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 Allentown, Pennsylvania's Bicentennial Park.

In 1996, Allentown was granted a franchise in the Northeast League, replacing the Rhode Island Tiger Sharks. The team faced difficulties before their inaugural season even began; 16-year Major League veteran infielder Ken Oberkfell was named the team's first manager in the summer of 1996. On December 19, 1996, Oberkfell would leave to become the manager of the Piedmont Boll Weevils of the South Atlantic League.

Former Major League catcher Ed Ott would be named Oberkfell's replacement for their inaugural 1997 season and the Ambassadors finished the year a 39-43 record, leading the league in runs per game, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. The Ambassadors drew 69,537, finishing third in the league in that category.

In 1998, the team continued to improve, sporting an impressive 52-32 record but lost in the first round of the playoffs to the New Jersey Jackals. They led the league in attendance with an impressive 122,000 fans on the season, an average of about 2,900 fans per game. In 1999, the league merged with the very successful Northern League to play in the new Northern League East division. The Ambassadors won the regular season title with a record of 47-39 but would lose in the playoffs, again to New Jersey.

In 2000, the Ambassadors saw their record fall to 42-43 and they missed the playoffs. Also, attendance started to slip as other teams in the league all started seeing increases in attendance. 2001 was another tough year for Allentown, once again in terms of attendance and also their record fell to 43-47, which was last in the South Division. In 2002, things took a drastic turn for the worse. The Ambassadors finished a miserable 26-64 on the season, 36½ games out of first place. They were also at the bottom of the league in attendance, averaging only about 1,700 fans per contest, which was no longer comparable with other Northeastern League teams.

...
Wikipedia