Tombstone
Born: December 22, 1953 – Re-branded from Hagerstown Braves
Folded: Winter 1955
First Game: April 22, 1954 (L 7-4 @ Lynchburg Cardinals)
Last Game: September 12, 1955 (W 5-4, L 6-2 vs. Lancaster Red Roses)
Piedmont League Championships: None
Stadium
Ownership & Affiliation
Owner: Gene Raney
Major League Affiliation: Washington Senators
Attendance
Background
The Hagerstown Packets were a farm team of the American League’s Washington Senators in 1954 and 1955. The Packets played in the Piedmont League (1920-1955), a Class B loop that included team from Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The Packets followed on the heels of the Hagerstown Braves (1950-1953) and the Owls (1941-1949) at the city’s Municipal Stadium, opened in 1930.
Two players from the Packets teams of 1954 and 1955 ultimately advanced to the Major Leagues and they were good ones to boot.
19-year old pitcher Pedro Ramos went 4-2 for Hagerstown in 1954. He made it to Washington the following summer and won 117 games in a 16-year Major League career that ended in 1970.
20-year old Bob Allison made his pro baseball debut with the 1955 Packets squad. The slugging outfielder later belted 30 home runs for the Senators in 1959 en route to the American League Rookie-of-the-Year award. He eventually moved with the Senators to Minnesota in 1961, where he continued his All-Star calibre play. Bob Allison, who passed away in 1995, is a member of the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame.
Both the Hagerstown Packets and the Piedmont League itself went out of business after the 1955 season.
Pro baseball returned to Hagerstown in 1981 with the arrival of the Suns of the Carolina League in 1981.
Trivia
On April 9, 1955, Hagerstown’s Municipal Stadium played host a Major League exhibition game between the Cincinnati Redlegs and the Packets’ parent club, the Washington Senators. Local fans saw Redlegs starting pitcher Joe Nuxhall smash a second inning grand slam. But homers by Roy Sievers, Eddie Yost and Steve Korcheck led the Sens to an 11-5 victory.
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