History
Like many other decisions in baseball, the latest round of major league expansion had a domino effect on the minor leagues. In 1995, Arizona and Tampa Bay were awarded major league franchises to play their inaugural season in 1998. To keep pace, baseball's rookie level added two teams in 1996. The following year, Class 'A' and Class 'AAA' each increased by two teams. Altoona native Bob Lozinak and others, along with a group of Pennsylvania lawmakers put together an eleventh-hour stadium financing package and site plan. In June of that year, the Altoona entry selected