The Syracuse Chiefs are a minor league baseball team based in Syracuse, New York. The team plays in the International League and is the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Their home stadium is Alliance Bank Stadium (formerly known as P&C Stadium) located north of downtown Syracuse.
Franchise history[]
Syracuse has been represented in professional baseball since 1877, when the Syracuse Stars competed in the League Alliance, an early minor league. Syracuse fielded two Major League versions of the Stars, in the Template:By National League and the Template:By American Association. Apart from those seasons, however, the Stars were members of high minor leagues such as the Eastern League (forerunner to the International) and the New York State League through 1917. From 1918-27, they competed in the International League and were an early farm team of the St. Louis Cardinals. But in 1928 the IL franchise moved to Montreal and became the Montreal Royals. The Stars moved down one classification to the New York-Pennsylvania League for 1½ seasons before moving to Utica, New York.[1]
The Chiefs date to 1934 when the International League's Jersey City Skeeters moved to Syracuse and were renamed the Chiefs. The franchise played for 22 consecutive seasons in the IL, through 1955, and won five championships, including in 1954. But it was sold and moved to Miami, Florida, as the Marlins for the 1956 campaign. A team known as the Chiefs competed briefly in the Class A Eastern League, then two levels below the IL, in 1956-57 but moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 1957.[2] Syracuse was without baseball until the 1961 season, when the Montreal Royals franchise was abandoned by its owners, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and returned to Syracuse.
The Chiefs have played in Syracuse uninterrupted since their rebirth in 1961. The team was rebranded as the SkyChiefs in 1997. The name reverted to the original "Chiefs" in December 2006.[3]
From 1978 to 2008, the Chiefs were the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. On September 20, 2008, the Chiefs signed a two-year affiliation agreement with the Nationals, ending their 31-season relationship with the Blue Jays. The Toronto–Syracuse affiliation was the longest of the 11 major league affiliations the Chiefs have had since 1936.
The Chiefs played at MacArthur Stadium from 1934 to 1996. They moved to then-P&C Stadium in 1997.
In 2008, the Chiefs wore a decal on their uniform with the letters HB on it to commemorate Harold Berman, a former member of the Chiefs' Board of Directors, who died between the 2007 and 2008 baseball seasons.
In 2009, the Chiefs wore a decal on their uniform with the letters HM on it to commemorate Hy Miller, a former State Assemblyman for New York and a former director on the Chiefs' Board of Directors, who died between the 2008 and 2009 baseball seasons.
In 2010, the Chiefs celebrated there 50th season of community owned baseball(1961-2010). They wore jerseys from the 1961 during every thursday home game.(throwback thursdays) They also brought back some radio announcers from the past such as Sean Mcdonough, Dan Hoard and others. The Chiefs went 76-67 which is better then the 2009 record of 76-68 because one game against Scranton/Wilkes Barre was canceled late in the season due to weather. 2010 also was the season that Top Pitching Prospect Stephen Strasberg played for the Chiefs and went 2-1 over 5 games.
Titles[]
The Chiefs have won the Governors' Cup, the championship of the IL, 8 times, and have played in the championship series 17 times.
- 1935 - Defeated Montreal
- 1942 - Defeated Jersey City
- 1943 - Defeated Toronto
- 1946 - Lost to Montreal
- 1947 - Defeated Buffalo
- 1948 - Lost to Montreal
- 1951 - Lost to Montreal
- 1954 - Defeated Montreal
- 1964 - Lost to Rochester
- 1969 - Defeated Columbus
- 1970 - Defeated Columbus
- 1974 - Lost to Rochester
- 1975 - Lost to Tidewater
- 1976 - Defeated Richmond
- 1979 - Lost to Columbus
- 1989 - Lost to Richmond
- 1994 - Lost to Richmond(All games aired on ESPN due to the MLB STRIKE)
Template:-
Current roster[]
Template:Syracuse Chiefs roster
Alumni[]
- Chris Carpenter
- Bobby Cox
- Carlos Delgado
- Shawn Green
- Ron Guidry
- Roy Halladay
- Aaron Hill
- Casey Janssen
- Zach Jackson
- Fred McGriff
- Denny McLain
- Thurman Munson
- Deion Sanders
- Hank Sauer
- Travis Snider
- Luis Sojo
- Johnny Reder
- Alex Rios
- David Wells
- Vernon Wells
- Stephen Strasburg
- Adam Lind
Retired numbers[]
| Number | Player | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| #9 | Hank Sauer | |
| #42 | Jackie Robinson | Retired throughout Baseball |