Tag: Jack Farnsworth

Gastonia Expos

November 26, 2020

Gastonia, North Carolina hosted a Class A farm club of the Montreal Expos for two summers in 1983 and 1984. The 1983 Gastonia Expos won the South Atlantic League championship yet that year’s club would not produce a single player who made it to the Major Leagues.. After Montreal pulled out following the 1984 season, long-time owner Jack Farnsworth was forced to change the clubs name to the Gastonia Jets and play the 1985 South Atlantic League season without Major League support.

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Shelby Mets

November 17, 2020

South Atlantic League (1980) Born: 1979 – Affiliation change from Shelby Pirates Moved: 1983 (Columbia Mets) First Game: April 9, 1981 (L 3-0 @ Asheville Tourists)

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Gastonia Jets

October 21, 2020

The Gastonia Jets were a minor league baseball One-Year Wonder in the Class A South Atlantic League. The team formed out of necessity when Gastonia owner Jack Farnsworth was unable to secure a Major League parent club for the 1985 season. After a last place finish as the Jets in 1985, the team became the Gastonia Tigers in 1986 when Detroit agreed to take the Farnsworth’s club into its farm system.

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1978 Gastonia Cardinals Baseball Program from the Western Carolinas League

Gastonia Cardinals

March 2, 2020

Gastonia, North Carolina was a steady outpost of minor league baseball throughout the 1960’s and into the early 1970’s. Future Major League stars such as Dave Cash, Mike Hargrove and Al Oliver put in time at Gastonia’s Sims Legion Park during those years. But poor lighting at the ballpark drove away both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Texas Rangers organizations. After two summers without baseball in 1975 and 1976, city leaders committed to renovations of Sims Park. The St. Louis Cardinals agreed to establish a Class A farm club in the city for the spring of 1977. Gastonia remained a Cardinals farm club through the end of the 1982 South Atlantic League season.

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