Allentown Red Sox
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Allentown Red Sox 1958–1960 Allentown, Pennsylvania |
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| Class-level | |
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| Previous | Class AA (1958-1960) |
| Minor league affiliations | |
| League | Eastern League |
| Major league affiliations | |
| Previous | Boston Red Sox (1958-1960) |
| Team data | |
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Previous parks
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Max Hess Stadium 40°37′47″N 075°29′00″W / 40.62972°N 75.48333°W |
The Allentown Red Sox (A-Sox) was a minor league baseball team affiliated with the Boston Red Sox. The team played in the Class AA Eastern League and was based in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
The club's origins date to 1933 as the Reading Phillies. It became a farm team for the Red Sox in 1938 as the Hazelton (PA) Red Sox. In 1957, the Red Sox purchased the former Detroit Tigers Eastern League team, the Syracuse Chiefs, and moved the club to Allentown mid-season, being operated as an unaffiliated team for the balance of the season. The Red Sox ended their affiliation with their Eastern League team in Albany, New York after the season and reassigned it to Allentown for the 1958 season.
Owned by Joe Buzas, the team played for three seasons at Max Hess Stadium (formerly Breadon Field), owned by Max Hess, Jr., owner of the Allentown Hess Brothers department store. One of Allentown's players was Tracy Stallard who achieved some sort of notorious fame as the pitcher who served up Roger Maris' sixty first homer in 1961 while playing for Boston. Another player who appeared at the stadium was Curt Simmons, a native of Egypt, Pennsylvania, who pitched at Max Hess Stadium in a rehab assignment for the Asheville (NC) Tourists, a farm team of the Philadelphia Phillies. The presence of Curt Simmons filled up the stands. For the 1960 season, Bob Heffner, who graduated from Allentown High School as a two-sport letterman in 1957 played for the A-Sox. He had the best pitching record on the club at 16-9. Heffner later played in the majors for the Red Sox, Cleveland Indians and lastly California Angels in 1968.
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