The Elizabethton River Riders are a summer collegiate baseball team of the Appalachian League. They are located in

Elizabethton, Tennessee Elizabethton is a city in, and the county seat of Carter County, Tennessee, United States. Elizabethton is the historical site of the first independent American government (known as the Watauga Association, created in 1772) located west of both t ...

, and play their home games at Northeast Community Credit Union Ballpark.

History

Previous Elizabethton teams

Professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

was first played in

, by the

Elizabethton Betsy Red Sox Elizabethton is a city in, and the county seat of Carter County, Tennessee, United States. Elizabethton is the historical site of the first independent American government (known as the Watauga Association, created in 1772) located west of both t ...

in the Appalachian League in 1937. They remained in the league through 1942. The city's Appalachian League entry from 1945 to 1948 was called the Elizabethton Betsy Cubs. They were followed by the

Elizabethton Betsy Local Elizabethton is a city in, and the county seat of Carter County, Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. T ...

from 1949 to 1950 and the Elizabethton Phils in 1951. Thirty-six years later, the Minnesota Twins placed the Elizabethton Twins in the Appalachian League as a Rookie-level affiliate in 1974.

Collegiate summer team

In conjunction with a contraction of Minor League Baseball beginning with the 2021 season, the Appalachian League was reorganized as a collegiate summer baseball league, and the Elizabethton Twins were replaced by a new franchise in the revamped league designed for rising college freshmen and sophomores. The new team became known as the Elizabethton River Riders. The nickname is in reference to the

Watauga River The Watauga River () is a large stream of western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It is long with its headwaters in Linville Gap to the South Fork Holston River at Boone Lake. Course The Watauga River rises from a spring near the base ...

, which runs just behind their stadium, Northeast Community Credit Union Ballpark.

References

External links

* {{Tennessee Sports 2021 establishments in Tennessee Amateur baseball teams in Tennessee Appalachian League teams Baseball teams established in 2021 Elizabethton, Tennessee