Allentown, PA - Ferrous and FeFe

04/26/09 - Lehigh Valley Ironpigs - Coca-Cola Park

As the country was coming to grips with the scope of the H1N1 (Swine Flu) outbreak, we decided to head to Allentown, PA to meet up with our favorite pigs, Ferrous and FeFe. They are the dual mascots for the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs, the AAA affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. And honestly, I couldn't help but anticipate the conversation with the doctor. "...that's a nasty cough you have there. Have you had any close contact with pigs lately?" "Well, now that you mention it..."

This is a new stadium (team started play in 2008) and it has all the bells and whistles of a nice, high-minor league park - somewhere for the kids to play, somewhere for the parents to drink and a nice selection of food in-between. My favorite was the nachos covered with what must have been a half pound of pulled pork. We ordered tickets from the team about 2 weeks prior to the game and even though we were in the last section in right field, had a pretty nice view.

Despite the team only being in its second year of existence, Ferrous is already on his second name. His original name, PorkChop, lasted only two days until a small public uprising brought it to management's attention that this was a derogatory name towards an ethnic group in the area. They quickly changed it to Ferrous, which is a nod to the iron industry in the area. For all you science nerds, a little bonus stuff here: His female cohort, FeFe, is named after the atomic symbol for Iron (Fe) and Ferrous's jersey number? 26 of course - the atomic number for Iron. All this is quite clever but it still leaves me with a slight feeling that political correctness won again. PorkChop was actually suggested in a naming contest by a 5 year old and I kinda doubt he had any malicious intent.

Regardless of the name, we had a good time in Allentown. The game was a sellout and the community has obviously embraced their new team as people wandered the concourse sporting pig snout and shirts with curly tails embroidered on the back. And best of all, I never had to explain the trip to my doctor...