The Rochester Red Wings are a minor league baseball team based in Rochester, New York. The oldest and longest running minor league franchise in the history of professional sports, the team plays in the International League and is the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins major-league club. The Red Wings play in Frontier Field, located in downtown Rochester. The Red Wings were an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals for 32 years (1929-1960), then spent 42 years (1961-2002) as a farm club of the Baltimore Orioles before moving on to the Twins in 2003. The franchise played from 1929 through 1996 at Silver Stadium before moving to Frontier Field in 1997. Baseball in Rochester dates back to 1877 with the "Rochesters" of the International Association, and Rochester has had a franchise in the league now known as the International League as early as 1885. The current franchise has been playing in Rochester since 1899, when the team was known as the Rochester Bronchos and won the league championship in its inaugural season. According to Rochester sports historian Douglas Brei, only six franchises in the history of North American professional sports have been playing in the same city and same league continuously and uninterrupted since the 1800s: the Rochester Red Wings, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, and St. Louis Cardinals. He also reports that, along with the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the Canadian Football League, the Red Wings are one of only two franchises in North American professional sports to have captured a league championship [1] in every decade of the 20th century.

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Franchise history

Early history (1899–1928)

Cardinals era (1929–1960)

The Red Wings became the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1929. Aside from the affiliation, the Cardinals also owned the Wings and their stadium, then known as Red Wing Stadium. In the fall of 1956, the Cardinals ceased to operate the Red Wings and put both the team and the stadium up for sale. In response, Morrie Silver, a Rochester businessman, formed Rochester Community Baseball, Inc. (RCB) and spearheaded a drive to sell shares in RCB to raise money to buy the Red Wings and Red Wing Stadium to ensure that the franchise would remain in Rochester. The attempt was successful as RCB purchased both entities from the Cardinals on February 27, 1957, in an event that was dubbed the "72 Day Miracle". RCB, comprised of fans of the team as shareholders, continues to own and operate the club to this day, making the Red Wings one of a very few current professional sports franchises that are publicly owned. The Green Bay Packers of the National Football League are the most notable example of this distinction.

After the sale, the Wings remained St. Louis' affiliate until 1960, when the Red Wings moved on to become the top farm club of the Baltimore Orioles.

Orioles era (1961–2002)

Red Wing Stadium was renamed Silver Stadium in honor of Morrie Silver on August 19, 1968.

The Rochester Red Wings, along with the Pawtucket Red Sox, hold the record for the longest professional baseball game, lasting a total of 33 innings and 8 hours, 25 minutes over the course of three different days. The game was held at McCoy Stadium, beginning on April 18, 1981. It was suspended at 4:00 am the next morning, and Rochester lost 3–2 when the game resumed on June 23.

Rochester won six Governors' Cup titles during their 42-year affiliation with the Orioles, with the last coming in 1997. The team's fortunes began to decline by 1999, though, as the product on the field slipped in quality. By 2002, the last year of the player development agreement between Baltimore and Rochester, the team's record had slipped to a league-worst 55–89. In the off-season, the Red Wings did not extend the agreement with Baltimore; instead, the club signed a new one with the Minnesota Twins to become their Triple-A affiliate.

The last five years of the Orioles affiliation also saw a pair of accomplishments aside from the 1997 title run. In 1997, the Red Wings moved into the new Frontier Field in downtown Rochester after 68 seasons at Silver Stadium on the city's northeast side. Later, during the team's fourth year at the stadium in 2000, the Red Wings played host to the Triple-A All-Star Game.

Twins era (2003–present)

The change in affiliation did not immediately transfer into success on the field. In 2003, the Red Wings finished 68–75 under new manager Phil Roof, good for fifth place in the six-team International League (IL) North Division and 10½ games behind the Ottawa Lynx, the new affiliate of the Orioles. It was the sixth consecutive losing season for Rochester. Beginning in 2004, however, the team began to turn their fortunes around. In both 2004 and 2005, the Red Wings finished in second place in the North Division with records of 73–71 and 75–69, respectively. The turnaround was capped in 2006 when Rochester, now under the leadership of Stan Cliburn, advanced to the International League playoffs as the Wild Card with a record of 79–64. The Red Wings then beat the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons three games to one in the best-of-five semifinal series but lost to the Toledo Mud Hens in five games, three games to two, in the best-of-five Governors' Cup series.

Since the 2006 run to the Governors' Cup series, the Red Wings have had moderate success. After snapping the six-year losing season streak in 2004, Rochester has posted five straight winning seasons. In 2008, the team went 74–70 after being as far as 13 games under .500 (19–32 on May 25).

Titles

The Red Wings have played for the Governors' Cup, the championship of the International League, 21 times, winning 10. Both numbers are IL records.

Current roster

Players				Coaching staff
Pitchers 21 Ricky Barrett 22 Brian Bass 20 Carmen Cali 45 Casey Daigle 35 Julio DePaula 53 Brian Duensing 30 Mariano Gomez (baseball) 23 Danny Graves 49 Philip Humber 28 Bobby Korecky 43 Tim Lahey 24 Kevin Mulvey -- Tom Shearn† 37 Anthony Swarzak † disabled list ‡ temporary inactive list updated 2008-09-01		Catchers 31 Jeff Christy (baseball)  7 Ryan Jorgensen -- José Morales (catcher)† Infielders 12 Howie Clark 18 Luke Hughes 38 Alejandro Machado  5 Matt Macri 17 Brock Peterson  9 Trevor Plouffe 19 Sergio Santos Outfielders 50 Garrett Jones -- Darnell McDonald† 11 Jason Pridie -- Tommy Watkins†		Manager 16 Stan Cliburn Coaches 44 Riccardo Ingram (hitting) 33 Stew Cliburn (pitching) -- Rich Miller (baseball) (Roving Baserunning/Outfield Coach)

Retired numbers

The Red Wings have retired three numbers, two of which are derived from uniform numbers.

• 26 for Joe Altobelli, often referred to as "Mr. Baseball" within Rochester. He played for the Red Wings from 1963 to 1965, coached the team in 1966, and managed the team from 1971 to 1976. As manager, "Alto" led the Red Wings to two Governors' Cup titles. Altobelli also served as the Red Wings' General Manager from 1991 to 1994 and was the color commentator for all Red Wing home game broadcasts from 1998 to 2008. ^[2]
• 36 for Luke Easter. He played in Rochester from 1959 to his retirement in 1963, during which time he hit 67 home runs.
• 8222 for Morrie Silver. He spearheaded a successful grassroots effort to purchase the Red Wings from the St. Louis Cardinals in 1957 and subsequently served as the team president from 1957 to 1968. The number retired in his honor, 8,222, represents the original number of shareholders of Rochester Community Baseball, Inc.

Altobelli's number 26 and the number 8,222 representing Silver were both retired prior to the final regular season game at Silver Stadium on August 30, 1996. Easter's number 36 was retired by the Red Wings in 2000.

Notable alumni

Awards and honors

In 2008, Naomi Silver, the team's Chief Operating Officer and Board Chairman, was selected Minor League Executive of the Year by Baseball America . ^[3]

Notes and references

1. The IL Regular Season Pennant symbolized the League Champion until the Governors' Cup was established in 1933. Since 1933, the IL has officially recognized both the Pennant Winner and the Governors' Cup as League Champions. The Red Wings captured Governors' Cups in every decade since it was established except the 1940s, a decade in which they won the IL Pennant in 1940. Since the IL was separated into divisions in 1988, most people have come to consider the Governors' Cup winner to be the league champion, although in the early years most still considered the Pennant Winner to be the true league champion. The league still officially recognizes both titleists as champions.
2. Altobelli calls himself out after 59 seasons
3. "Red Wings exec Naomi Silver named minor league baseball's top exec", ''Democrat and Chronicle'', December 5, 2008