Minor League Baseball Tapestries

The New Haven Nutmegs of the Eastern Association ended the 1891 season with a record of 48 wins and 39 lossesNew Haven disbanded August 14. The New Haven Nutmegs represented New Haven, CT in the 1891 Eastern Association. Managed by Walt Burnham, they were 4th at 48-39 when they folded in August. OF Dan Lally (.278, .422 SLG) still led the EA with 5 homers, while 1B Sid Farrar batted .312, stole 40 bases and slugged .414. SS Ed Sales hit .307 but played for two other teams that year. A. Gilliland (9-4, 0.89) led the Association in ERA while Dad Clarkson was 16-12 with a 1.54 ERA.

The Erie Sailors was the primary name of several minor league baseball teams that played in Erie, Pennsylvania between 1906 and 1994. Several unrelated teams used the Erie Sailors name in the Interstate League (1906–1907, 1913, 1916), the Ohio–Pennsylvania League (1908–1911), and the Central League (1912, 1915, 1928–30, 1932).

Defunct Portland Beavers Baseball 1903-2010

The Cleveland Spiders were an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The team competed at the major league level from 1887 to 1899, first for two seasons as a member of the now-defunct American Association (AA), followed by eleven seasons in the National League (NL). Early names for the team included the Forest Citys and Blues. The name Spiders itself emerged early in the team's inaugural NL season of 1889, owing to new black-and-gray uniforms and the skinny, long-limbed look of many players (thereby evoking the spider arachnid). National League Park served as the team's home for its first four seasons until the opening of League Park in 1891.

The Dublin Irish were a minor league baseball team based in Dublin, Georgia. The team played in the Georgia State League from 1949 until 1956. However the team was first named the Dublin Green Sox. In 1952 they were first an affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, however the following year they became affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The team stayed affiliated with the Pirates until 1956.

The San Jose Bees joined the California League in 1962 as an affiliate of the expansion Los Angeles Angels. They switched to a Kansas City Royals affiliate from 1970–1974 and a Cleveland Indians affiliate in 1975–1976. The team later became known as the San Jose Missions, the San Jose Expos, and most recently the San Jose Giants.

Defunct Denver Bears Baseball 1885-1954

The Salem Buccaneers was a minor league baseball team based in Salem, North Carloina, that played in the Carolina League from 1987 to 1994. The team was affillated with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Prior Salem teams included the Redbirds, Rebels, and the Roxsox.

Defunct Syracuse Chiefs Baseball 1934-2018

The Denver Bears were a minor league professional baseball team dating from the 50's until 1983 when the team was renamed the Zephyrs. There was an earlier Denver Bears team playing in the Western League from 1901 to 1954, but this logo is from the later team that played at what became known later as Mile High Stadium, but was originally known as Bears Stadium.

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.

Defunct Montreal Royals Crest Baseball Team

The Bayou Bullfrogs were an independent professional baseball team that played for three seasons in Lafayette, Louisiana. The team was alternately referred to as the “Lafayette Bullfrogs” and the “Lafayette Bayou Bullfrogs” in various press accounts at the time. The Bullfrogs played at Tigue Moore Field, home of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Ragin’ Cajuns baseball program. The Bullfrogs were part of the Texas-Louisiana League, a centrally-owned and operated independent circuit founded in 1994. Decisions concerning the Bullfrogs were made at the league office, as T-L League clubs had neither local ownership nor Major League parent clubs.

Defunct Connecticut Defenders Baseball 1995-2009

Defunct Cleveland Bearcats Baseball Team

The Worcester Worcesters were a 19th-century Major League Baseball team from 1880 to 1882 in the National League. The team is referred to, at times, as the Brown Stockings or the Ruby Legs; however, no contemporary sources from the time exist that support the use of either name. The team played their home games at the Worcester Driving Park Grounds in the Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds, located south of Highland Street between Sever Street and Russell Street in Worcester, Massachusetts.

The Brooklyn Ward's Wonders were a baseball team who played in the Players' League in 1890. The team's nickname derived from its superstar shortstop, hall of famer John Montgomery Ward. The team finished with a 76–56 record, finishing in second place. Other notable players for Brooklyn that year were Dave Orr, Lou Bierbauer, George Van Haltren, and Gus Weyhing. The team folded after the season along with the entire league. The team played its home games at Eastern Park.

Pitches Be Crazy

Defunct Des Moines Demons Baseball Team

The Newark Bears were an American Minor League Baseball team that played in the top-level International League from 1917 through the 1949 season. The Bears succeeded the Newark Indians, originally the Sailors, who played in the same circuit (known as the Eastern League prior to 1912) from 1902. During the Bears' lifetime, the International League was graded one step below the Major League Baseball level, Class AA through 1945 and Triple-A starting in 1946. Following the 1949 season, the Bears moved to Springfield, Massachusetts.

The Hartfords (more commonly called the Hartford Dark Blues because of their uniform color) were a 19th-century baseball team. The team was based in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1874, baseball in Hartford, CT was being played in a fever pitch. As talk of forming a national professional league was going on, Morgan Bulkeley, Gershon Hubbell and Middletown native Ben Douglas Jr. leased land from Elizabeth Colt to build a base ball field and stadium with a covered grandstand, and set about forming a team, The Hartfords.

Defunct Rochester Zeniths Baseball Team

Holyoke Millers Baseball 1977-1982

The Casper Ghosts are moving from Casper, Wyo., to Grand Junction, Colo. — and that means baseball is losing one of its neatest team/nickname combinations, just four years after the Pioneer League team adopted the name. The team, formerly known as the Butte Copper Kings and the Casper Rockies, was in the news in 2008, when it announced its unique glow-in-the-dark caps. An affiliate of the Colorado Rockies organization, the Ghosts seem to have ingratiated themselves with the community. A notice on its website announced its partnership "with US Bank, Taco Johns, and the Casper Police Department to provide a positive influence on the youth in Natrona County."

Defunct 80s Mascot Denver Bears Baseball Team

Defunct Clarksville Colts Baseball Team

The Sioux City Soos was the name of the minor league baseball team based in Sioux City, Iowa playing in various seasons between 1888 and 1960.

The Riverside Pilots were a Minor League Baseball team in Riverside, California from 1993 to 1995. They were a Class A-Advanced team that played in the California League, and were a farm team of the Seattle Mariners. In spite of making the playoffs each year of its existence, poor attendance plagued the franchise throughout its tenure. The Pilots finished last in the league in attendance for three consecutive seasons. The franchise was moved to Lancaster, for the 1996 season as the Lancaster JetHawks.

Defunct 80s Montreal Baseball All Star

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.

The Paterson Invaders were a minor league baseball team based in Paterson, New Jersey. From 1904 to 1907, Paterson teams played as members of the Class C level Hudson River League, winning the 1906 league championship.

Yonkers Hoot Owls baseball team

The Baton Rouge Blue Marlins were a the first and only champions of the doomed All-American Association during the summer of 2001. Both the ball club and the independent league itself folded at the end of one season. The All-American Association was a six-team loop with teams in Albany (GA), Montgomery (AL), Winchester (TN) and Fort Worth and Tyler (TX) besides the Baton Rouge club. The Blue Marlins defeated the Albany Alligators in the league championship series in August 2001.

The Anaheim Aces were a charter member of baseball's California League, founded in 1941 as a Class "C" minor league. The remaining charter teams were the Bakersfield Badgers, Fresno Cardinals, Merced Bears, Riverside Reds, San Bernardino Stars, Santa Barbara Saints, and Stockton Fliers. The Aces folded after the 1941 season, with America's entry into World War II.

The St. George Roadrunners were a minor league baseball team in the independent Golden Baseball League, based in St. George, UT, from 2007 to 2010.

The Middletown Mansfields were an early baseball team in Middletown, Connecticut that existed from 1866 to 1872. In the summer of 1866, a ballclub was established at Middletown's Douglas Pump Company by the factory owner's son, sixteen-year-old Ben Douglas Jr. Douglas named the team after his great-uncle General Joseph Mansfield, a Middletown native and Civil War hero. That year, they lost their first match to the Lincoln club of New Britain by a score of 50-1, but steadily improved thereafter; in 1869, Mansfield put up a 8-2 record, all against other Connecticut clubs.