Stockton Ports

Stockton Ports Founded in 1941 Stockton, California
Team Logo Cap Insignia
Class-level
Class A – Advanced
Minor league affiliations
California League North Division
Major league affiliations
Oakland Athletics (2005–present) Texas Rangers (2003–2004) Cincinnati Reds (2002) Milwaukee Brewers (1979–1983, 1985–1999) Seattle Mariners (1978) California Angels (1972) Baltimore Orioles (1959–1971) St. Louis Cardinals (1958) Chicago Cubs (1953–1954) St. Louis Browns (1952) Chicago White Sox (1949)
Name
Stockton Ports (1946–2000, 2005–present) Mudville Nine (2001–2004) Stockton Flyers (1941–1942)
Ballpark
Banner Island Ballpark Billy Hebert Field
Minor league titles
League titles	11 (1946, 1947, 1963, 1965, 1969, 1980, 1986, 1990, 1992, 2002, 2008)
Division titles
Owner(s)/Operated by: Tom Volpe / 7th Inning Stretch, LLC
Manager: Steve Scarsone
General Manager: Pat Filippone

The Stockton Ports are a baseball team in Stockton, California. The Ports play in the Northern Division of the Class A – Advanced California League and are a Minor League affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. Their home field is Banner Island Ballpark which seats over 5,000 people and opened in 2005.

History

Baseball first came to Stockton in the 1860s. By the 1880s Stockton began to field a team in an earlier incarnation of the California League. In 1888 the Stockton team won the California League pennant with a record of 41–12. That same team also gained a bit of notoriety as a possible inspiration of Casey at the Bat, a famous baseball poem by Ernest Thayer. Thayer was a journalist for the San Francisco Examiner at the time and the games were hosted in a ballpark on Banner Island, a place once known as Mudville.

The Stockton Flyers were established as a charter member of the California League in 1941. The league suspended operations in June 1942 due to World War II. The Flyers were rechristened as the Stockton Ports to recognize Stockton's status as an inland port city when the league resumed operations in 1946. That season, the Ports went on to win their first California League pennant.

In 1947, the Ports won the California League pennant again without a major league affiliation (they had a limited working agreement with the PCL Oakland Oaks). After going 24–18 playing through June 4, they went on a 26-game winning streak and took first place, never to relinquish again in that season. The win streak is one of the longest in professional baseball and is still a California League record. The Ports finished that season with a record of 95–45 and sixteen games ahead of the two teams tied for second place. Years later, baseball historians Bill Weiss and Marshall Wright rated the 1947 Ports as one of the one hundred best Minor League teams of all time, ranked at No. 98.

Owned by Stockton local Carl W. Thompson, Sr. 1971–1973, the Ports would disband after the 1972 season, coming back as an affiliate of the Seattle Mariners in 1978. The Ports won more games in the 1980s than any other team in minor-league baseball.^[1] In an homage to the team in the Ernest Thayer poem the Ports were renamed as the Mudville Nine in 2000 and 2001,^[2] then returned to the Ports name in 2002.

The Ports won their 11th California League Championship in 2008. With 11 league titles, the Ports have the most among the league's active franchises, with the defunct Reno franchise having won eleven. Stockton won its 11th championship with a 9–3 win over the Lancaster JetHawks on Sept. 14, 2008.

In 2005 the Ports became an affiliate of the Oakland Athletics and began play at the Banner Island Ballpark. The 2009 season marked the team's 5th anniversary at Banner Island Ballpark.

Major League Affiliations

• 1941 Los Angeles Angels, PCL
• 1946 Independent
• 1947–1948 Oakland Oaks, PCL
• 1949 Chicago White Sox, AL
• 1950–1951 Independent
• 1952 St. Louis Browns, AL
• 1953–1954 Chicago Cubs, NL
• 1955 Oakland Oaks, PCL
• 1956–1957 Baltimore Orioles, AL
• 1958 St. Louis Cardinals, NL
• 1959–1971 Baltimore Orioles, AL
• 1972 California Angels, AL
• 1978 Seattle Mariners, AL
• 1979–2000 Milwaukee Brewers, AL (until 1997) NL (since 1998)
• 2001–2002 Cincinnati Reds, NL
• 2003–2004 Texas Rangers, AL
• 2005–present Oakland Athletics, AL

Notable Ports alumni

• Mike "SuperJew" Epstein (born 1943), MLB first baseman
• Jim Morris
• Ben Sheets
• Gary Sheffield
• Bobby Grich
• Kurt Suzuki
• Travis Buck
• Daric Barton
• Bobby Crosby
• Geoff Jenkins
• Mike Piazza
• Eddie Guardado
• Dallas Braden
• Mudville Nine players

Roster

Stockton Ports rosterview · talk · edit
Players				Coaches/Other
Pitchers 34 Mike Benacka 27 Jacob Brown 15 Scott Deal -- Ryan Doolittle -- Omar Duran 29 Robert Gilliam 46 José Guzman 17 Mike Hart 16 Connor Hoehn 21 Anthony Huttenlocker 38 Ian Krol 44 Josh Lansford 11 Chris Mederos -- Jamie Richmond 26 James Simmons 20 Murphy Smith 39 Daniel Straily -- Daniel Thomas 28 Fabian Williamson		Catchers  9 Ryan Lipkin -- Petey Paramore Infielders 18 Anthony Aliotti 10 Jason Christian 12 Dusty Coleman  7 Leonardo Gil  3 Michael Gilmartin -- Max Stassi Outfielders 14 Michael Choice  2 Conner Crumbliss 23 Rashun Dixon 22 Mitch LeVier  5 Myrio Richard		Manager 50 Webster Garrison Coaches 31 Craig Lefferts (pitching) 24 Brian McArn (hitting) 7-day disabled list * On Oakland Athletics 40-man roster ∞ Reserve list § Suspended list ‡ Restricted list # Rehab assignment Roster updated August 1, 2011 Transactions → More rosters

Broadcasts

KWSX-AM 1280 (Stockton)

References

1. ^ National Geographic, April 1991, vol179, No,4
2. ^ SFGate.com, May 4, 2000 "Funky Mudville Has Murky Future" Accessed April 4, 2008

External links

• Stockton Ports Official Site