Lancaster Stormers

The Lancaster Stormers (formerly known as the Lancaster Barnstormers) are an American professional baseball team based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They are members of the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a "partner league" of Major League Baseball. Since 2005, the team has played its home games at Penn Medicine Park in the city's Northwest Corridor, following the stadium's completion.

Baseball first came to Lancaster County in the 1860s by soldiers returning home from the Civil War. They learned the rules while serving in the military and wanted to continue playing the game. The very first professional baseball teams in Lancaster were the Lancaster Lancasters and the Lancaster Ironsides. The Lancasters played in the Keystone Association while the Ironsides played in the Eastern League, both starting in 1884. The following season, the Lancasters joined the Eastern League, and the two teams became rivals. They competed against each other for fan support, league affiliation, and gate revenue. At its peak, insults and refusals to play against each other were the norm. The teams finally agreed to play each other at the end of the 1884 season, in which the Ironsides defeated the Lancasters after seven very close games. Only the Lancasters continued to play the next season.

In the 1894-1895 seasons, a team called the Lancaster Chicks played in the Keystone Association. An all-African-American team called the Lancaster Giants followed in 1887, and many Lancastrians supported the team despite the social pressure of the day. The Giants hosted many exhibition games against the Philadelphia Giants of the Keystone Club.

Between 1896 and 1899, the first team called the Lancaster Maroons played in the original Atlantic League. In 1905, the second inception of the Maroons played in the Tri-State League.

In 1906, the Maroons became the Lancaster Red Roses. The rival White Roses from the nearby city of York reacted with fury to the name change, since both teams took their names from the opposing factions in England's historic Wars of the Roses.

In 2003, the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball formally announced the addition of an expansion team to Lancaster. In November 2004, the Barnstormers announced the signing of Tom Herr, a Major League Baseball veteran and Lancaster native, as the team's first manager. The Barnstormers planned to begin competition in 2005 at the newly built Penn Medicine Park.

On May 11, they lost their first game, 4–3, to the Atlantic City Surf, in front of 7,300 fans. They finished the 2005 season with a record of 64 wins and 76 losses. In finishing the first half of the 2006 season with a record of 38–25, the Barnstormers qualified for their first Atlantic League playoff berth. They also won the second half, posting a record of 37–26. After defeating division challenger, Atlantic City, in the first round of the playoffs, the Barnstormers swept the Bridgeport Bluefish to win their first Atlantic League championship, in only their second season. Pitcher Denny Harriger threw a complete game, breaking a franchise record for consecutive pitches. It was the city of Lancaster's first professional championship since 1955 when the former Red Roses won the Piedmont League title. The Barnstormers played in the 2012 Atlantic League Championship Series but were ultimately defeated by the Long Island Ducks in Game 5. In 2012, the Lancaster Barnstormers set an Atlantic League record with 88 wins.

Herr managed the team from 2005 to 2006 and from 2009 to 2010. In 2008, the Barnstormers were coached by Von Hayes, a former teammate of Herr from the 1989 and 1990 Philadelphia Phillies. Rick Wise, the winning pitcher for the Boston Red Sox in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, is also a managerial alumnus of the Lancaster Barnstormers. He was the team's third base coach from the inaugural 2005 season to the end of the 2008 campaign. Herr, in his second term, was succeeded by Butch Hobson.