Utica Blue Sox

Utica Blue Sox 1939–2001 (1939–1950 and 1977–2001) Utica, New York
Class-level
Previous	Short Season-A (1977–2001) Class A (1943–1950) Class C (1939–1942)
Minor league affiliations
Previous leagues	New York–Penn League (1977–2001) Eastern League (1944–1950) Can-Am League (1939–1942)
Major league affiliations
Previous	Florida Marlins (1996–2001) Boston Red Sox (1993–1995) Chicago White Sox (1988–1992) Philadelphia Phillies (1986–1987) Co-op (1981–1985) Toronto Blue Jays (1977–1980) Philadelphia Phillies (1943–1950) Detroit Tigers (1940) Boston Braves (1939)
Minor league titles
League titles	2 (1947, 1983)
Team data
Previous names	Utica Blue Sox (1997–2001) Utica Blue Marlins (1996) Utica Blue Sox (1981–1995) Utica Blue Jays (1977–1980) Utica Blue Sox (1944–1950) Utica Braves (1939–1943)
Previous parks	Donovan Stadium (1981–2001) McConnell Field (1944–1950)

The Utica Blue Sox was the name of two minor league baseball teams based in Utica, New York.

History

Previous baseball history

Utica's first baseball team took the field in 1878. The city fielded a team in the New York State League from 1899–1917, then was without professional baseball until 1939, except for one year, 1924, when the Utica Utes, a member of an earlier edition of the New York–Pennsylvania League, moved to Oneonta, New York, in midseason.

The first Blue Sox team

The first Blue Sox team can be traced to the Utica Braves of the Class C Canadian–American League, formed when the former Auburn Bouleys were moved to Utica by Amby McConnell and Father Harold Martin. The Utica Braves were initially a Boston Braves farm team in 1939 and kept the nickname through 1942. The Braves were also affiliated with the Detroit Tigers in 1941 and the Springfield Rifles in 1942.

In 1943, Utica moved up to the Class A Eastern League and became an affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. The nickname Blue Sox dates to 1944 when their parent team was unofficially called the "Philadelphia Blue Jays". The Blue Sox of the 1940s played in a ballpark in the northern part of the city called McConnell Field, which was named after the team owner and former pro player from Utica.

Many of the Blue Sox players of the 1940s later becoming the Whiz Kids of the 1950 National League champion Phillies. Future Philadelphia stars such as Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn, who came to Utica as a catcher but within a month was moved to center field by his manager, Eddie Sawyer, to utilize his speed. Other include Stan Lopata and Granny Hamner all took the field for both Utica and Philadelphia during the late 1940s.

Eddie Sawyer, manager of the Blue Sox in 1945 and 1947 and later for seven more years in Philadelphia, once said, "We had great ballclubs in a bad ballpark." Ashburn recalled the peculiar way the field was laid out, with center field to the west. "The sun would set over it", he once said. "I never got a hit up there in the first five innings in 150 games, and I still hit .300."

Second Blue Sox team

In their most recent incarnation, the Blue Sox played in the Short-Season A classification New York–Penn League from 1977–2001, with their home games at Donovan Stadium at Murnane Field. The NYPL Blue Sox were established in 1977 as the Utica Blue Jays and were affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays until 1980. The club was an independent team from 1981 through 1985. The team became an affiliate with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1986–1987, the Chicago White Sox from 1988–92 and the Boston Red Sox from 1993–1995. In 1996 the team became affiliated with the Florida Marlins and were renamed the Utica Marlins. However the team was renamed the Blue Sox the very next season.

By the end of the 2001 season, the city needed a standard level ball park and Donovan Stadium was in need of repairs in order to keep the Blue Sox team. On February 7, 2002, Cal Ripken, Jr. and the Ripken Professional Baseball Association purchased the Blue Sox and moved the club to Aberdeen, Maryland, where it became the Aberdeen IronBirds.

For a time in the late 1980s, Morganna the Kissing Bandit owned a share of the Blue Sox.

In media

Acclaimed author and journalist Roger Kahn (The Boys of Summer) wrote about his year as owner of the team in the 1985 book Good Enough to Dream.

External links

• Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, editors. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 1997 edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America.
• Utica Blue Sox on FunWhileItLasted.net
• Photographs of Donovan Stadium (Murnane Field), former home of the Utica Blue Sox of the NY-P League – Rochester Area Ballparks