Sarasota Sun Sox

Florida State League (1961-1965)

Background

In 1958, the Boston Red Sox announced they would pull their spring training operations out of Sarasota, Florida. Sarasota’s Chamber of Commerce went hunting for a new Major League tenant. The following year, Sarasota persuaded the Chicago White Sox, winners of the 1959 American League pennant, to move their spring training operations from Tampa. The Chi Sox opened their first spring training in Sarasota in March 1960.

The following year, Sarasota added a Class D minor league baseball team in the Florida State League to the city’s pro baseball portfolio. Once again, the Chamber of Commerce was the catalyst, with the Chamber’s Sports Commission, headed by Maas Brothers department store boss John Schaub, operating the minor league franchise. In 1961, the Sarasota Sun Sox were a low-level farm team of the Kansas City Athletics. But in 1962, the Chicago White Sox became the parent club of the Sun Sox, creating a neat symmetry between Sarasota’s spring training and minor league operations.

A major re-alignment of the minor leagues occurred prior to the 1963 season. The Class D classification was discarded and the Florida State League became a Class A loop for the 1963 season. Sarasota had an outstanding club that summer. The Sun Sox finished 80-42 under field manager Ira Hutchinson and won the Florida State League championship.

The Sun Sox did not produce many Major League players of note during their five season run in Sarasota. Infielder Ted Kubiak (Sun Sox ’61) and pitcher Roger Nelson (Sun Sox ’64) enjoyed the longest Major League careers of any Sarasota grads of the era, both playing in the Show from 1967 through 1976.

Move To Deerfield Beach & Aftermath

Following the 1965 season, the Sun Sox were sold and moved to Deerfield Beach, Florida on the belief that that city would construct a new ballpark to host the spring training operations of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Deerfield Beach’s ballpark plans fell through and the Sun Sox ended up moving again to Winter Haven, Florida just two months into the 1966 season.

The Florida State League eventually returned to Sarasota in 1989 with the arrival of the Sarasota White Sox. Sarasota enjoyed FSL baseball for the next 20 years, with Chicago, the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds cycling through as Major League parent clubs. The FSL left Sarasota again after the 2009 season and the city has now gone over a decade without summertime pro baseball.

Sarasota Sun Sox Shop

In Memoriam

Sun Sox owner John Schaub passed away on October 24, 2009 at age 92. Sarasota Herald-Tribune rememberance.

Links

Florida State League Programs

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