New York-Penn League (1977-1980)
Tombstone
Born: January 27, 1977 – New York-Penn League expansion team1NO BYLINE. “NY-P League jumps to 10 teams”. The Star-Gazette (Elmira, NY). January 28, 1977
Re-Branded: 1981 (Utica Blue Sox)
First Game: June 21, 1977 (W 5-3 Little Falls Mets)
Last Game: August 28, 1980 (L 4-3 vs. Oneonta Yankees)
New York-Penn League Championships: None
Stadium
Ownership & Affiliation
Attendance
Background
Professional baseball returned to Utica, New York for the first time in 27 years when the Utica Blue Jays arrived in the summer of 1977. The New York-Penn League expanded from six to ten teams that summer, thanks in part to Major League Baseball’s own expansion, which saw the addition of Seattle and Toronto to the American League. Utica would serve as a farm club for the new Toronto Blue Jays.
Weirdly, Utica would serve as Toronto’s only farm team during their 1977 expansion season, despite the Class A NY-Penn League being one of the lowest rungs on the Minor League developmental ladder.2CANADIAN PRESS. “Blue Jays affiliate”. The Advocate (Red Deer, AB). September 22, 1977 Toronto added a triple-A farm team at Syracuse in 1978 but wasn’t until 1980 that Toronto finally built out a complete farm system with the addition of a Class AA operation in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Big Birds
The U-Jays original out-of-town owner was 32-year old Fred Nichols of Connecticut, who also owned the Asheville Tourists in North Carolina and the Daytona Beach Islanders in the Florida State League. Later on, the club passed into the hands of Joe Bellino of New Jersey.
Outfielder Jesse Barfield played for the U-Jays as a 17-year old draftee fresh out of high school in 1977. Barfield was the lone prospect on the U-Jays of 1977-1980 who went on to star in the Major Leagues. Barfield was an All-Star for Toronto in 1986, leading the American League in home runs and outfield assists. He was considered to have one of the best outfield arms of the 1980’s.
Jays To Sox
At the end of the 1980 season Toronto pulled its farm club out of Utica. Team owner Joe Bellino travelled to the Baseball Winter Meetings searching for a new parent club but was unsuccessful. Bellino changed the ball club’s name to the Utica Blue Sox, which had been the name of Utica’s Eastern League club from 1944 to 1950, and operated the team as an independent club during 1981. The Blue Sox would remain a rare independent team for the next five summers under multiple owners, before finally regaining a Major League parent in 1986.
Links
New York-Penn League Media Guides
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3 Responses
Just wonder if any of the guys that played in 77 or 78 are still around
I umpired in the league that year. Fun and a lot of players who made it (NO UMPIRES I KNOW OF!) Rafael Santana, Wally Bachman, Jody Davis, Tim Lollar, Chris Welch, Chico Walker were among the players. One of the players I remember and felt pretty bad for was the second baseman for the Little Falls Mets. Wally Backman was on that team, made it to the Mets as a second baseman, but he was the shortstop for Little Falls. You can only imagine what the abuse was like on the road for the starting second baseman: RONALD McDONALD! The “Hamburglar” was never far away. Another event which left a lasting impression, my first motel stay in the leagues designated motel in Auburn, NY. My partner and I arrived well after midnight on our way to Buffalo, found the key under the door mat, entered and crashed. We woke up the next morning, still tired. I turned on my portable radio and found a local station. The news being reported was pretty frightening: there was a prison riot taking place at the Auburn State Prison and state and local police along with special units from other state prisons had arrived on scene. As we prepared to head out for breakfast, we opened the blinds and stared. We both froze: our car parked outside the door, about 10 more feet of parking lot the curb for a 2-lane road AND THE OUTSIDE WALL OF THE AUBURN STATE PRISON , surrounded by vehicles and armed personnel! Needless to say, we ditched local breakfast, packed our stuff and got out of town as fast as my Little Black Volkswagen Bug could motor!! Just another day in the NY-Penn Class A Minor League 1977. I wouldn’t have missed a minute! RWH
Anybody out there remember our teams?