Williamsport Crosscutters
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Template:MLB Pirates franchise
The Williamsport Crosscutters are a Class A minor league baseball team based in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. They are a Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate in the New York - Penn League, playing their home games at Bowman Field.
Through 1993, the club was the Geneva Cubs, playing at Geneva, New York. For the 1994 season, the club moved to Williamsport, occupying an historic facility that had not been used for professional baseball for the previous two seasons. The club became known as the Williamsport Cubs, retaining that name through 1998. In 1999, the team switched affiliations from the Chicago Cubs to the Pirates, and the team name became the Crosscutters.
The Crosscutters earned a share of the league championship in 2001, when, after losing the opening game of the championship series to the Brooklyn Cyclones, the remainder of the series was canceled in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Crosscutters again made the playoffs in 2002 but were eliminated in the first round. In 2003, they won the league title, defeating Brooklyn 2 games to 0 in the final.
The name "Crosscutters" reflects the logging heritage of Williamsport. The city is on the West Branch Susquehanna River, and logging barons once lived in mansions along Fourth Street, which became known as "Millionaires' Row". To this day, sports teams at Williamsport Area High School are known as the Millionaires.
External link:
- Williamsport Crosscutters (official site) (http://www.crosscutters.com)