The Hartford Yard Goats are a Minor League Baseball team based in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

. The Yard Goats, which play in the Eastern League, are the Double-A affiliate of the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

. The team was founded in 2016 when the

New Britain Rock Cats The New Britain Rock Cats were a minor league baseball team that competed in the Eastern League. They were the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox for 12 years, the Minnesota Twins for 20 years and the Colorado Rockies for one. They playe ...

relocated to Hartford. The Yard Goats' home stadium is Dunkin' Donuts Park.

History

The franchise's timeline can be traced back to

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

, where they were a

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

Double-A affiliate from 1965 to 1969. The franchise then moved to

Pawtucket, Rhode Island Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Falls ...

, in 1970, where they spent three years. The

Pawtucket Red Sox The Pawtucket Red Sox, known colloquially as the PawSox, were a professional minor league baseball club based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. From 1973 to 2020, the team was a member of the International League and served as the Triple-A affiliate ...

became a Triple-A team in 1973, and the Red Sox moved their Double-A franchise to

Bristol, Connecticut Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, southwest-west of Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. As of the 2020 census, the ...

. Known as the

Bristol Red Sox The Bristol Red Sox baseball club was an American minor league baseball franchise. Based in Bristol, Connecticut, it was the Double-A Eastern League farm system affiliate of the Boston Red Sox for ten seasons (1973–82) and played at Muzzy Fi ...

, the team played at

Muzzy Field Muzzy Field is a stadium in Bristol, Connecticut adjacent to Rockwell Park. It has been in use since 1912 for both baseball and football. The brick-faced grandstand, with a capacity of 4,900 people, was built in 1939. It features a ring of tall p ...

for ten seasons from 1973 to 1982. Starting with the 1983 season, the team was moved east to

New Britain, Connecticut New Britain is a city in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located approximately southwest of Hartford. According to 2020 Census, the population of the city is 74,135. Among the southernmost of the communities encompassed wit ...

. Then known as the

New Britain Red Sox New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

, the team played its home games at

Beehive Field Beehive Field is a stadium in New Britain, Connecticut. The ballpark has a capacity of 4,700. It is primarily used for baseball and was the home of the New Britain Red Sox (Boston Red Sox AA affiliate) from the time of their move to the city in 1 ...

, which stood next to

New Britain Stadium New Britain Stadium is a baseball venue in New Britain, Connecticut, United States. It is the home of the New Britain Bees of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League. Opened in 1996, the stadium seats 6,146 spectators. The stadium is part of the ...

. Renamed the Rock Cats in 1997, the team remained in New Britain through the 2015 season. In 2016, the team moved to Hartford and became the Yard Goats. The Yard Goats were unable to play any games in Hartford in 2016 due to construction delays at Dunkin' Donuts Park, and instead played all of their home games on the road. These delays resulted in a lawsuit between the city of Hartford and Centerplan, the park's developer. Both sides later agreed to mediation. After the city called an insurance bond with Arch Insurance, the firm replaced Centerplan with Whiting-Turner which resumed construction in October 2016. The new developer completed the ballpark for the team's 2017 home opener on April 13, which they lost to the

New Hampshire Fisher Cats The New Hampshire Fisher Cats are a Minor League Baseball team based in Manchester, New Hampshire. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays major league club. During the team's first seas ...

, 7-2. The nickname "Yard Goats" was selected as part of a "Name the Team" contest which drew over 6,000 submissions. "Yard goats" is rail-yard slang for the

switch engine A switcher, shunter, yard pilot, switch engine, yard goat, or shifter is a small railroad locomotive used for manoeuvring railroad cars inside a rail yard in a process known as ''switching'' (US) or ''shunting'' (UK). Switchers are not inten ...

s or

terminal tractor A terminal tractor, known in the United States as a shunt truck, spotter truck, spotting tractor, yard truck, yard shifter, yard dog, yard goat, yard horse, yard jockey, hostler, or mule, is a kind of semi-tractor intended to move semi-trailers ...

s that shuttle train cars between different locomotives. The stadium is adjacent to

Hartford Yard Hartford Yard is a classification yard located in Hartford, Connecticut. It was originally built by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The yard was greatly expanded between 1925 and 1926 to alleviate congestion in the railroad's nearb ...

. The logo features a goat chomping on a baseball bat and the team makes heavy use of animal imagery and symbolism. The blue and green colors are a nod to the

Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to ...

team that played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

from 1979 to 1997. The team stages an annual Whalers Reunion weekend, with special uniforms resembling the hockey club's and the logo has the goat chomping a hockey stick. The logo font replicates that used by the former

New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

. In conjunction with

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Yard Goats were organized into the

Double-A Northeast AA, Aa, Double A, or Double-A may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''America's Army'', a 2002 computer game published by the U.S. Army * '' Ancient Anguish'', a computer game in existence since 1992 * Aa!, a J-Pop musical group * Do ...

. In 2022, the Double-A Northeast became known as the Eastern League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization.

Mascots

The team has two

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

s, a green male goat named Chompers and a blue female goat named Chew Chew. The names were selected as part of a "Name the Mascot" contest. Chew Chew's name is designed to reflect both the railroad meaning of the nickname (as in choo choo train) and the goat logo, which is chewing on a baseball bat. On April 21, 2016, Hartford Police reported that an individual had tackled Chompers outside the Connecticut Science Center after an event there. The man inside the costume, who was not named, was uninjured. Police are unsure whether it was an intentional assault or a prank that went too far.

Broadcasts

Hartford Yard Goats games are heard on

AM 1410 The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1410 kHz: The Federal Communications Commission classifies 1410 AM as a regional frequency in the United States. Argentina * Radio Folclorísimo in José León Suárez, Buenos Aires. * ...

WPOP WPOP (1410 AM) is a commercial radio station in Hartford, Connecticut, broadcasting a news/talk/sports radio format. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios and offices are located on Columbus Boulevard in Hartford. WPOP broadcas ...

in English and were formerly heard on AM 1120

WPRX WPRX (1120 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Bristol, Connecticut. The station is owned by Nievezquez Productions, Inc. It airs a tropical music format. WPRX is the first wholly owned Puerto Rican station in the United States and airs mus ...

in Spanish. The Public Address Announcer is Jared Doyon.

Season records

(Place indicates finish in Eastern/Northeast Division) *2016: 74-67 (3rd), manager Darin Everson *2017: 62-77 (5th), manager Jerry Weinstein *2018: 65-71 (3rd), manager Warren Schaeffer *2019: 73-66 (3rd), manager Warren Schaeffer *2020: Season canceled due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

*2021: 39-79 (6th), manager

Chris Denorfia Christopher Anthony Denorfia (born July 15, 1980) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and coach. He currently serves as the manager for the Hartford Yard Goats, who are the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies of Major L ...

*2022: 77-60 (2nd), manager Chris Denorfia

Roster

References

External links

Official website
{{Connecticut Sports Eastern League (1938–present) teams Sports in Hartford, Connecticut Baseball teams established in 2016 Colorado Rockies minor league affiliates Professional baseball teams in Connecticut 2016 establishments in Connecticut Double-A Northeast teams