We have another rebranding for the 2027 season, as the SWB RailRiders are no more, replaced by a New York Yankees-inspired moniker: the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Highlanders.
Highlanders, of course, was one of the names parent club Yankees originally went by when joining the American League in 1903. It wasn’t necessarily official, and it was just one of several names the team went by in those early AL days, per MLB historian John Thorn: press reports pegged the team variously as “Greater New Yorks” (a reference to the unification of the five boroughs in 1898), Hilltoppers and Highlanders before the Yankees name was formally adopted. The names make sense when you take into account a few factors. First, the team played at Hilltop Park in Manhattan’s Washington Heights (hence the Hilltoppers); second, the team was owned by Joseph Gordon, so newspaper writers linked the team with the Scottish regiment Gordon Highlanders, in coverage of the team.
With Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, according to the team, the name honors the “NEPA terrain, where PNC Field sits surrounded by wooded hills, trails, and the natural beauty that shapes life in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area, while also honoring the earliest identity in Yankees history.”
“We are ecstatic to usher in this new era of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre baseball,” said Shawn Reilly, the SWB Highlanders Team President & General Manager, via press release. “We gravitate towards our love of NEPA’s terrain, its activities, and, most definitely, its people. All those fans who love where we live and enjoy every aspect that Northeastern Pennsylvania has to offer. And historically, before they were the Yankees, they were the Highlanders. Once again, you are a Highlander before you are a Yankee!”
The team also unveiled a new club mascot: yet-to-be-named bear wearing a classic cap featuring a bold “H,” carries a hiking backpack and is never far from his trusted walking stick–a well-worn wooden bat.
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