Sacramento River Cats

Sacramento River Cats
Founded in 1978
West Sacramento, California
Based in West Sacramento since 2000
Team logoCap insignia
Class-level
Current Triple-A (1978–present)
Minor league affiliations
League Pacific Coast League
(1978–present)
Conference Pacific Conference
Division Northern Division (2014–present)
Major league affiliations
Current San Francisco Giants
(2015–present)
Previous Oakland Athletics (1999–2014)
California/Anaheim Angels
(1994–1998)
Chicago White Sox (1988–1993)
Pittsburgh Pirates (1987)
Milwaukee Brewers (1979–1986)
Oakland Athletics (1978)
Minor league titles
Class titles (3)
  • 1999
  • 2007
  • 2008
League titles (7)
  • 1985
  • 1989
  • 1999
  • 2003
  • 2004
  • 2007
  • 2008
Conference titles (7)
  • 1999
  • 2003
  • 2004
  • 2007
  • 2008
  • 2009
  • 2011
Division titles (17)
  • 1985
  • 1986
  • 1989
  • 1992
  • 1994
  • 1999
  • 2000
  • 2001
  • 2003
  • 2004
  • 2005
  • 2007
  • 2008
  • 2009
  • 2010
  • 2011
  • 2012
Team data
Nickname Sacramento River Cats
(2000–present)
Previous names
 Vancouver Canadians
(1978–1999)
Colors Black, cardinal, gold
              
Mascot Dinger the river cat
Ballpark Raley Field (2000–present)
Previous parks
 Nat Bailey Stadium (1978–1999)
Owner(s)/
Operator(s)
 Susan Savage
Manager Jose Alguacil
General Manager Chip Maxson
Raley Field in 2007
River Cats at Raley Field in 2007
River Cats players in 2007

The Sacramento River Cats are a minor league baseball team based in West Sacramento, California. The team plays in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and is the Triple-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants. Through the 2014 season, they were the top affiliate of the Oakland Athletics.

Since moving to California in 2000, the River Cats have played at Raley Field in West Sacramento. The team began play 38 years ago in British Columbia in 1978 as the Vancouver Canadians, and played their home games at Nat Bailey Stadium through the 1999 season, their first with Oakland since 1978. Following that 1999 season, in which the Canadians won the Triple-A World Series, the team was purchased by a group led by Art Savage and moved south to West Sacramento and became the River Cats for the 2000 season. Savage was the majority owner of the team until his death at age 58 in November 2009. His widow, Susan Savage, became majority owner upon her husband's death.[1]

Sacramento led the minor leagues in attendance during each of its first eight seasons at Raley Field. The team averaged 9,338 per game during the 2015 regular season, for a season total of 672,354, under its first year with the Giants.[2] In 2012, Forbes listed the River Cats as the most valuable minor league franchise.[3]

The PCL franchise in Sacramento for many years was the Solons, a charter member of the PCL which was founded in 1903. Three different versions of the Solons represented California's capital city in 1903, 1905, from 1909 through 1914, from 1918 through 1960, and from 1974 through 1976. Sacramento is the only charter city that presently hosts a PCL team.

In 2016, Mike Piazza became the first and only former River Cats player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, after earning an 83% vote by the committee. Other notable players from the River Cats currently in the MLB include Josh Donaldson, Sonny Gray, and Carlos Gonzales.

Attendance

Since the arrival of the River Cats at Raley Field, they have led all the minors in attendance during each of its first eight seasons.[4] In 2015, the team drew 672,354 fans in 72 home games, leading the minor league in total attendance. In 2015, they also drew the second highest attendance per game in the minors with an average of 9,338 fans per game. [5]

Year Total
Attendance 		Average
  2000   861,808 11,969
2001 901,214 12,516
2002 817,317 11,351
2003 766,326 10,643
2004 751,156 10,432
2005 755,750 10,496
2006 728,227 10,256
2007 710,235 10,003
2008 700,168 9,724
2009 657,095 9,126
2010 657,910 9,138
2011 600,306 8,455
2012 586,090 8,140
2013 607,329 8,435
2014 607,839 8,561
2015 672,354 9,338

Playoff history

The River Cats won four Pacific Coast League Pacific South Division titles in five years, from 2000 through 2004, and back-to-back league championships in 2003 and 2004.

In 2007 they won the Pacific South Division and league championships again, and defeated the Richmond Braves in that year's Bricktown Showdown on September 18 by a score of 7–1. The River Cats repeated as division, league, and class champions in 2008. They have won the last six Pacific South Division titles and won 11 division titles in their first 14 years in Sacramento. The River Cats moved to the North division in 2014.

Roster

Sacramento River Cats roster
Players Coaches/Other

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

  • 13 Jose Alguacil

Coaches



7-day disabled list
* On San Francisco Giants 40-man roster
# Rehab assignment
∞ Reserve list
‡ Restricted list
† Temporary inactive list
Roster updated May 8, 2016
Transactions
→ More MiLB rosters
→ San Francisco Giants minor league players

Players

See: Category:Sacramento River Cats players

Notable former River Cats currently in the major leagues

This list does not include MLB players who were in Sacramento on a rehabilitation assignment while on the disabled list.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sacramento River Cats.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 16, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.