Winnipeg Goldeyes | |||||
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League | American Association (North Division) | ||||
Location | Winnipeg, Manitoba | ||||
Ballpark | Shaw Park (1999–present) | ||||
Year founded | 1994 | ||||
League championships | 3 (1994, 2012, 2016) | ||||
Division championships | 9 (1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2011, 2014) | ||||
Former name(s) | Winnipeg Goldeyes (1994–present) | ||||
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Colours | Red, navy blue, white, gold |
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Retired numbers | 5, 6, 21 and 31 | ||||
Ownership | Sam Katz | ||||
Manager | Rick Forney | ||||
General Manager | Andrew Collier | ||||
Media |
Shaw TV Winnipeg Sun Winnipeg Free Press CJNU 93.7 FM |
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Website | www |
The Winnipeg Goldeyes are a professional baseball team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Goldeyes play in the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball (2011-Present), which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. Previously, the Goldeyes were longtime members of the Northern League from 1994 until 2010.
The Goldeyes have played their home games at Shaw Park since 1999. The team is named after the goldeye, a fish usually served as a smoked delicacy and commonly called Winnipeg goldeye.
There have been two separate and distinct baseball teams based out of Winnipeg to use the Goldeyes name, each playing in different incarnations of the Northern League. They first played in the original Northern League from 1954 until 1964. During that time, the Goldeyes were a minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals and they won the league championship three times (1957, 1959, and 1960). The Goldeyes returned to the Short Season-A Northern League for one season, 1969, as an affiliate of the expansion Kansas City Royals, but they did not return in 1970, and the entire league shut down after the 1971 season.
The Goldeyes name was resurrected in 1994 when the independent league Rochester Aces of the new Northern League relocated to Winnipeg. It was decided the team would take on the name of the former Winnipeg team in honor of the past. In their inaugural season in Winnipeg, the new Goldeyes captured the Northern League championship.
The Goldeyes became the longest tenured franchise in the Northern League following the departure of the St. Paul Saints, Sioux City Explorers and Sioux Falls Canaries to the breakaway American Association in 2005; however the team would jump to the American Association after the 2010 season. The Goldeyes captured their first American Association championship in 2012, sweeping the Wichita Wingnuts in the finals.