International League (1972-1973)
Tombstone
Born: November 23, 1971 – The Winnipeg Whips relocate to Hampton, VA
Died: September 1973
First Game: April 14, 1972 (W 3-1 vs. Rochester Red Wings)
Last Game: September 3, 1973 (W 3-1 @ Syracuse Chiefs)
Governors Cup Championships: None
Stadium
Ownership & Affiliation
Owner:
Major League Affiliation: Montreal Expos
Attendance
The Whips ranked last in the 8-team International League attendance charts in both 1972 and 1973.
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 Peninsula Whips were a minor league baseball team out of Hampton, Virginia that served as the top farm club of the Montreal Expos in 1972 and 1973. Hampton hosted minor league baseball nearly every season from 1963 through 1992, but typically in the Class A Carolina League. The two-year run of the Whips in the early 70’s marked the only time that Hampton had a Class AAA ball club, just one step below the Major Leagues.
Top Whips players included pitcher Steve Rogers (’72 & ’73) and catcher Gary Carter (’73). Rogers went on to 5 All-Star selections with Expos. Carter, who played just 8 games for the Whips in 1973, was an 11-time National League All-Star who earned induction to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.
Return to the Carolina League
During the 1973 season, the Peninsula Whips drew just 48,680 fans for 70-odd home dates. In September of that year the Expos pulled out of Virginia. They shifted their Class AAA operation to Memphis, Tennessee, where that city’s Class AA club drew 113,425 in 1973 .
Hampton/Newport News wound up back to the Carolina League in 1974 with a lowly Class A co-op team known as the Peninsula Pennants.
In Memoriam
Catcher Gary Carter(Whips ’73) died on February 16th, 2012 following a battle with brain cancer. The Hall-of-Famer was 57 years old. New York Times obituary.
First baseman/outfield Hal Breeden (Whips ’72) passed away at age 76 on May 3, 2021. RIP Baseball obituary.
Links
###
One Response
I was 10 years old in the spring of 1973, living near Buffalo, NY. By 1969, Buffalo had lost a bid for a National League franchise to Montreal and its minor league team as well. The Buffalo Bisons had moved to Winnipeg and become the Whips. As a boy, I had no local professional team to follow . . . until I discovered regular Wednesday night broadcasts of Montreal Expos games (most from Jarry Park) on the CBC from Toronto. This was all before the Toronto Blue Jays and before cable TV. It was as I was gradually adopting the Expos as my team that in 1973, my half-brother, Bob, offered to drive me and my father to Rochester, New York (about 75 miles east of Buffalo) to see the Rochester Red Wings host the Peninsula Whips. The three of us went to Silver Stadium and I attended my very first professional baseball game. I don’t remember much more of that day. It was not until much later I realized I had seen the Expos AAA affiliate, and even later that I may have even seen a young Gary Carter play that day. Today, although the Montreal Expos are but a memory, I currently reside in Northern Colorado and still proudly wear the red, white and blue.