Tombstone
Born: January 28, 1984 – Pioneer League expansion team
Re-Branded: 1986 (Helena Brewers)
First Game: June 22, 1984 (W 4-2 @ Billings Mustangs)
Last Game: August 29, 1986 (L 8-5 vs. Billings Mustangs)
Pioneer League Champions: 1984
Stadium
Ownership & Affiliation
Owners:
- 1984: Chuck Langerveld, David Bishop, Harry Gurley, Jim Phipps & John Freitas
- 1985-1986: Chuck Langerveld
Major League Affiliation:
- 1984: Independent
- 1985-1986: Milwaukee Brewers
Attendance
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Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (1st ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 1993
Background
The Helena Gold Sox. This is a pretty good Cinderella story. In 1984 five guys from Arizona got together and decided to form their own minor league baseball team. They decided to run the thing themselves, in every aspect. Chuck Langerveld put up the bulk of the money. David Bishop would take on sales. Harry Gurley wanted to manage the team. Jim Phipps – General Manager and assistant coach. 26-year old John Freitas wanted to play ball again, five years after the San Diego Padres cut him just 15 games into his pro career.
This type of Fantasy Baseball should have been utterly impossible. The independent baseball league boom of the 1990’s was nearly a decade away. Langerveld’s group had no cost-sharing Player Development Contract (PDC) with a Major League parent club. So they would be responsible for covering all of its own expenses and sourcing all of its own players. Fortunately for Langerveld and company, the Pioneer League was desperate. The circuit needed an eighth team to balance out their 1984 schedule after the Philadelphia Phillies cancelled their PDC with the league’s Helena, Montana club in late 1983.
1984 Independent Season
The team took the name Helena Gold Sox. The roster was comprised entirely of cast-offs that no Major League organization wanted. Naturally, the Gold Sox won the Pioneer League championship in 1984. They won the league’s North Division with a 44-24 record and then knocked off a Cincinnati Reds farm club, the Billings Mustangs, in the championship series.
John Freitas, the part-owner/player/coach, proved he could still play, hitting .330 with 5 homers and 30 RBIs. First baseman Jack Daugherty, released from the Oakland A’s organization, tore up the Pioneer League to the tune of a .402 average with 15 homers, 82 RBIs and 16 steals. After the season, the Montreal Expos purchased the contracts of Daugherty and pitcher John Trautwein. Both players eventually made it to the Major Leagues – the only two members of the 1984 Gold Sox to do so.
Milwaukee Brewers Affiliation
The Gold Sox also lost a good amount of money in 1984. The team averaged just 612 fans per game at Kindrick Legion Park. As inspiring as the Gold Sox’ championship journey had been, going it alone as an independent was not financially sustainable. Lead investor Chuck Langerveld bought out his four partners in October 1984 and signed a Player Development Contract with the Milwaukee Brewers.
The team kept the Gold Sox name for the next two seasons as a Brewers Rookie-level farm club. In 1986 the Brewers assigned both of their prized 1st round draft picks, Gary Sheffield and Greg Vaughn, to Helena. Sheffield, just 17 years old, hit .365 with 15 homers and 17 RBIs. Vaughn, 20, hit .291-15-64.
Re-Branded
Prior to the 1987 season the Gold Sox re-branded themselves as the Helena Brewers. The original Helena Brewers stayed in town through the 2000 season. After two seasons away, Milwaukee came back to Helena in 2003 and stayed for another 16 seasons until 2018.
Trivia
Team co-founder David Bishop explained the Gold Sox name to the press in January 1984, noting that gold miners often stashed gold in their socks while prospecting.
Helena Gold Sox Shop
Links
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