Sports in South Central Pennsylvania

South Central Pennsylvania, a region synonymous with the Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is known for its many traditions such as New Year's Day pork and sauerkraut, fasnachts for the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, hex signs, and shoofly pie. However, South Central Pennsylvania also has a strong sporting tradition, such as the professional baseball teams who barnstormed their way through Lancaster County's farmland in the early 1900s to Milton S. Hershey's creation of the Hershey B'ars hockey club in 1932.

Baseball

Three professional baseball teams compete in the South Central Pennsylvania area: the Harrisburg Senators, the Lancaster Barnstormers, and the York Revolution. The Senators are the oldest team of the three, with the current incarnation playing since 1987. The Barnstormers joined the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball in the 2005 season, and won the Championship Series in 2006. Following the success of Lancaster's entry, the Opening Day Partners ownership group added the York Revolution in 2007.

The three cities of Harrisburg, Lancaster, and York each had various baseball plans before settling with their current situations. Harrisburg was in the process of pursuing a AAA-level team, planning major renovations to Commerce Bank Park to bring it to the standards of the International League. However, with the independent teams in Lancaster and York, and the addition of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in Allentown, the chances of AAA baseball coming to Harrisburg are rather slim.

The original Harrisburg Senators played in the Eastern League in 1924. Playing its home games at Island Field, the team won the league championship in the 1927, 1928, and 1931 seasons. The Senators played a few more seasons before flood waters destroyed Island Field in 1936, effectively ending Eastern League participation for fifty-one years. In 1940, Harrisburg gained an Interstate League team affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, the team remained in the city only until 1943, when it moved to nearby York and renamed the York Pirates. The current Harrisburg Senators won the Eastern League championship in the 1987, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999 seasons.

Many decades before the formation of the Barnstormers and Revolution organizations, the cities of Lancaster and York battled for baseball supremacy in the "War of the Roses." The Lancaster Red Roses and the York White Roses both played in various leagues together, with some bitter rivalry. Both teams were eventually dissolved, leaving Lancaster and York without baseball for several decades.

The Lancaster Barnstormers arrived in 2005, the first baseball team in the city for 44 years. The Barnstormers won the Atlantic League Championship Series in 2006, defeating the Bridgeport Bluefish in the league's first four-game sweep in a championship. The York Revolution played its inaugural season in 2007, reigniting the "War of the Roses" rivalry with Lancaster. The Barnstormers and the Revolution both wear retro uniforms of the respective Red Roses and White Roses for some of the games played between them.

Baseball players

Many professional baseball players call the South Central Pennsylvania region home, such as Lancaster native Tom Herr. Herr is a former Major League second baseman who played for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Minnesota Twins, the Philadelphia Phillies, the San Francisco Giants, and the New York Mets. After his retirement from Major League Baseball, Herr coached the Hempfield High School baseball team, a stint which included mentoring his son, Aaron. In 2005, he accepted the field manager position with his hometown Lancaster Barnstormers, leading them to win the 2006 Atlantic League Championship Series. This victory drew the attention of the Washington Nationals, who ultimately signed Herr to manage their AA team in Hagerstown, Maryland.

Tom Herr's son, Aaron, was drafted in 2000 by the Atlanta Braves and assigned to the rookie-level Gulf Coast Braves. He remained in the Braves organization until the 2006 season, when Herr signed with the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds initially assigned him to the A-level Chattanooga Lookouts, but worked his way up to the AAA-level Louisville Bats.

Lancaster County is also the home of other Major League Baseball veterans like Gene Garber, John Parrish, and Bruce Sutter. Gene Garber is noted for ended Pete Rose's 44-game consecutive hitting streak, and ranks fifth in career pitching appearances. With 25 saves, Garber ranks second to John Smolz on the Atlanta Braves all-time save list. John Parrish, an alumnus of J.P. McCaskey High School, is a relief pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. Bruce Sutter, notable for the popularization of the split-finger fastball, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. Sutter has many other awards including a Cy Young Award, a Babe Ruth Award, four Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Awards, and six National League All-Star selections.

Basketball

The only professional basketball team in South Central Pennsylvania is the Harrisburg Horizon of the Eastern Basketball Alliance. The Horizon is the five-time champion of the Eastern Basketball Alliance, most recently in 2006.

From 1997 to 2000, the Eastern Basketball Alliance held a Lancaster-based franchise called the Storm. The Lancaster Storm won the league championship in 1999. Other former teams from Lancaster included the Red Roses and the Lightning. Both teams played in the Continental Basketball Association; the Red Roses from 1946 to 1949, and from 1953 to 1955; the Lightning played in Lancaster from 1981-1985.

In 2004, there was an attempt by the American Basketball Association to place a team called the Hershey Nighthawks in the region, but that team was eventually moved to Montgomery County, Maryland. That team is now a member of the Premier Basketball League, known as the Maryland Nighthawks.

Ice hockey

The Hershey Bears, owned by The Hershey Company, represent the entire South Central Pennsylvania region. Started in 1932, the Bears are the oldest member of the American Hockey League, the AAA-level of the North American ice hockey organizational structure. The team is a nine-time Calder Cup champion, most recently in the 2006 season.

The city of York hosted the IceCats of the North Eastern Hockey League in the 2003-2004 season. The team played at the York City Ice Arena, but moved to St. Catharines, Ontario in 2005. The A-level Mid-Atlantic Hockey League initially showed interest in placing a team in York, but those efforts never came into fruition.

The Central Penn Panthers of the junior-level Atlantic Metropolitan Hockey League play in the city of Lancaster.

Indoor football

The Harrisburg Stampede is the first indoor or indoor football team in the South Central Pennsylvania region. The Stampede will play at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center, beginning in the 2009 season.

Lancaster Classic

Lancaster is home to the Lancaster Classic, a professional road bicycle racing event held each June since 1992. The Classic is part of the 2006-2007 UCI America Tour and the 2007 USA Cycling Professional Tour.

occer

Soccer is widely played in the South Central Pennsylvania region, and hosts two professional teams: the Harrisburg City Islanders and the Lancaster Inferno. The City Islanders play at the Skyline Sports Complex, located on Harrisburg's City Island. Landisville, in suburban Lancaster, is home to the Inferno. The Inferno is owned by the larger Pennsylvania Classics organization and is a member of the National Premier Soccer League and Women's Premier Soccer League. Both the NPSL and WPSL are FIFA-recognized Division IV leagues and are also on the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid.

wimming

South Central Pennsylvania produced such Olympic swimmers as Anita Nall and Jeremy Linn of Harrisburg, Leah Gingrich of Enola, Josef Kinderwater of Lancaster, Tricia Weaner of Gettysburg, and Katie Nolan of Hershey.