Columbus Redbirds
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Columbus Red Birds 1931–1954 Columbus, Ohio |
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| Minor league affiliations | |||
| League | American Association (1931-1954) | ||
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| Previous | St. Louis Cardinals (1931-1954) | ||
| Minor league titles | |||
| Class titles | 1941, 1950, | ||
| League titles | 1933, 1934, 1937, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1950 | ||
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Previous names
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Previous parks
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Red Bird Stadium | ||
The Columbus Red Birds were a top-level minor league baseball team that played in Columbus, Ohio, in the American Association from 1931 through 1954. The Columbus club, a member of the Association continuously since 1902, was previously known as the Columbus Senators — a typical appellation for a team based in a state (or national) capital. It was independently and locally owned through the 1920s.
The economic distress of the Great Depression was accompanied by the rise of the farm system — pioneered by the St. Louis Cardinals' Branch Rickey. The Cardinals purchased minor league teams at all levels to develop their talent as if on an assembly line, and when they needed a second top-level farm club (St. Louis already owned the Rochester Red Wings of the International League), they purchased the struggling Senators club and dubbed it the Red Birds, a popular nickname for the big-league club.
The first business manager of the Red Birds was a baseball novice named Larry MacPhail. A bold promoter, he supervised the building of Redbird Stadium, championed night baseball games, and tried to make baseball more fan-friendly. Attendance tripled between 1930 and 1932. MacPhail left Columbus after a dispute with the Cardinals' ownership, and moved up to Major League Baseball as the general manager of three teams between 1933 and 1947, and earned a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The 1933 Red Birds were recognized as one of the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time.
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Wikipedia