Binghamton Rumble Ponies

• Location: Binghamton, NY
• League: Eastern League 2017-2019, Double-A Northeast 2021; Eastern League 2022-
• Affiliation: New York Mets 2017-
• Ballpark: Mirabito Stadium 2017-

Team History

The Binghamton Rumble Ponies, of the Eastern League and briefly in Double-A Northeast, narrowly survived MLB's 2021 Minor League Reorganization. The New York Mets farmhands play their home games at Mirabito Stadium in Binghamton, NY.

They were on the original elimination list, but when the Mets were sold their new owner re-signed the Ponies. That plus a 2019 multi-million renovation to their aging ballpark got them back in the game.

Greater Binghamton had baseball as early as 1877, this franchise since 1992, when the big Mets moved the recently purchased Williamsport Bills here as the Binghamton Mets.

The big club soon sold the farm club to local owners. The majority owner who called the affiliation ""our most treasured asset"" in 2010 made three deals to sell the team in the next five years. The first two would have caused the B-Mets to move but never closed. The 2015-2016 off-season sale to John Hughes kept the club in town and with the Mets, but he changed the nickname before the 2017 season. "Rumble Ponies" refers to wooden horses on merry-go-rounds in a city that bills itself The Carousel Capital of World. Hughes sold the club in late 2021, but new owner David Sobotka immediately allayed any worries of a move by signing a 23-year stadium lease extension.

Heisman Trophy Winner and former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow homered on the first pitch he saw as a 2018 Pony - his third first-day homer in four levels - and made the EL All-Star team before a season-ending hand injury. As had been true throughout Tebow's brief professional baseball odyssey, in what became known as "The Tebow Effect," the Ponies thoroughly outdrew their normal attendance while he was with them.

The EL was founded in Binghamton in 1923.

Year-by-Year Record

Year	Record	Finish	Manager	Playoffs	Hitting coach	Pitching coach	Coach
2017	85-54	2nd	Luis Rojas	Lost in 1st round	Val Pascucci	Glenn Abbott
2018	64-76	9th	Luis Rojas		Val Pascucci	Frank Viola	Luis Rivera
2019	67-73	8th	Kevin Boles		Tony Jaramillo	Jonathan Hurst	Ender Chavez
2020	Season cancelled
2021	47-60	9th	Lorenzo Bundy		Bruce Fields	Jonathan Hurst	Joe Raccuia
2022			Reid Brignac		Tommy Joseph	Jerome Williams	Mariano Duncan

Further Reading

• Michael Clair: "The Binghamton Mets have changed their name to the fearsome Rumble Ponies", "Cut 4", mlb.com, November 3, 2016. [1]

Related Sites

• Official site