Manchester Yankees

Eastern League (1969-1971)

Tombstone

Born: January 31, 1969 – The Binghamton Triplets relocate to Manchester, NH
Moved: 1971 (West Haven Yankees)

First Game: April 20, 1969 (L 5-3 @ Waterbury Indians)
Last Game: September 6, 1971 (L 3-2 @ Pawtucket Red Sox)

Eastern League Championships: None

Stadium

Gill Stadium (6,800)¹

Dimensions (1969): Left: 320′, Center: 380′, Right: 320′²

Ownership & Affiliations

Owners:

1969-1970: John Alevizos
1970-1971: Ron Duke & Ken Cail Sr.

Major League Affiliation: New York Yankees

Attendance

First to worst: Manchester debuted in the Eastern League with the highest announced attendance in the circuit in 1969, but finished last in the turnstile charts in 1970 and 1971.

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Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 2007

Background

Binghamton, New York was the long-time home of a New York Yankees farm club in the Eastern League. That city’s “Triplets” club developed Yankees farm hands from 1932 to 1961 and again from 1965 to 1968. But after the 1968 season, Binghamton’s ballpark was demolished to make way for a highway construction project and a hoped-for new stadium did not materialize. As a result, the Yankees and the Eastern League agreed to move their club to Manchester, New Hampshire’s Gill Stadium in late January 1969.

Prospects

New York sent few strong prospects to Manchester during the team’s three-year existence. The most notable players were outfielder Ron Blomberg (Manchester ’69) and pitcher Doc Medich (Manchester ’70). Ron Blomberg (Manchester ’69) became the first Major League player to appear in the newly created designated hitter role in April 1973 as a member of the Yankees. Medich, though he went 0-5 for Manchester in 1970, would ultimately win 124 Major League games in a career that would last until 1982.

Manchester was a weak entry in the Eastern League standings as well. The finished 5th place in the six-team loop in 1969 and 1970. When the EL expanded to eight teams and two division in 1971, Manchester finished last place in the newly formed American Division. The team never had a winning season.

Weak Support & Move to Connecticut

Manchester’s home opener in April 1969 drew a blockbuster crowd of 7,646 to Gill Stadium. But attendance cooled quickly. By August of the same year, club owner John Alevizos, and Massachusetts real estate developer and professor at Boston University, was threatening to move the franchise due to weak support.

During the 1970 season, the Boston Red Sox hired Manchester owner John Alevizos into a Vice President’s role in their Major League front office. The move caused Alevizos to unload his Eastern League club to new owner Ron Duke and Ken Cail in midseason.

In 1971, the team’s final year in Manchester, the Yanks drew a miserable 29,000 fans for a 70-game home slate. Owner Ron Duke moved the club to West Haven, Connecticut shortly after the 1971 season, where Yanks won the Eastern League championship and drew over 100,000 fans in 1972.