The small town of Oneonta, New York was, for over three decades, one of the first stops on the minor league ladder for the greenest of New York Yankees prospects. The O-Yanks played in the Class A New York-Penn League, playing 70-odd games each summer between June and September. Oneonta dominated the NY-Penn League from the late 1960’s until the end of the 1980’s, winning 11 championships in 23 seasons between 1968 and 1990.
The tiny upstate New York city of Little Falls (pop. 6,156 in 1980) hosted the New York Mets short-season Class A farm club from 1977 until 1988. In 1984, the Little Falls Mets won their own New York-Penn League crown, defeating the Newark Orioles in a husband-versus-wife championship series. Peter “Woody” Kern owned the Little Falls Mets while his wife Susan was the nominal owner of the Newark club.
New York-Penn League (1993) Born: 1992 – The Hamilton Redbirds relocate to Glens Falls, NY Moved: 1993 (New Jersey Cardinals) First Game: June 17, 1993
The Jamestown Expos were the short-season Class A farm club of the Montreal Expos for seventeen season from 1977 to 1993. Montreal also operated an earlier New York-Penn League farm club out of Jamestown’s Russell Diethrick Park from 1971 to 1973, known as the Jamestown Falcons/Expos. Jamestown was a typical stop for first and second year minor leaguers in the Expos’ farm system. Teenage high school draft picks and recent college players transitioned to the pro game via the NYPL’s abbreviated 72-game season that ran from late June to early September each summer. The club moved to Burlington, Vermont in late 1993.
The Geneva Cubs were the short-season Class A farm club of the Chicago Cubs for nearly two decades. The small city of approximately 13,000 is part of the Finger Lakes region of New York. Local owner Paul Velte moved the team to Williamsport, Pennsylvania after the 1993 season.
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