altoona Curve, AA affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, just played a series in Hartford against the Yard Goats. Several games were broadcast on my local RSN and I caught a bit. That does look like a very nice stadium up in Hartford.

Yard Goats?

ynkeesfn82

ynkeesfn82

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