Tombstone
Born: 1980 – Re-branded from Salem Pirates
Rebranded: 1987 (Salem Buccaneers)
First Game: April 11, 1980 (W ?-? vs. Alexandria Dukes)
Last Game: August 31, 1986 (W 7-6 @ Lynchburg Mets)
Carolina League Championships: None
Stadium
Ownership & Affiliations
Owners: Larry Schmittou, Conway Twitty, et al.
Major League Affiliations:
- 1980-1983: San Diego Padres
- 1984-1986: Texas Rangers
Attendance
Tap (mobile) or mouse over chart for figures. Tilting your mobile device may offer better viewing.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (1st ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 1993
Background
The city of Salem, Virginia (pop. 25,000) has hosted minor league baseball each summer since 1957. Salem was originally in the Appalachian League but has competed in the Class A Carolina League since 1968. The name of the local nine has changed many times over the years, starting with the once ubiquitous “Rebels” nickname used by so many Southern clubs in the mid-20th century.
Prior to the 1980 season ownership of the ball club, then known as the Salem Pirates, changed hands. The new owner was Larry Schmittou, the former head baseball coach at Vanderbilt University turned minor league impresario. Schmittou made his first minor league investment in 1978, assembling an investor group of southern musicians to bring pro baseball back to Nashville, Tennessee after a long absence. Schmittou’s Nashville Sounds became tremendously popular and he soon began to add other southern ball clubs to his portfolio, starting with Salem and the Greensboro Hornets. That’s country music star Conway Twitty, one of Schmittou’s famous partners, pictured on the cover of the Salem Redbirds’ first year game program from 1980 (above).
Redbirds is a common minor league baseball name, but typically only for clubs that are part of the St. Louis Cardinals farm system. The Salem Redbirds were an exception. They were a San Diego Padres affiliate for their first four seasons (1980-1983). The Padres era was pretty barren in Salem, bottoming out in 1982 when the Redbirds went 39-101, which still stands as the worst record in the city’s long history of pro baseball.
Better players arrived when the Redbirds switched affiliations to the Texas Rangers in in 1984. Future Major League All-Star pitchers Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams (1985) and Kenny Rogers (1986) came spent time in Salem during the Rangers years.
Redbirds to Buccaneers
Prior to the 1987 season the Rangers left town and Salem went back to being a Pittsburgh Pirates farm team, as they had been for most of the 1970’s. The team was re-branded as the Salem Buccaneers at this point and the Redbirds era came to an end.
Salem Redbirds Shop
Links
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