Want to get in the know about independent baseball this summer but don’t know where to start?

FloBaseball has you covered, broadcasting some of the best independent ball leagues in North America, all season long.

Some especially unique ballclubs around the independent baseball scene need their own introductions, however.

That’s where FloBaseball’s team profile series comes into play to help out, explaining and breaking down some of the quirks and features that make each club tick.

Here’s a breakdown of the York Revolution of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.

What Year Were The York Revolution Founded?

Founded in 2006 and beginning play a year later, the York Revolution joined the ALPB as an expansion club and brought professional baseball back to the city in south central Pennsylvania, where the York White Roses, a minor-league team that existed from 1884-1969 and a former farm-league stop for hall-of-fame third baseman Brooks Robinson, folded several decades prior. 

The Revolution play in the North Division of the ALPB. 

Who Owns The York Revolution?

Local ownership of the Revolution is deep in York, with the club announcing earlier in the year that it had added 10 new members to an already 23-strong ownership group, further strengthening its ties to the area in the process. 

A total list of the Revolution’s owners would be a bit too long to include here, but the main figure of the bunch is chairman and majority owner Bill Shipley, the former CEO of the York-based Shipley Energy company who joined the team’s ownership group in 2012. 

What Is The History Of The York Revolution Team Name And Mascot?

The Revolution name was picked via a fan vote prior to the team’s first season of play – narrowly beating out the White Roses in the process – and originally was meant solely as a tie to York’s role in the American Revolution, being that the city was where the Articles of Confederation were passed and one of the United States’ first capitals. 

Having a great time with our friends, @MissAmericaPA , Miss Pennsylvania's Teen, and the @yorkrevolution ! pic.twitter.com/h0Im5FO4d1

— Kitay Law Offices (@kitay_law) June 14, 2023

New branding came in 2012, and though the club did continue to highlight York’s colonial history, additional homages to the city being a key part in the Industrial Revolution were added. 

The Revolution’s mascot is DownTown, a backward cap-wearing bird that got a redesign with a slimmed-down physique in 2020.

Have The York Revolution Ever Won An Atlantic League Championship?

The Revolution have indeed won an Atlantic League championship – three of them, in fact. 

The club’s first two were won back-to-back in 2010 and 2011, with right-handed pitcher Corey Thurman (who played in eight different seasons with York and finished as one of the ALPB’s most decorated hurlers ever) acting as their ace both seasons, while the most recent title came in 2017 when the Revolution – despite finishing the regular season under .500 – made the playoffs and eventually swept the Long Island Ducks to bring the crown back to York. 

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Revolution are first in the North’s second-half standings at 5-1, having finished second behind the Ducks in the first-half, despite having identical 37-26 records. Long Island won the championship on a tiebreaker.

Where Do The York Revolution Play?

Located at 5 Brooks Robinson Way in York, WellSpan Park made its debut with the team in 2007 and formerly held a unique claim to fame – for years, its “Arch Nemesis” wall in left field was the tallest in professional baseball at 37 feet, 8 inches – even loftier than the notorious “Green Monster” at Fenway Park in Boston. 

A previously-undiscovered local law that technically made the wall illegal was brought to light prior to the 2021 season, forcing the team to shorten the wall to 30 feet tall, but many other features (including a statue of Robinson and a manual scoreboard at the Arch Nemesis) have seen it honored as the “Ballpark of the Year” by the ALPB in the past.

Career hit #1,000! pic.twitter.com/QnTES2gjLg

— York Revolution (@yorkrevolution) June 18, 2023

York Revolution Notable Alumni

York has had its share of players make it to the major leagues, as well as standouts who found their way to the Revolution after stints at the big-league level. 

Thurman, who closed his career as the ALPB’s second on the league’s all-time wins list, threw 83 1/3 innings for the Toronto Blue Jays from 2002-2003, before joining the Revolution in 2008, where he’d go on to be a club legend and have his No. 35 retired. 

As for those who turned their times in York into MLB dreams, some of the more notable names of that bunch include pitcher Scott Rice, a first-round MLB Draft pick in 1999 who played in York prior to finally making the majors for the first time in 2013 with the New York Mets, and left-handed hurler Ian Thomas, who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves off of the back of a stint in York in 2012.  

How To Watch The York Revolution

Atlantic, Frontier, Pioneer and the Coastal Summer Plain League, as well as the Florida Collegiate Summer League, all are streaming on FloBaseball and the FloSports app. 

Replays, highlights and more news can be found on the site.