Minor Pins and Buttons
Description: The Salem Witches were a baseball team of the New England League, a minor league in American major league baseball. The team played a total of five non-consecutive seasons using the "Witches" moniker. Salem also hosted the New England League Salem Fairies (1887) and Salem (1891–1892), as well as Salem of the New England Association (1895). Salem first had a team in the 1884 Massachusetts State Association
Description: Joliet first hosted minor league baseball in 1890. The Joliet Convicts became members of the Independent level Illinois-Iowa League. In their first season of play, the Joliet Convicts placed 6th with a record of 56–59 in the eight–team Illinois-Iowa League. W.E. Buckley and Ed Culberson served as the Joliet managers as the Convicts finished 14.0 games behind the 1st place Ottumwa Coal Palace Kings in the final standings. The Joliet use of the "Convicts" moniker was in reference to local industry, with Joliet, Illinois being home to the Joliet Correctional Center beginning in 1858.
Description: The Sheboygan Indians operated from 1940–1942 and 1946–1953 as members of the Class D Wisconsin State League. The Indians were preceded by the Sheboygan Chairmakers, who played in the Independent Wisconsin State League from 1923–1932 and 1934–1937. Joe Hauser was the manager of the Indians for their duration. Hauser, incidentally, had been a major-league first baseman in the 1920s primarily with the Philadelphia Athletics. In 1924, he hit 27 home runs to finish second in the American League to Babe Ruth. Hauser began his career with the Sheboygan Indians as a player/manager and then a full-time manager.
Description: The Bisbee Bees were a Minor League Baseball team that represented Bisbee, Arizona from 1928 to 1941. The Bisbee Bees played as members of the Arizona State League (1928–1930) and Arizona–Texas League (1931–1932, 1937–1941). The Bees were an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs in 1930, Cincinnati Reds in 1937 and Chicago Cubs from 1939 to 1941.
Description: Minor league baseball teams were based in Leavenworth, Kansas in various seasons between 1886 and 1949. Leavenworth teams played as members of the Western League (1886–1888), Kansas State League (1895), Missouri Valley League (1903–1904) and Western Association (1905–1907, 1946–1949). Leavenworth played in the 1907 Western Association as the Leavenworth Convicts. The moniker corresponds to Leavenworth being home of the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, which opened in 1903. The 1907 Leavenworth Convicts finished 29–108, placing a distant eighth in the Western Association, 71.0 games out of first place. The team folded following the 1907 season.
Description: Hannibal teams played under a variety of monikers throughout their history. The first Hannibal minor league team was known as the Hannibal Cannibals, beginning play in the 1908 Illinois–Missouri League and continuing in the Central Association from 1909 to 1912. Baseball Hall of Fame member Jake Beckley played and managed for the 1911 Hannibal Cannibals. On August 25, 1911, Roy Brown of the Hannibal Cannibals pitched a no-hitter against the Monmouth Browns as Hannibal won the game 3–0.
Description: One team, from Springfield, Illinois played in the Central League from 1912-1917. Another team, from Springfield, Ohio played in the Ohio State League in 1908 and 1911. The Springfield Reapers/Portsmouth Cobblers, a minor league baseball team, played in the Central League and Ohio State League between 1908 and 1917.
Description: The Lizards faced off against the Albuquerque Dons at Municipal Park on July 23, 1932. Although the final score was 9-6, the game did go 13 innings with “excellent defensive play by the Tucsonans.” “Fine fielding by Joe Silva and Vincent DeMaggio” made them standouts in the losing Lizard cause. The Lizards and Dons were members of the Arizona-Texas League. But trouble was looming at the league’s door. A short item, following the game story, said the Dons were in financial trouble. Team members had not been paid since June 1st.
Description: The Miami Beach Flamingos were a professional minor league baseball team based in Miami Beach, Florida periodically from 1940 until 1954. The team played its home games at Flamingo Field and was a member of the Class D Florida East Coast League as the Miami Beach Tigers in 1940. The following season they changed their nickname to the Flamingos and won the league's championship. The FECL the then folded in May 1942 due to World War II. After the War, the Flamingos joined the new Class C Florida International League in 1946. The league became Class-B in 1949. The Flamingos played the 1952 season, sat-out 1953, and rejoined in 1954 only to move across Biscayne Bay and relocate to Miami as the Miami Beach Flamingos/Greater Miami Flamingos.
Description: The San Francisco Seals were a minor league baseball team in San Francisco, California, that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 until 1957 before transferring to Phoenix, Arizona. The organization was named for the abundant California sea lion and harbor seal populations in the Bay Area. The 1909, 1922, 1925, and 1928 Seals were recognized as being among the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time.
Description: The Muncie Fruit Jars were a professional minor league baseball team based in Muncie, Indiana. The club was first formed in 1906 as a team in the class-C Interstate Association. The Fruit Jars' name was inspired by Muncie's local economy, which was the home of Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company, famous for producing glass canning jars. The team was expelled from the league on May 18, 1906, after posting a 4-12 record. Less than two months later, the league folded on July 8, 1906. The team was fielded again in 1908 as a member of the class-D Indiana-Ohio League. The league began play on May 9, however it was forced to fold on June 8, 1908.
Description: Allentown Peanuts refers to two baseball teams: one that played in the Central League in 1888, and another that played in the Atlantic League from 1898 to 1900. They were based in Allentown, Pennsylvania and had no big league affiliations. In 1898, they went 55-67 under managers James McGeehan and Billy Sharsig, and in 1899 they went 37-47 under manager Sharsig.
Description: The Oakland Oaks were a minor league baseball team in Oakland, California that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 through 1955, after which the club transferred to Vancouver, British Columbia. The team was named for the city and used the oak tree and the acorn as its symbols.
Description: The Shenandoah Huns were a minor league baseball club, based in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania in 1894 and 1895. The team was formed when the Scranton Miners jumped from the Pennsylvania State League to the Eastern League on July 26, 1894. A week later the Huns were formed to replace Scranton in the league on August 2. The team continued to play in the Pennsylvania State League the following year, but disbanded during the season on May 20, 1895. Prior to the Huns, Shenandoah fielded the Shenandoah Hungarian Rioters a minor league team that played from 1888 to 1889 in the Middle States League and the Central League.
Description: In 1892, minor league baseball began, as the Jacksonville Lunatics joined the eight–team 1892 Illinois–Iowa League. The Lunatics finished with a 30–57 record to place 4th in the league standings as four of the league members folded during the season. Only Jacksonville, the Joliet Convicts, Rockford Hustlers and Rock Island-Moline Twins competed the season and Jacksonville finished 27.0 games behind 1st place Joilet. The Illinois–Iowa League folded after the season. With the Kentucky–Illinois–Tennessee League folded, the Jacksonville Lunatics joined the eight–team 1907 Iowa State League. The Lunatics placed 4th in the standings with a 63–61 record, ending the season 16.0 games behind the 1st place Waterloo Cubs.
Description: The Giants began as the second baseball club founded by millionaire tobacconist John B. Day and veteran amateur baseball player Jim Mutrie. The Gothams, as the Giants were originally known, entered the National League seven years after its 1876 formation, in 1883, while their other club, the Metropolitans played in the rival American Association. Nearly half of the original Gothams players were members of the disbanded Troy Trojans in upstate New York, whose place in the National League the Gothams inherited. While the Metropolitans were initially the more successful club, after they won the 1884 AA championship, Day and Mutrie began moving star players to the NL Gothams, whose fortunes improved while the Metropolitans' afterwards slumped.
Description: The Clear Lake Fish Eaters were a minor league baseball team based in Clear Lake, Iowa. Clear Lake teams played as members of the Independent level Iowa State League in 1912 and the Class D level Central Association in 1917, with the 1917 team playing a brief season as the "Rabbits.". Both teams hosted home minor league games at the Clear Lake City Ball Park.
Description: The Oil City Cubs were a minor league baseball team based in Oil City, Pennsylvania. From 1906 1908, Oil City teams played as members of the Class D level Interstate League, winning the 1907 league championship. The 1906 team played as the "Oil City-Jamestown Oseejays." Oil City hosted home minor league games at the Sedwick Grounds. The 1898 and 1941 Oil City Oilers teams preceded and succeeded the Interstate League Oil City teams.
Description: The Davenport Blue Sox was the name given to three minor league baseball teams based in Davenport, Iowa. The first version of the Blue Sox played in the Class B Three-I League from 1913–1916. The second played in the Class D Mississippi Valley League from 1929–1933, and the third version played in the Western League from 1934–1937. From 1936–1937, the team was a minor league affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Blue Sox played their home games at Municipal Stadium from 1931–1937 and were the foundation for today's tenant, the Quad Cities River Bandits.
Description: The Colt .45s started their inaugural season on April 10, 1962, against the Chicago Cubs with Harry Craft as the Colt .45s' manager. Bob Aspromonte scored the first run for the Colt .45s on an Al Spangler triple in the first inning. They started the season with a three-game sweep of the Cubs but eventually finished eighth among the National League's ten teams. The team's best pitcher, Richard "Turk" Farrell, lost 20 games despite an ERA of 3.02. A starter for the Colt .45s, Farrell was primarily a relief pitcher prior to playing for Houston. He was selected to both All-Star Games in 1962.
Description: The Hawaii Islanders were a minor league baseball team based in Honolulu, Hawaii, that played in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League for 27 seasons from 1961 through 1987. Originally an affiliate of the Kansas City Athletics, the Islanders played their home games at Honolulu Stadium, Aloha Stadium and Les Murakami Stadium. After being one of the most successful minor league teams, the Islanders faltered and ultimately moved to the mainland as the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in 1988.
Description: The Brownsville Charros were a minor league baseball team, based in Brownsville, Texas. The team played as the Brownsville Brownies from 1910-1911 in the Southwest Texas League before shutting down. They were revived in 1928 and then became the Charros in 1938 in the Texas Valley League. The team returned again in 1939 as part of the Rio Grande Valley League and moved to the Gulf Coast League in 1951. A new team by the same name began in 2014 as part of the United League Baseball. The team finished its season on August 15, 2014 with its last game on the road against the Fort Worth Cats. The team was managed by former Major League Baseball player Ozzie Canseco.
Description: The Tucson Toros were a professional baseball team based in Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. The original Toros were a Triple-A minor league baseball team in the Pacific Coast League from 1969 to 1997, where they won the PCL Championship in 1991 and 1993. They were affiliated with several Major League Baseball teams over the years, most notably with the Houston Astros.
Description: The Colt .45s started their inaugural season on April 10, 1962, against the Chicago Cubs with Harry Craft as the Colt .45s' manager. Bob Aspromonte scored the first run for the Colt .45s on an Al Spangler triple in the first inning. They started the season with a three-game sweep of the Cubs but eventually finished eighth among the National League's ten teams. The team's best pitcher, Richard "Turk" Farrell, lost 20 games despite an ERA of 3.02. A starter for the Colt .45s, Farrell was primarily a relief pitcher prior to playing for Houston. He was selected to both All-Star Games in 1962.
Description: The Idaho Falls Spuds were the first minor league baseball team based in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Playing from 1926 to 1928, the Spuds played as members of the Class C level Utah-Idaho League, winning league championships in 1926 and 1927 and hosting home games at Highland Park. The Idaho Falls Spuds were followed by the Idaho Falls Russets, who joined the Pioneer League in 1940. Today, the Idaho Falls Chukars franchise continues play in the Pioneer League.
