Defunct Baseball Teams Shorts
Description: The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they played for 52 years as the St. Louis Browns. After the 1953 season, the team moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where it became the Baltimore Orioles. As of April 2023, there are only three living former St. Louis Browns players: Billy Hunter, Ed Mickelson, and Frank Saucier.
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 Seattle Pilots were an American professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington during the 1969 Major League Baseball season. During their single-season existence, the Pilots played their home games at Sick's Stadium and were a member of the West Division of Major League Baseball's American League. On April 1, 1970, the franchise moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and became the Milwaukee Brewers.
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: Minor league baseball’s future in Asheville, North Carolina was cast into some doubt when the Chicago White Sox shifted their Class AA farm club from the mountains of Western North Carolina to Knoxville, Tennessee following the 1971 season. But Asheville’s Southern League franchise was saved when a restless attorney from Cincinnati partnered up with a group of local investors to bring the Baltimore Orioles to Asheville’s McCormick Field in 1972.
Description: The Washington Senators baseball team was one of the American League's eight charter franchises. Now known as the Minnesota Twins, the club was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1901 as the Washington Senators. The team was officially named the "Senators" during 1901–1904, the Nationals during 1905–1955 and the Senators again during 1956–1960, but nonetheless was commonly referred to as the Senators throughout its history (and unofficially as the "Grifs" during Clark Griffith's tenure as manager during 1912–1920).
Description: The Chicago Whales only existed for three years, as part of the Federal League, a renegade baseball outfit that challenged the American and National leagues from 1913 to 1915, before abruptly going broke. The team is barely a footnote in baseball history, but it played an important role in Chicago history, because it brought the game to the North Side, which is why tens of thousands of Big Ten graduates live there today. The Whales were the first team to play baseball at the corner of Clark and Addison, and the first to win a championship there, in 1915 — 101 years before the Cubs did it. Yet I could find nothing commemorating them at Wrigley Field.
Description: The Montreal Expos were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (NL) East division from 1969 until 2004. Following the 2004 season, the franchise relocated to Washington, D.C., and became the Washington Nationals.
Description: The Cleveland Buckeyes were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1942 to 1950 in the Negro American League. The Buckeyes played in two Negro World Series, defeating the Washington Homestead Grays in 1945, and losing to the New York Cubans in 1947. They were based in Cincinnati for their first season and Louisville for their second-to-last season.
Description: The Homestead Grays (also known as Washington Grays or Washington Homestead Grays) were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro leagues in the United States. The team was formed in 1912 by Cumberland Posey, and remained in continuous operation for 38 seasons. The team was originally based in Homestead, Pennsylvania, adjacent to Pittsburgh. By the 1920s, with increasing popularity in the Pittsburgh region, the team retained the name "Homestead" but crossed the Monongahela River to play all home games in Pittsburgh, at the Pittsburgh Pirates' home Forbes Field and the Pittsburgh Crawfords' home Greenlee Field.
Description: The Louisville Colonels were a Major League Baseball team that also played in the American Association (AA) throughout that league's ten-year existence from 1882 until 1891. They were known as the Louisville Eclipse from 1882 to 1884, and as the Louisville Colonels from 1885 to 1891; the latter name derived from the historic title of the Kentucky Colonel. After the AA folded in 1891, the Colonels joined the National League and played through the 1899 season. "Colonels" was also the name of several minor league baseball teams that played in Louisville, Kentucky, in the 20th century.
Description: The Dunedin Blue Jays are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and are the Single-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball club. They are located in Dunedin, Florida, and play their home games at TD Ballpark, which opened in 1990 and seats 8,500 people. Two teams named the Blue Jays, both affiliates of Toronto, have played in Dunedin: the original incarnation, from 1978 to 1979, and the current team, established in 1987. Since their inception they have won five division championships, in 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006, and 2017. In 2017 they were named co-champions of the FSL.
Description: The Class A Columbia Reds of 1960-1961 marked a brief return to South Carolina’s capital city by the Cincinnati Reds, who previously sponsored a South Atlantic League farm club in Columbia from 1938 to 1955. The Cincinnati Reds owned the Columbia ball club directly. The Columbia Reds won the 1960 South Atlantic League pennant, topping the 8-team loop with an 83-56 record.
Description: The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri, and owned by J. L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 1930. J. L. Wilkinson was the first Caucasian owner at the time of the establishment of the team. In 1930, the Monarchs became the first professional baseball team to use a portable lighting system which was transported from game to game in trucks to play games at night, five years before any major league team did. The Monarchs won ten league championships before integration, and triumphed in the first Negro League World Series in 1924.
Description: The Daytona Tortugas are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Daytona Beach, Florida, and play their home games at Jackie Robinson Ballpark; opened in 1914, the park seats 4,200 people. The club was previously known as the Daytona Cubs from 1993 to 2014 when they were an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. The team has won six Florida State League championships: in 1995, 2000, 2004 (co-champions with the Tampa Yankees), 2008, 2011, and 2013.
Description: Charleston, West Virginia went without pro baseball for three summers after the Charleston Charlies pulled up stakes for Maine in late 1983. The Charlies were a triple-A club just one step removed from the Major Leagues. But by 1983, Charleston was the smallest Class AAA city in America by population. So it was little surprise that when pro ball returned with the formation of the Charleston Wheelers in the spring of 1987, local hardball fans had to accept a two-level demotion to the Class A South Atlantic League.
Description: The Birmingham Barons are a Minor League Baseball team based in Birmingham, Alabama. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox and plays at Regions Field in downtown Birmingham. The current edition of the Barons was previously located in Montgomery, Alabama, and known as the Montgomery Rebels.
Description: The Mutual Base Ball Club of New York was a leading American baseball club almost throughout its 20-year history. It was established during 1857, the year of the first baseball convention, just too late to be a founding member of the National Association of Base Ball Players. It was a charter member of both the first professional league in 1871 and the National League in 1876.
Description: The Dayton Ducks were a minor league baseball team that played in the Central League in 1932 and then the Middle Atlantic League from 1933–1942. The team took its name from their owner and field manager, former St. Louis Cardinals player Ducky Holmes. They were affiliated with the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1934–35, 1938–1942 and the Chicago White Sox in 1937. The team was briefly known as the Dayton Wings from 1939–1940, when Holmes was not involved with the club.
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 Denver Zephyrs (formerly the Denver Bears) were a Minor League Baseball team based in Denver, Colorado, United States. They were a Triple-A team that played in the American Association from 1955 to 1962, the Pacific Coast League from 1963 to 1968, and the American Association again from 1969 to 1992. They played their home games at Mile High Stadium. The Zephyrs won the American Association championship on seven occasions: 1957, 1971, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1983, and 1991. They also won the 1957 Junior World Series and the 1991 Triple-A Classic.
Description: The Baltimore Canaries were a professional baseball club in the National Association from 1872 to 1874. The team was usually listed as Lord Baltimore in the box scores of the day, and were also referred to as the Yellow Stockings. The canary and yellow stockings labels were in reference to their uniform colors.
Description: The Cocoa Astros were a professional minor league baseball team in the Florida State League (FSL), as a Class A affiliate with the Houston Astros from 1965–72 and 1977. The team played at the Astros' spring training facility. The Cocoa FSL team was first known as the Cocoa Indians (1951–58) when formed in 1951. The Indians won the Florida State League title in 1956 with a 90-50 record.
Description: The New York Cubans were a Negro league baseball team that played during the 1930s and from 1939 to 1950. Despite playing in the Negro leagues, the team occasionally employed white-skinned Hispanic baseball players as well, because Hispanics in general were largely ignored by the major league baseball teams before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball.
Description: The Mesa Miners were an independent professional baseball team based in Mesa, Arizona. They began as a member of the Arizona Division of the now-defunct Golden Baseball League in 2005. The original team became known as the Reno Silver Sox in 2006, and then the Tucson Toros in 2009, but the league could bring the Miners back as an expansion team should they decide to do so. They returned to play in 2011 after a six-year absence as a member of the Arizona Summer League, one of two instructional leagues affiliated with the North American League, which was not affiliated with either Major League Baseball or Minor League Baseball.
Description: The Peoria Distillers were a minor league baseball team that existed on-and-off from 1894 to 1917. They played in the Western Association from 1894 to 1896; the Central League in 1900, 1904 and 1917; the Western League from 1902 to 1903; and the Three-I League from 1905 to 1917. Under managers David Drohan and Charley Stis, they won their first League Championship in 1911. In 1916, they won their second and final League Championship under the guidance of William Jackson.
Description: The Dubois County Dragons were a southern Indiana independent professional baseball team active from 1996 through 2002. The Dragons made their home in tiny Huntingburg, which a population of just 5,598 souls in the 2000 U.S. Census. The Dragons were founding members of the Heartland League, an obscure independent loop that formed in 1996 with just four ball clubs in Illinois and Indiana. The Dragons remained in this shaky enterprise for its full three-year run until the Heartland League folded following the 1998 season. In 1999, the Dragons moved to the larger and more stable Frontier League where they would play for the next four seasons.
Description: The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they played for 52 years as the St. Louis Browns. After the 1953 season, the team moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where it became the Baltimore Orioles. As of April 2023, there are only three living former St. Louis Browns players: Billy Hunter, Ed Mickelson, and Frank Saucier.
Description: The Dayton Ducks were a minor league baseball team that played in the Central League in 1932 and then the Middle Atlantic League from 1933–1942. The team took its name from their owner and field manager, former St. Louis Cardinals player Ducky Holmes. They were affiliated with the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1934–35, 1938–1942 and the Chicago White Sox in 1937. The team was briefly known as the Dayton Wings from 1939–1940, when Holmes was not involved with the club.
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 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.
