Savannah Sand Gnats

South Atlantic League (1996-2015)

Tombstone

Born: 1995 – Re-branded from Savannah Cardinals
Move Announced: May 21, 2015 (Columbia Fireflies)

First Game:
Last Game: September 12, 2015 (L 2-1 vs. Asheville Tourists)

South Atlantic League Champions: 1996 & 2013

Stadium

Grayson Stadium (8,000)
Opened: 1926

Ownership & Affiliation

Owners:

1996-2005: ?
2005-2008: John Simmons
2008-2015: Hardball Capital (Jason Freier, et al.), Scott Polhemus & Grant Morain

Major League Affiliations:

1996-1997: Los Angeles Dodgers
1998-2002: Texas Rangers
2003-2004: Montreal Expos
2005-2006: Washington Nationals
2007-2015: New York Mets

Background

Savannah, Georgia’s Grayson Stadium was a consistent stop on the South Atlantic League minor league baseball loop for over three decades from 1984 through 2015. The club was known as the Savannah Cardinals for its first decade of operations. But when the St. Louis Cardinals withdrew as Savannah’s parent club following the 1995 season, a change of name was in order.

“Sand Gnats” beat out four other finalists – Hammerheads, Sea Turtles, Shadows and Thrashers – in a community poll in late 1995 (Atlanta Constitution 4/28/1996). The Los Angeles Dodgers took over as the Sand Gnats’ first parent club, but the team would cycle through five different Major League affiliations over the next 20 decade before settling in to a relatively stable partnership with the New York Mets in 2007.

The franchise moved to Columbia, South Carolina in 2016 following the unsuccessful efforts of two successive Sand Gnats ownership groups to secure public funds for construction of a new ballpark in Savannah.