Altoona Curve Tickets

The Altoona Curve are a minor league baseball team Altoona Curve Tickets based in Altoona, Pennsylvania, named after nearby Horseshoe Curve (but also alluding to the curveball, a kind of pitch). The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates major-league club. The Curve play Altoona Curve Tickets in Blair County Ballpark, located in Altoona; it was opened in 1999 and seats 7,210 fans.

The Curve is currently managed by Tim Leiper.

The Altoona Curve hosted the Eastern League All-Star Game Altoona Curve Tickets at Blair County Ballpark on July 12, 2006, before a standing-room-only crowd of 9,308.

The Altoona Curve franchise began when Arizona and Tampa Bay were both awarded major-league franchises in 1998. The addition of these two teams had a "domino-like" effect through baseball with the expansion of not only the major leagues, but the minor-league organizations as well. With this expansion, the AA division of the minor leagues would receive two new teams to begin play in the 1999 season. The Erie SeaWolves were already an established minor-league team with outstanding short-season attendance, and were quickly awarded one of the new franchises. The second spot in the new, larger Eastern League looked to be headed to Springfield, Massachusetts, but city native Bob Lozinak, developer Tate DeWeese, and a group of Pennsylvania lawmakers rallied to get the final spot, making a formal presentation to league officials on October 5, 1997. Altoona Curve Tickets The proposal received unanimous support and Altoona won the other franchise.

Groundbreaking on Blair County Ballpark took place on March 7, 1998, and the franchise was formally awarded in April. In June of that year, the "Curve" nickname was selected over several other proposals, including Lake Monsters, Ridge Runners, and the Altoona Fish.

The next step for the start of the Altoona Curve was to find a major league affiliate. The Erie SeaWolves had already had several successful seasons in the Pirates' organization, acting as short-season single-A affiliates. In the end, however, the Pirates saw the Altoona area and central Pennsylvania as having stronger Altoona Curve Tickets connections to the major-league team, and in September 1998, the announcement was made.

The Altoona Curve began their first season on the road at the Reading Phillies on April 9, 1999. Their first game was suspended by rain and completed the next day as part of a doubleheader. That first game was a 6-2 loss, but the Curve scored their first-ever victory in the second game, beating Reading 6-4. A few days later, on April 15, the Curve christened Blair County Ballpark by defeating the Bowie Baysox 6-1 in front of a crowd of 6,171 Altoona Curve Tickets.