Appalachian League (1999-2003)
Tombstone
Born: 1999 – Affiliation Change from Martinsville Phillies
Moved: January 2004 (Greeneville Astros)
First Game: June 18, 1999 (W 8-7 vs. Pulaski Rangers)
Last Game: August 28, 2003 (L 5-3 vs. Elizabethton Twins)
Appalachian League Champions: 1999
Stadium
Ownership & Affiliation
Major League Affiliation: Houston Astros
Owner: Houston Astros (Drayton McLane, Jr.)
Attendance
Background
The Martinsville Astros were a Virginia-based Appalachian League farm club of the Houston Astros from 1999 to 2003. The team was owned directly by its Major League parent club.
Martinsville won the Appalachian League crown in its first season as an Astros affiliate in 1999, sweeping the Pulaski Rangers in a 2-game championship series. They returned to the finals in 2003, falling 2 games to 1 against the Elizabethton Twins.
More than a dozen Martinsville Astros players eventually advanced to the Major Leagues. The most impactful were pitchers Matt Albers (Martinsville ’02) who has 14 seasons and counting in the Show, and Wandy Rodriguez (Martinsville ’01) who won 97 games in an 11-year Big League career, spent primarily with Houston.
In January 2004, Houston moved its Appy League farm club from Martinsville to Greeneville, Tennessee. This ended the pro baseball era at Hooker Field after 16 seasons. The city now has a collegiate summer team, the Martinsville Mustangs, in the Coastal Plain League.
Appalachian League Shop
Editor's Pick
Appalachian League Baseball
Where Rookies Rise
By Allen LaMountain
Long-time Appy League beat writer Allen LaMountain wrote this exhaustive chronicle of the Rookie circuit in 2014, offering a history of each city in the circuit and profiles of dozens of the future Major League stars and Hall-of Famers who got their first taste of pro ball in places like Bluefield, Elizabethton, Johnson City and Kingsport.
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Downloads
6-23-2002 Astros vs. Bluefield Orioles Game Notes
6-23-2002 Martinsville Astros vs Bluefield Orioles Game Notes
Links
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One Response
Not the safest place for a family to sit to watch the game 🙂