Fort Myers Sun Sox

Senior Professional Baseball Association (1989-1990)

Tombstone

Born: May 31, 1989 – SPBA founding franchise
Folded: December 26, 1990

First Game: November 1, 1989 (W 13-0 vs. Gold Coast Suns)
Last Game: December 19, 1990 (L 3-2 @ St. Petersburg Pelicans)

Senior League Championships: None

Stadium

Terry Park (5,000)
Opened: 1925

Ownership

Owners: Michael Graham, William Curry & J. Simpson Dean

Background

The Fort Myers Sun Sox was a franchise in the Senior Professional Baseball Association, a short-lived promotion for ballplayers 35 years of age and older, inspired in part by golf’s Senior PGA Tour. The league formed in May 1989 and debuted on November 1st of the same year. The league used current and former spring training and Florida State League ballparks for a November-February schedule.

League founder Jim Morley was a 32-year old former minor league baseball player turned real estate developer. Before marketing his senior baseball concept to investors, he sent letters to over 1,000 recently retired or released former Major Leaguers to gauge their interest in playing winter ball for $5,000 to $15,000 per month. He received hundreds of enthusiastic replies.

Sun Sox Roster

The Sun Sox hired former Baltimore Orioles 20-game winner Pat Dobson as field manager. Fort Myers’ loaded up with former top-shelf pitchers, including 20-game winners Joe Coleman, Wayne Garland and Dennis Leonard and 1981 American League Cy Young runner-up Steve McCatty. How much any of them had left in the tank was anyone’s guess. The average SPBA player on the league 1989 opening day roster was 5.21 years removed from their last Major League appearance (Fort Myers News-Press 11/2/1989).

McCatty was still just 35, the league’s minimum age. But neither Garland nor Coleman had thrown a pitch in anger in 7 years. Dick Drago was 44 years old. After pitching an October exhibition game for the Sun Sox, the 38-year old Leonard, coming off a three-year layoff, assessed his performance:

“I was as stiff as a dead dog,” Leonard told the News-Press (11/2/1989).

42-year old designated hitter Amos Otis, a five-time All-Star with Kansas City in the 1970’s, led the Sun Sox with 11 home runs. 36-year old shortstop Tim Ireland, who appeared in 11 Major League games with Kansas City in 1981 and 1982, led the entire SPBA in hitting with a .374 average.

The Sun Sox debuted to a crowd of 2,302 at Terry Park on November 1, 1989. Tim Ireland recorded the first out in league history by tagging out Rafael Landestoy of the Gold Coast Suns using the hidden ball trick in the top of the first inning,

The team made the playoffs with a 37-35 record and lost to the Bradenton Explorers in the first round. Average attendance was 1,328 fans per game for 37 openings, the second best figures in the league.

Demise

SPBA attendance and financial losses were disappointing across the league during the debut winter of 1989-90. Of the league’s eight original members, only Fort Myers and St. Petersburg returned to their ballparks for the league’s second season in November 1990. The SPBA added West Coast clubs in San Bernardino, California and Sun City, Arizona, requiring air travel for the first time. Overall, the league shrank from 8 to 6 clubs.

The SPBA’s second season was filled with ominous signposts. The top salary was cut from $15,000/month to $10,000. The ownership of the West Palm Beach Tropics, one of the league’s strongest clubs, dissolved on the eve of training camp. This force the SPBA to step in and run the team as an owner-less travel team to maintain the league’s 1990-91 schedule. During the season’s second month, in December 1990, players agreed to further emergency pay cuts.

On the day after Christmas, Sun Sox owner Michael Graham abruptly folded the team. Graham cited unsustainable losses. Down to only four remaining teams with ownership, the rest of the league followed the Sun Sox into oblivion within 24 hours. Other SPBA owners blamed Graham in the press for the sudden demise of the league, citing internal disputes between Graham and his two other partners in the Sun Sox.