Major League Affiliations:
Kansas City Athletics (1961)
Los Angeles Angeles (1962-1964)
Washington Senators (1965-1967)
Chicago White Sox (1968)]
California Angels (1969-1970)
San Diego Padres (1971-1982)
Pittsburgh Pirates (1983-1986)
Chicago White Sox (1987)

Background

At the end of the 1960 season, the leadership of the Pacific Coast League was keen to have a team in Hawaii. They were so set on the idea that they bought the Sacramento Solons franchise from that club’s owners and transferred it to Honolulu.¹⁵ This, despite the fact that no ownership group was set up for the team in the Aloha State.

Our Favorite Gear

Hawaii Islanders BASEBALL Apparel

When it comes to replica jerseys, we turn to our friends at Royal Retros, who put extraordinary detail into their fully customizable baseball jerseys, including those for the Hawaii Islanders, who played in the PCL from 1961 until 1987. Pick up T-shirts and hats as well.

Free Customization Included
Each jersey individually handmade
Any name and number
Sewn tackle twill crest, numbers & letters
100% polyester
Heavyweight fabric made to game standards
Fight strap included

Relive the early days of professional baseball in Hawaii in a great replica jersey, T-shirt, and hat from Royal Retros. Available in multiple colors and styles.

The PCL completed the purchase of the Solons on December 14, 1960. The league’s directors almost immediately boarded a plane for Honolulu to look for an owner. After four days on Oahu, a deal was hammered out with Nick Morgan, who owned the league’s Salt Lake Bees. He bought the Honolulu franchise and sold the Bees to the latter’s treasure, Walter Cosgriff.¹⁶

Play ball!

The Hawaii Islanders debuted on April 20, 1961 with a home game against the Vancouver Canadiens. The Islanders won 4-3¹⁷. The team pretty much picked up where the Solons left off, though, as they finished sixth in the eight-team PCL in 1961. In 1963, they managed a second-place finish with a record of 81-77, before plummeting to last place in 1964 and a mark of 60-98.

The club steadily improved during the rest of the ‘60s. In 1970, they won the PCL’s West Division with a record of 98-48-1, before falling to Spokane in the league’s championship series. They drew over 6,400 fans a game, almost triple what the next closest team, the Tucson Toros, managed to pull in. Though there were some ups and downs, the Islanders stayed competitive and won the league title in 1975.

Old Honolulu Stadium

New park

While the team’s winning ways continued into 1976 and a second league title, off the diamond, things weren’t going well at all. The Islanders moved into a new stadium in 1976, the shiny and cleverly designed Aloha Stadium. It was a big improvement over old Honolulu Stadium, built in 1926, and long past its prime. Indeed, the old park, nicknamed “The Termite Palace,” was demolished mere months after Aloha Stadium opened its gates for the first time.

Aloha Stadium, opened in 1975, pictured here in 2007

The only problem was the location of the new stadium. It was located in Western Honolulu, near Pearl Harbor. This was far from the team’s traditional fan base in the eastern part of town, and difficult to get to for many longtime supporters. Still, bolstered by a division championship, attendance increased 31% over the 1975 season in which the Islanders won it all. Unfortunately, the State of Hawaii, which owned the new building, would not allow the team to earn any revenue from parking, concessions, or advertisements within the stadium. This put a huge financial strain on the team, and the bills started to pile up.

On September 8, 1976, following the first game of that year’s PCL championship series against the Salt Lake City Gulls, the league cancelled the Islanders franchise.¹⁸ The series was completed, but cut from seven games to five, all played in Salt Lake City. The Islanders won the series 3-2 and appeared to have gone out in a blaze of glory. A month later, though, the team began a ticket drive. The goal was to sell 15,000 tickets at $10 a pop to the team’s 1977 home opener and thus pay off the team’s debts. It worked. A month later, Honolulu mayor Frank Fasi announced to the press that the team would be a member in good standing for the 1977 season.¹⁹

On a roll

Their winning ways continued as they rolled to their third straight appearance in the PCL championship series, with a very slight dip in attendance. The Islanders lost the series 4-2 to the Phoenix Giants.²⁰ In 1978, the Islanders fell to last place, with attendance dropping by more than half. They did bounce back in 1979, making it to the postseason four of the next six seasons, but crowds at Aloha Stadium lagged nonetheless, with just over 2,300 fans per game coming through the turnstiles.

In 1981, the team was purchased by David Elmore. He later went on to own several minor league baseball and hockey teams throughout the U.S., mostly in the West. After a three-year playoff drought that started in that same year, the Islanders returned to the postseason in 1984 and 1985, but the fans did not. A fourth-place finish in 1986 saw barely 1,000 fans per game come to 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium. Attendance improved slightly in 1987 as the team came in last in the PCL’s South Division.

On August 18, 1987, Elmore, who was losing a reported $350,000 a year on the Islanders, announced the team would be leaving Hawaii at the end of the season.²¹ At first, he eyed Salt Lake City. He also considered the California cities of Riverside, Sacramento (the original home of the franchise), and Long Beach. Colorado Springs, Colorado, was also on the list and eventually won.

The Colorado Sky Sox debuted in 1988, and while they only drew 2,400 fans per game, profit margins proved to be much better in the Mile High State. Pro baseball returned to Hawaii for a few years starting in 1993 in the form of Hawaii Winter Baseball (HWB), a four-team developmental league that played from October to December. It ceased operations after the 1997 campaign but returned for three more seasons in 2006 before calling it quits for good.

Thanks for the memories

The Islanders are still fondly remembered. Notable players included Bobby Valentine, Barry Bonds, and Tony Gwynn. Bob Lemon and Chuck Tanner spent time with the team as managers. in the broadcast booth, Al Michaels did the play-by-play from 1968 through 1970.

Links

Pacific Coast League Media Guides

Pacific Coast League Programs

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Hawaii Islanders

Tombstone

Stadium

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