Bicentennial Park is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and softball stadium in

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 census. It is the fastest-growing major city in Pennsylvania an ...

. The park, originally named after the bicentennial year in which it was renovated, was officially renamed Earl F. Hunsicker Bicentennial Park after Hunsicker's death in 1987; it was renamed ECTB Stadium at Earl F. Hunsicker Bicentennial Park in 2005. ECTB is an acronym for the Elite Championship Tournament Baseball, a youth baseball organization. The stadium and land around it are owned by the City of Allentown and currently leased to the ECTB, which in turn sub-lets the stadium to numerous community organizations which host events there throughout the year. The ballpark currently seats 4,600.

Origins

The ballpark opened in 1939 as Fairview Field, home to the Allentown Dukes, a

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

Minor League farm team. The Dukes, a founding member of the

Interstate League The Interstate League was the name of five different American minor baseball leagues that played intermittently from 1896 through 1952. Early leagues Earlier versions of the Interstate League, with years active: *1896–1901: an unclassifie ...

, won both the regular-season pennant and defeated the Sunbury Senators in the playoffs. The 1939 Dukes featured future Major League Baseball players

Joe Antolick Joseph Antolick (April 11, 1916 – June 25, 2002), was an American professional baseball catcher and manager, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies. He appeared in four games, in , as a 28-year-old rookie. Duri ...

George Hennessey George Hennessey (October 28, 1907 – January 15, 1988) was a professional baseball player who played pitcher in the Major Leagues from 1937 to 1945. Born in Slatington, Pennsylvania, he played for the St. Louis Browns, Philadelphia Phillies, ...

, and Tony Parisse. The next year, the Dukes were replaced by the Allentown Fleetwings, which were affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1941, the team as taken over by the Philadelphia Phillies and renamed again, as the Allentown Wings; they reverted to the Cardinals in 1944 and played their final season at Fairview in 1947. (Allentown would play for the Interstate League title three times in four years, in 1944, 1945 and 1947, but lost each time.) The team moved to Breadon Field, a new ballpark just north of the city in Whitehall Township, on August 6, 1948 after playing on the road until then due to construction delays.

Bicentennial Park

Fairview Field was renovated in the mid-1970s and re-opened as Bicentennial Park in 1976 for use as a softball field. The renovation effort was led by Earl F. Hunsicker who raised an estimated $1,400,000 over an 11-year period, aided by Mayor Joseph S. Daddona and the Allentown Recreation Commission.

Allentown Ambassadors

After the Eastern League's Allentown Red Sox played their final season in 1960, the city was without pro ball until the

Allentown Ambassadors The Allentown Ambassadors were an independent baseball team that competed in the Northeast League and the Northern League from 1997 until 2003. They played their home games at Bicentennial Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania. History In 1996, Al ...

of the independent

Northeast League The Northeast League was a professional independent baseball league that operated in the Northeastern United States from 1995 until 1998 and from 2003 until 2004. Between 1999 and 2002, the league was part of the Northern League after the two le ...

arrived in 1997. However, dwindling attendance (hurt by increasingly poor on-field performance) led to owner Peter Karoly to fold the team shortly before the 2004 season; the franchise wound up as a travel team for a year (as the

Northeast League Aces The Northeast League Aces (also simply referred to as The Aces) were a traveling team in the Northeast League in the 2004 season to replace the Allentown Ambassadors. The Ambassadors' roster was dispersed around the league, and the Aces were f ...

) before becoming the

Worcester Tornadoes The Worcester Tornadoes were a professional baseball team based in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the United States. The Tornadoes were a member of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball, an independent baseball league which ...

in 2005. Over its six seasons, twenty-one MLB players played for or managed the Ambassadors, including

Ed Ott Nathan Edward Ott (born July 11, 1951), nicknamed "Otter", is an American former professional baseball player, coach and manager. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1974 to 1981, most notably as a member of the Pittsburgh ...

, Luis Andujar,

Kim Batiste Kimothy Emil Batiste (March 15, 1968 – October 7, 2020) was an American Major League Baseball infielder for the Philadelphia Phillies (1991–1994) and San Francisco Giants (1996), both of the National League. He was drafted in the third roun ...

, Scott Bullett, Brian Drahman, Angelo Encarnacion,

Mike Figga Michael Anthony Figga (born July 31, 1970) is a retired catcher in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles. In a three-year career, Figga hit .213 with one home run. Early life and education Born in ...

Jason McDonald Jason Adam McDonald (born March 20, 1972), is an American former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) primarily as an outfielder for the Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers from 1997 to 2000. McDonald attend ...

, Darryl Motley, and

Brad Pennington Brad Lee Pennington (born April 14, 1969) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Beginning his collegiate career at Vincennes University, Pennington then pitched for Bellarmine University; he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in ...

Philadelphia Force

From 2006-09, Bicentennial Park returned to a softball configuration to host the Philadelphia Force of National Pro Fastpitch.

Land dispute and proposed demolition

In 2009, a controversy emerged over the land the stadium sits upon. LANta (Lehigh And Northampton Transportation Authority), which at the time owned 0.2 acres of the property extending from the left field parking lot to the left field base line, announced plans to build a new garage using federal stimulus money and later expand the site and buy the remaining property the stadium sits on from the city of

Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them: * Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California * Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County * Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in T ...

. The plan, which would result in the demolition of the stadium, ran into opposition from the family of Earl Hunsicker as well as owner Terry Schadler, who tied up the proposal in the Allentown City Council. After a four-year lease renewal was awarded by City Council to new stadium owner Dylan Dando in 2016, the matter was resolved in 2017. The property in question was returned from LANTA to the City of Allentown in exchange for existing adjacent land which had been vacant and used for stadium parking, which LANTA intends to use for expansion of their existing facility near the stadium. The $13,000,000 expansion to the facility will add space vertically and allow for a compressed natural gas filling station on their property. This deal allows the stadium to remain open, although the Hunsicker family has expressed reservations based on the potential for disruption of parking at the site.

References