As season nears, bygone teams remembered

As the darkest hour is just before dawn, the most desperate yearning of the baseball fan is in the waning weeks of the offseason. Not until the cry of "Play ball!" on Opening Night (this year April 9) will Minor League rooters feel normalcy has returned. There's comfort to be had in the action of the Cactus League and the Grapefruit League, but some of us still can't sleep through March nights without taking a little solace in tales of the game from years past.
The arrival of a new round of Hometown Collection™ caps in the MiLB.com store, therefore, is a more than adequate excuse to dig into the stories of the represented franchises.

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With discussion heating up about a Major League team playing half its games in Montreal, it's high time to salute the former Eastern League franchise of La Vieille Capitale. From 1971-75, the Quebec Carnavals entertained fans as the Double-A affiliate of the Montreal Expos, playing in Stade Municipal de Quebec on the banks of the St. Charles River. 
The Carnavals took their name from the winter festival that became an annual Quebec City tradition in the 1950s but has a history in the provincial capital dating back over a half century before that. Life for the Carnavals baseball club wasn't always a party -- the inaugural squad went 64-75 to finish last in the EL's National Division -- but even in times of hardship, Quebec City knew how to give fans a good time. For example, even that losing first-year team could swing it. Pepe Mangual (who spent six seasons in the Majors), Bob Hansen and the fittingly named Romel Canada finished in the top 15 in batting average, with Mangual bopping 20 dingers to finish third in that category.
By far the most noteworthy Carnavals alum, though, was a 19-year-old shortstop-turned-catcher on the 1973 team. Gary Carter tied for eighth in the EL with 15 homers and placed 11th with 68 RBIs in his first crack at Double-A pitching. In addition to his Hall of Fame career in the Major Leagues, Carter put up a heck of a season for the Memphis Blues and later managed in the Minor Leagues.
Their penultimate year as the Carnavals (Quebec City played as the Metros in '76 and '77 and disbanded in '78) was their best. The '74 team went 76-64 to win its division and earn the franchise's lone playoff berth. That squad featured the duo of Ellis Valentine and Warren Cromartie, both of whom became stars for the Expos. 
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The Beaumont Golden Gators were the pride of Texas' Jefferson County from 1983-86 as the Double-A affiliate of the Padres in the Texas League. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, but the Golden Gators didn't need one. Fielding an inaugural team that included John Kruk, Ozzie Guillen and Mark Parent, Beaumont broke even (68-68) during the regular season to squeak into the playoffs, then stunned Jackson with a 3-0 sweep in the Finals. 
No one-season wonders, in '84, the Golden Gators chomped their way to the best record in the league (89-47) and came close to a second straight crown, losing a Finals rematch to the Mets. Over those first two years, Beaumont also scored back-to-back MVP honors, with Mark Gillaspie (.333/.455/.581, 24 homers, a jaw-dropping 122 RBIs) taking home the trophy in '83 and Jim Steels (.340/.400/.514, 35 stolen bases, 90 runs) earning the glory the next year.
Playing out of Lamar University's Vincent-Beck Stadium, Beaumont graduated an improbable number of longtime big league catchers over its four seasons. Specifically, that number is three. In addition to Parent, Benito Santiago and Sandy Alomar donned the tools of ignorance for the club. Lance McCullers, father of a current pitcher with the same name, struck out 48 over 55 1/3 innings for the '84 Golden Gators. Infielder Joey Cora was on the '86 club, but despite having hit .305 over 81 games, it's likely a season he'd prefer to forget. Cora was stabbed twice by a fan after a 1-0 loss at San Antonio in late June. He required abdominal surgery, but he played in the first of his 11 big league seasons the next year. 
Mere weeks into their existence, the Golden Gators played in the highest scoring game in Texas League history, putting up 21 runs against the El Paso Diablos on April 30, 1983. Unfortunately for Beaumont, El Paso crossed the plate 35 times in that one. Hey, a milestone is a milestone.
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In June 1979, filmgoers were hooting at "The Muppet Movie," Donna Summer was "Hot Stuff" and South Florida baseball fans had something to cheer about -- namely, the Miami Amigos. Led by player-manager Davey Johnson and getting contributions from other pro veterans such as Orlando Peña and Wayne Granger, the Amigos finished with a .708 winning percentage. 
How is it possible a team so dominant has been so nearly forgotten in the annals of Minors history? The Amigos played on a circuit that didn't even last one full season. The beautiful dream of Bobby Maduro (who had owned the International League's Havana Sugar Kings), the Inter-American League had teams from Venezuela, Panama, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and, of course, Florida. The sun-soaked circuit struggled with a number of issues -- customs, visas, cash flow, expensive flights -- before fading into baseball lore on June 30.
For such a short-lived franchise, though, the Amigos made a lot of friends for the ages.
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The Prince William Cannons rumbled near the Potomac River for 10 Carolina League seasons from 1989-98. A Yankees affiliate from '88-93, a White Sox affiliate from '94-96 and a Cardinals affiliate for their last two seasons, the Cannons won the crown in their first season with that identity. To do so, they stopped the juggernaut Braves-affiliated Durham Bulls, who finished the regular season a full 12 games better than the Cannons' 72-66 mark and bettered them in most offensive and pitching statistical categories over the summer. The championship Prince William team was highlighted by New York prospects Pat Kelly and Gerald Williams, and Jeff Johnson was stellar on the mound (2.92 ERA, 99 strikeouts).
Frank Seminara, a Columbia University product destined for an eight-year pro career with 47 Major League appearances, pitched well out of the Prince William 'pen that year. But it was in 1990 that he really fired for the Cannons. As a starter, Seminara went 16-8 with a 1.90 ERA and 132 strikeouts to bring the first of two straight Pitcher of the Year awards to the team's Woodbridge, Virginia, home. Sam Militello went 12-2 with a 1.22 ERA and 113 strikeouts over 103 1/3 frames to deliver in 1991. Two years later, the team featured an Andy Pettitte-Jorge Posada battery.
In 1999, the Prince William Cannons changed their name to the Potomac Cannons. After becoming a Washington affiliate in 2005, Potomac remained at Pfitzner Stadium as the eponymously named Nationals through last year. (The franchise has moved to Fredericksburg for 2020.)
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The Queens Kings were in business for just one season, but they competed in the New York-Penn League impressively if not quite regally. Playing the 2000 summer campaign out of The Ballpark at St. John's University as the Class A Short Season affiliate of the Blue Jays, the Kings went 46-29, a half-game behind the Staten Island Yankees (who went on to win the whole shebang) in the Stedler Division.
With a lineup including outfielder Alex Rios (who became a two-time MLB All-Star) and catcher Guillermo Quiroz (who played for 17 pro seasons and parts of 10 big league seasons and is slated to be the inaugural manager of the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers this year), outfielder Rich Thompson (who also had a long pro career and earned multiple tastes of the bigs) was arguably their most dependable hitter. He posted a .386 OBP while ripping off a team-high 28 bags over a team-high 68 games. On the mound, Brandon Lyon -- who went on to work in 572 Major League games over 12 seasons -- struck out 55 and walked six over 60 1/3 innings for the Kings, putting up a 2.39 ERA.
From the beginning, the plan was for the Queens franchise to be replaced in 2001 by the Mets-affiliated Brooklyn Cyclones, who moved (from Pittsfield, Massachusetts) into the Coney Island ballpark beloved by Minors fans far and wide today.
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Perhaps evoking the high-flying, swashbuckling spirit of Manfred von Richthofen or Snoopy's aviation archrival (one and the same?), perhaps conjuring the family friendliness of a particular brand of frozen pizza, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons actually took their name from two local Minor League predecessors -- the Eastern League's Scranton Red Sox and the Wilkes-Barre Barons. The Red Barons, debuting in 1989 after a franchise relocated from Maine, made themselves tough targets in the International League for 18 seasons. They won four division titles (1992, 1999, 2002 and 2006) and reached the playoffs for four consecutive years starting in '99.
This on-field success was largely thanks to the Red Barons' affiliation with the up-and-coming Philadelphia organization. A lot of the stars who made the Phillies World Series champions in 2008 and -- to the chagrin of Carlos Beltran and the Mets -- "the team to beat" in the National League East for the bulk of the first decade of the 21st century -- Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Chase Utley, Carlos Ruiz, Pat Burrell, Cole Hamels -- developed with the Red Barons. The team of '96 even had eventual seven-time MLB All-Star Scott Rolen for 45 games. 
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, which will host the 2020 Triple-A All-Star Game, also had some big-time award winners during its Phillies/Red Barons years. Victorino was the International League MVP in 2005, batting .310/.377/.534 with a circuit-best 16 triples. Right-handers Brandon Duckworth and Joe Roa were back-to-back Most Valuable Pitchers in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Duckworth started the '01 All-Star Game for the IL and finished 13-2 (tied with Norfolk's Pete Walker for the league lead in wins) with a 2.63 ERA and 150 strikeouts over 147 innings. The next season, Roa, logging a career year, went 14-0 with a 1.86 ERA over 17 starts.
In their final season, 2006, the Red Barons had the best record in the IL (84-58) and were the only club to crack 80 wins. Talk about soaring off on a high note.
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For the generation of fans growing up near the Indiana-Michigan border from 1994-2014, the South Bend Silver Hawks were a mainstay from baby's first steps to after high school graduation. As a White Sox affiliate from '94-97 and a D-backs affiliate from '98-2014 (including a Midwest League championship win in '05), they played at Stanley Coveleski Regional Stadium -- now home to the South Bend Cubs and known as Four Winds Field at Stanley Coveleski Stadium. The ballpark was named for the Hall of Famer who moved to South Bend in 1929 (the year after he retired) and stayed there until his death in 1984. He was beloved in the community for, among other things, giving free pitching lessons to children.
The team name is another nod to a South Bend icon -- the mobile artwork in chrome known as the Studebaker Silver Hawk, which was manufactured in the city in the late 1950s. The Silver Hawks were fast movers on the ballfield too. In their inaugural season, they went 72-67, which was good for only fifth place in the improbably competitive North Division, but gave them the sixth best record out of the 14 total Midwest League teams.
Led by Frank Menechino (who went on to play in 450 big league games over seven seasons), that first-year club provided plenty to cheer about despite missing the playoffs. In fact, Joey Cora -- last seen on this page recovering from a stab wound in the Texas League in 1986, had a heck of a rehab stint with the debuting Silver Hawks. Over three games, the White Sox second baseman went 5-for-11 with a pair of walks, a double, three runs scored, an RBI and a stolen base.
The two most noteworthy Silver Hawks alumni played in back-to-back seasons. In the championship 2005 season, Carlos Gonzalez brought home an MVP award with a 21-homer, .307/.371/.489 campaign at age 19. The No. 1 overall pick of the '05 Draft, Justin Upton took an ambitious first pro assignment to the Midwest League as an 18-year-old the next year. He appeared in 113 games for South Bend, posting a .343 OBP with 41 extra-base hits and 15 stolen bases.
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Speaking of Justin Upton, fresh from the Midwest League the previous year, the outfielder played 32 games for the Visalia Oaks in 2007 -- the season he swatted his way to the big leagues at age 19. With or without Upton, the Oaks identity is an essential part of the story of one of the California League's most historic franchises. Visalia, a Cal League town since 1946, took the field as the Oaks from 1977-92 and again from 1995-2008.
Their second season of existence was not only the Oaks' best, it was one of the best seasons any Minor League team has ever had. The Twins-affiliated '78 club steamrolled the competition with a 97-42 record, pacing the loop in batting average (.301), homers (130) and runs (1,007 -- more than seven per game) while tallying the third best team ERA (3.96). Four of the league's six top home-run hitters (Steven McManaman, Scott Ullger, Steve Douglas, Joe Charboneau) were Visalia players, and only one of them batted below .300 (McManaman, with a .293 mark and his circuit-best 29 long balls). Although the '78 Cal League title was the last Visalia won until 2019, the gap came with a great story: the legend of the curse of Charboneau's pet alligator. If the curse weren't real, how could we explain the Oaks dropping four straight league Finals (1980-83), none to the same opponent?
Along with Upton, famous Oaks alumni include Kirby Puckett, Max Scherzer, Eric Chavez, Evan Longoria, Dave Roberts and many more.