Hartford Chiefs
|
Hartford Chiefs 1938–1952 Hartford, Connecticut | |
| Class-level | |
|---|---|
| Previous | A (1938–1952) |
| Minor league affiliations | |
| League | Eastern League (1938–1952) |
| Major league affiliations | |
| Previous | Boston Bees/Braves (1938–1952) |
| Team data | |
Previous names |
|
Previous parks | Bulkeley Stadium |
The Hartford Chiefs was the final name of the American minor league baseball franchise representing Hartford, Connecticut, that played in the Eastern League (then Class A) between 1938 and 1952.
The Hartford team, which played at Bulkeley Stadium, was known as the Bees from 1939–43 and in 1945; it was called the Laurels in 1938 and 1944[1] (although Baseball America's Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball calls the 1938 team the "Bees");[2] and then renamed the "Chiefs" for the final seven years of its existence, 1946–52. It was affiliated for all 15 of its seasons with the Boston Braves, and the Bees/Chiefs nickname switch for the Hartford club is probably a result of the parent team's temporary and unsuccessful rechristening as the Boston Bees from 1936–40.
Long baseball tradition
The Connecticut capital had been in organized baseball since the Hartford Dark Blues were a charter member of the National League in 1876–77. After those two years in Major League Baseball, Hartford was represented in eleven different minor leagues — including three earlier versions of the "Eastern League."[3] When the Class B Northeastern League folded after the 1934 season during the depths of the Great Depression, Hartford was without professional baseball for three seasons. Then it joined the Class A New York–Pennsylvania League of 1923–37. The arrival of franchises in Hartford and Trenton, New Jersey, caused the NYPL to change its identity to the Eastern League for 1938, with 2012 marking the 75th consecutive season the league has used the name.
Affiliate of Boston's NL franchise
The 1938 Laurels made the Eastern League playoffs and Hartford qualified for the postseason nine times in its 15-year history (including 1943–46 in succession), but the franchise never captured the league's playoff title. While the 1942 team included a future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher, Warren Spahn, the Boston Bees/Braves of the era did not have an extensive player development system. Class A was prior to 1963 a mid- to higher-level circuit, and the Hartford franchise was the Braves' most advanced minor league affiliate through 1945. In 1946, however, the Braves began to build up their farm system, adding Triple-A and Double-A affiliates and expanding their presence in Classes B, C and D. They also worked with a second Class A farm club, the Denver Bears of the Western League, from 1949–51.
But after winning the 1948 National League pennant, the big-league Braves experienced a dramatic fall-off in attendance, and played their last season in Boston in 1952. The Hartford Chiefs did not survive them; the franchise was transferred to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, as an unaffiliated team for 1953. Meanwhile, the MLB Braves moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during spring training of 1953. They had two Class A affiliates that season: the Lincoln Chiefs of the Western League—inheritors of the Hartford team's nickname—and the Jacksonville Braves of the Sally League, whose star player in 1953 would be 19-year-old Henry Aaron.
Notable alumni
2016 return to Eastern League
In 2015, after more than six decades without a team in organized baseball, Hartford officials led by then-mayor Pedro Segarra proposed building a new baseball stadium (to be known as Dunkin' Donuts Park)[4] in the city's North End to attract the nearby New Britain Rock Cats of the modern Double-A Eastern League. Despite stadium construction delays,[5] the team will debut during the 2016 season and has been rechristened as the Hartford Yard Goats.[6] [7]
References
- 1 2 Baseball Reference
- ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, eds., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007, p. 357
- ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, eds., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007, p. 62
- ↑ NBC Connecticut, 2015-6-09
- ↑ Ofgang, Erik (March 14, 2016). "Stadiums in CT: If You Build It, Headaches Will Come". Connecticut Magazine. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
- ↑ Keating, Christopher (April 20, 2015). "Lawmakers Clash on Hartford Baseball Stadium Financing". The Hartford Courant. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
- ↑ Doyle, Paul (October 30, 2015). "Hartford Yard Goats' mascots: Chompers and Chew Chew". The Hartford Courant.