Tombstone
Born: 1993 – Northern League founding franchise
Moved: 1994 (Winnipeg Goldeyes)
First Game: June 15, 1993 (L 6-5 vs. Sioux City Explorers)
Last Game: September 10, 1993 (L 13-0 @ St. Paul Saints)
Northern League Championships: None
Stadium
Mayo Field (2,500)11993 Rochester Aces Program
Ownership & Affiliation
Owner: Charles Sanders
Major League Affiliation: Independent
Attendance
The Aces ranked last in the Northern League attendance charts during their only season of play.
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Source: 2008 Northern League Media Guide & Record Book
Background
We’re talking Rochester, Minnesota today, not New York. The Rochester Aces were one of six original franchises that launched independent baseball’s Northern League during the summer of 1993. Three of these clubs – the St. Paul Saints (now the triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins), the Sioux City Explorers and the Sioux Falls Canaries – are still around today, nearly three decades later. But the Aces saw the weakest community response of the original six and lasted just a single season in Minnesota’s third-largest city.
On The Field
On the field, the Aces were quite good. Under field manager Doug Simunic, the Aces won the Northern League’s first half with a 21-15 record. That earned the Aces a trip to the league playoffs where they faced the St. Paul Saints, winner’s of the league’s second half, in a best-of-five championship series in September 1993. The Saints took the series in four games.
Notable players included:
- Outfielder Kash Beauchamp led the Northern League in batting (.367) in 1993 and earned a minor league deal with the Cincinnati Reds before the season’s end
- Pitcher Jeff Bittiger spent parts of four seasons in the Majors from 1986-1989, including a brief stint with the Twins in 1987
- Outfield Curt Ford played six years in the Majors from 1985-1990 and hit .308 in the 1987 World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals
The Aces’ best success story – though it would take years to play out – was 25-year old pitcher Mike Garcia. A former Detroit Tigers farmhand, Garcia (9-2, 2.95 ERA) finished second in the Northern League in wins in 1993. After spending the late 1990’s pitching in Taiwan, Garcia debuted in the Majors with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1999 as a 30-year old rookie. He spent parts of two seasons with Pittsburgh, ultimately pitching in 20 games in 1999 and 2000.
After the 1993 season, the Aces were sold and relocated to Winnipeg, Manitoba. The former Aces franchise, now known as the Winnipeg Goldeyes, remains active in independent baseball today as a member of the American Association.
Voices
“Rochester has two major employers – the hospital (Mayo Clinic) and IBM. We could not get either one to support us. We could not get anything going with the Mayo Clinic and I had been told that IBM’s plant there was immune to layoffs. But when we came in, (IBM) had a large layoff. To be fair, they couldn’t entertain their employees after such a large layoff.”
– Charles Sanders, Aces Owner 1993 (1995 St. Cloud Times interview)2Killeen, Mike. “Lesson to be learned from Rochester’s folding Aces”. The Times (St. Cloud, MN). May 27, 1995
Rochester Aces Shop
Downloads
1993 Rochester Aces Operating Budget
1993 Rochester Aces Budget
Links
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2 Responses
Did any other leagues break the season in two in oder to determine who played for the League championship??
Graham – This is a very common system in American minor league baseball dating back to at least the mid-20th century. Many leagues split their summer schedule into 1st Half and 2nd half seasons. In smaller leagues (like the Northern League of 1993), the 1st half winner often meets the 2nd half winner in a championship playoff. But if the same team wins both halves, no playoffs are held and that team is declared champion.
In larger leagues, additional teams may qualify for playoffs based on 2nd place finishes or overall record. And thus there are multiple playoff rounds in that scheme.