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This is the season for bobbleheads for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders fans.The RailRiders released their promotional schedule for the upcoming season on Friday. Highlighting the announcement were the nine dates that mark bobblehead nights for the All-Time SWB Team, which is one of the ways Scranton/Wilkes-Barre will celebrate 30 years of professional baseball in Northeastern Pennsylvania this season.Aside from the nine different bobbleheads, this season will include 12 fireworks shows, the introduction of the Copa de la Diversion initiative, a jersey retirement ceremony and reunion weekend and a handful of themed nights and nightly promotions.&#8220;Thirty years, there&#8217;s a lot of things that we wanted to do,&#8221; RailRiders team president and general manager Josh Olerud told the Times Leader. &#8220;Obviously the bobblehead series is going to be big, but we&#8217;re going to pick certain parts of the year that we&#8217;re going to highlight our franchise&#8217;s history.&#8220;It came together well.&#8221;After opening the season on April 4 in Buffalo, the RailRiders will host the Bisons on April 11 in their home opener, which will include a magnetic schedule giveaway for fans. Opening day also features the first of the 12 fireworks shows. Along with opening day and July 4, post-game fireworks nights include June 7 and 21; July 5, 6 and 19; Aug. 2, 9, 10, 30 and 31.The RailRiders will also host a pair of S.T.E.M. School Day Games, which are scheduled for May 9 and 23. Both games will have a 10:35 a.m. first pitch.May 10 marks the first 30th Anniversary Season giveaway &#8212; a commemorative blanket. The following day will be the Jimmy Rollins bobblehead giveaway. Aug. 30 features a 30th Anniversary Season commemorative beer stein giveaway for the first 2,500 fans.Red Barons Reunion Weekend is May 31-June 2 and will include Red Barons throwback uniforms, former manager Marc Bombard will have his jersey number retired and the Chase Utley bobblehead giveaway will run June 1. Former players will also be on hand throughout the weekend.&#8220;Red Barons Reunion Weekend should be a pretty fun one that fans are going to look forward to getting in there and seeing Marc Bombard get his number on the wall and seeing some of the players that&#8217;ll show up,&#8221; Olerud said.The remainder of the All-Time SWB Team bobbleheads will be given away on June 8 (Brett Gardner), June 22 (Luis Severino), July 6 (Rick Schu), July 19 (Pat Burrell), Aug. 3 (Ryan Howard), Aug. 11 (Aaron Judge) and Aug. 31 (Gary Sanchez). Bobbleheads will be available to the first 2,500 fans in attendance.The RailRiders were one of a handful of teams throughout Minor League Baseball selected to participate in the Copa de la Diversi&#243;n initiative this season. Copa de la Diversi&#243;n is MiLB&#8217;s program designed to engage the local Hispanic/Latino fan base for each team and will include a new identity for six games this season.June 9 marks the first time the RailRiders will wear the new logo and uniform, which will be released on March 18.&#8220;We&#8217;ve been planning a lot of different things and meeting with a lot of different groups to figure out how authentic we can make it, our presentation on the Copa nights,&#8221; Olerud said. &#8220;Once we unveil the logos and the dates in which we&#8217;re going to be celebrating all these special events, I think the fans are going to understand how fun and different it&#8217;s going to be on those days.&#8220;It&#8217;s going to be impactful. We&#8217;re going to have players out in the community and hopefully attract a new fanbase.&#8221;June 8 also marks the first of pop culture-themed nights. Backyard Baseball Night makes its return, with the RailRiders playing as the Melonheads once again.Scranton/Wilkes-Barre will wear jerseys inspired by &#8220;Field of Dreams&#8221; on July 5. Actor Dwier Brown, who portrayed John Kinsella, will make an appearance. July 5 is also Stand Up To Cancer Night.Christmas Vacation Night (July 18) and Seinfeld Night and Military Appreciation Night (July 20) round out the major themed nights in July. There will be a custom RailRiders ornament giveaway on Christmas Vacation Night while John O&#8217;Hurley, who portrayed J. Peterman, will make an appearance and the first 2,500 fans will receive a military-themed T-shirt.Aug. 8 marks Dodgeball Night, which will feature a fan action for custom jerseys.Additional theme nights include Faith and Family Night on April 27, Knoebels Night on May 22, Boy Scout Night on May 31, Vs. Cancer Night on June 20 as part of the Yankees Hope Week, Youth Camp Games on July 17 and 30 and Girl Scout Night on August 3.Monday&#8217;s feature Family Buck Nights this season. Fans can get $1 lawn seats and will have a variety of $1 concession items around PNC Field available for two hours after gates open every Monday night game. $2 Tuesdays return with $2 Landsharks and a select $2 concession item each week. Pay-It-Forward Wednesday returns, while dog owners will be able to bring their furry friends to the park each and every Wednesday for Bark in the Park night. Thirsty Thursday returns with $1 specials for two hours after gates open. Glow-in-the-Park Fridays are back as well with the custom blackout and neon green tops.Sundays will feature special offers via the club&#8217;s social media platforms. The 1:05 p.m. games are once again devoted to kids and families. Any active or retired service member can show their ID to receive $2 off any walk-up tickets purchased to any of the 11 Sunday games.&#8220;As our schedule has gotten smaller, from 72 to 70 home games, we&#8217;ve lost Monday games,&#8221; Olerud said. &#8220;We felt that we could really key on Monday games and make them value-packed. Social media obviously is a great way to engage with our fans and I think they&#8217;ll have a fun time following along with some of the stuff we&#8217;ll do. Having dogs come every Wednesday is going to be different, and I think that just gives all of our dog owners and fans an opportunity to bring their pets.&#8220;I think all three of those will be nice additions to the weekly schedule that we put together.&#8221;In April, May and June, Monday-Friday games begin at 6:35 p.m. with the exception of the home opener, which is a 7:05 p.m. first pitch. Saturday games will be played at 4:05 p.m. between April 13 and June 8.Starting on June 18, weekday games will begin at 7:05 p.m. and Saturday contests start at 6:35 p.m. All Sunday games are scheduled for 1:05 p.m.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">The nine All-Time SWB Team bobbleheads set for release during the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders&#8217; upcoming season. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_Full-Field-Cutout.jpg</photo0><caption0>The nine All-Time SWB Team bobbleheads set for release during the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders&#8217; upcoming season. </caption0><photoCredit0>Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_SWB30_FC.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_SWB30_FC.jpg</photo1><caption1></caption1><photoCredit1>Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>RailRiders announce 2019 promotional schedule</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By DJ Eberledjeberle@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>IMPORTANT DATESApril 4: Opening Day in BuffaloApril 11: Home opener against Buffalo; magnetic schedule giveaway; post-game firstworksMay 10: 30th Anniversary Season commemorative blanket giveawayMay 11: Jimmy Rollins bobblehead giveawayMay 31: Red Barons Reunion Weekend; Red Barons throwback uniforms; Marc Bombard jersey number retirementJune 1: Red Barons Reunion Weekend; Red Barons throwback uniforms; Chase Utley bobblehead giveawayJune 2: Red Barons Reunion Weekend; Red Barons throwback uniformsJune 7: Post-game fireworksJune 8: Backyard Baseball Night; Melonheads uniforms; Brett Gardner bobblehead giveawayJune 9: Copa de la Diversi&#243;nJune 21: Post-game fireworksJune 22: Copa de la Diversi&#243;n; Luis Severino bobblehead nightJuly 4: Post-game fireworksJuly 5: Field of Dreams inspired jerseys and Dwier Brown appareance; Stand Up To Cancer Night; post-game fireworksJuly 6: Rick Schu bobblehead giveawayJuly 16: Copa de la Diversi&#243;n; post-game fireworksJuly 18: Christmas Vacation Night; custom RailRiders ornament giveawayJuly 19: Pat Burrell bobblehead giveawayJuly 20: Seinfield Night; John O&#8217;Hurley appearance; Military Appreciation Night; military-themed t-shirt giveawayJuly 21: Copa de la Diversi&#243;n; post-game fireworksAug. 2: Post-game fireworksAug. 3: Ryan Howard bobblehead giveawayAug. 4: Copa de la Diversi&#243;nAug. 8: Dodgeball NightAug. 9: Post-game fireworksAug. 10: Aaron Judge bobblehead giveaway; post-game fireworksAug. 30: 30th Anniversary Season commemorative beer stein giveaway; post-game fireworksAug. 31: Copa de la Diversi&#243;n; Gary Sanchez bobblehead giveaway; post-game fireworks</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</shirttailMeta></div>