Jacksonville Suns

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Jacksonville Suns

Location:	Jacksonville, Florida
Established:	1962
MLB Affiliation:	Florida Marlins
League:	Southern League
Level:	AA
Ballpark:	Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville
Championships:	4 (1968, 1996, 2001, 2005)
Division Titles:
Wild Card:

The Jacksonville Suns are a Minor League Baseball team that plays in Jacksonville, Florida. The team is a member of the Southern League, and the Class AA affiliate of the Florida Marlins.

1 Franchise History
2 Major League Affiliations
3 Franchise Names
4 Notable Alumni
5 Notable Red Sox Who Played Here
6 External Links
7 See Also

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Franchise History

In the past the Suns have been affiliated with the Kansas City Royals (1972-1984), the Montreal Expos (1985-1990), the Seattle Mariners (1991-1994), and the Detroit Tigers (1994-2000).

The team plays at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, an 11,000-person capacity park that opened in 2003.

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Here come the Suns! 1961-1970

The Cleveland Indians moved their International League team to the city in 1962 and the Suns were born. The Suns were affiliated with the Indians for two seasons, including in 1963 when Tommy John pitched. (He later won 288 major league games.) With Geraghty, who had been skipper of the Braves' Louisville Colonels AAA affiliate the previous year, brought back to manage in 1962, the Suns won 94 games and the regular-season pennant, but dropped the playoffs in seven games to the Atlanta Crackers. But Geraghty died suddenly from a heart attack on June 18, 1963, and the Suns fell to last place that season.

The St. Louis Cardinals were the Suns’ parent club in 1964-65. The 1964 Suns, managed by Harry "The Hat" Walker, captured the regular-season pennant. From 1966-68, the New York Mets took over the affiliation. The Mets brought Jacksonville two Hall of Fame pitchers – Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver – and its first franchise Championship in 1968. But the Mets were lured away from Wolfson Park by a new ballpark in Norfolk, Va., after the season; and for 1969, Jacksonville was without a professional baseball team for the first time since World War II.

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The Southern League 1971-2002

The Southern League welcomed Jacksonville in 1970, where the team has played since. It is the longest consecutive association of any city with a Class AA league. Jacksonville owns the SL record for most playoff appearances, 14, but until 1996, the team had not captured a Southern League Championship. It remains the team’s 2nd outright league championship, though the Suns have reached the series finals 10 times.

Membership has its privileges and the Suns were treated to a good pipeline of talent from the Kansas City Royals. The Royals became the Suns’ in 1972 and remained through 1984. Suns teams marched their way to five Championship Series with the Royals as their parent club. Two future big league managers used Jacksonville as a stepping stone: Billy Gardner Sr., (1972-74) and Gene Lamont (1980-83). Both won Manager of the Year awards: Gardner in 1973 and Lamont in 1982.

A new owner purchased the Suns in 1985 and the team became an affiliate of the Montreal Expos, changing the team name to the Jacksonville Expos from 1985-1990.

In 1991, the Suns signed a four-year agreement with the Seattle Mariners. Although the team finished over .500 only once during this period, the team had a number of individuals who performed well and later went on to the Major Leagues. Alex Rodriguez, Bret Boone, Mike Hampton and Chris Widger are among those who left Jacksonville and played in the Major Leagues.

Seattle left for Wilmington, N.C., after the 1994 season and the Suns began a six-year run as an affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. Things started to look brighter for the Suns future as Tigers' farm hands brought the Suns within one out of the playoffs in 1995 and then swept through the Southern League in 1996. The Suns captured both the first and second half championships before beating the Carolina Mudcats for the Eastern Division title and the Chattanooga Lookouts for their 2nd Championship. The Suns nearly won its third title in 1998. After winning the first half and owning the top record in the minor leagues, the Suns swept Knoxville in the first round of the playoffs before losing to Mobile in the finals.

And until 2008, the Dodgers. Following the 2000 season, the Tigers left for Erie, Pa., and the Suns signed a four-year agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Playing as an affiliate to one of the most storied franchises in all of professional sports, the Suns got off to a blazing start as they stormed to the first half crown in 2001. The Suns advanced to the finals, but because of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Southern League cancelled the games and declared the Suns and the Huntsville Stars co-champions. This was the Suns third Championship. The Suns reached the finals again in 2002, but were swept by the Birmingham Barons in three games.

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Better Jacksonville Plan 2003 - Present

The Suns began a new chapter in 2003 with the opening of the $34 million Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. The facility, built by Jacksonville taxpayers as part of the Better Jacksonville Plan, housed a franchise-record 359,979 fans in its inaugural season and surpassed that mark in year two, drawing 420,495 through the gates. The Suns welcomed the 1,000,000th fan to the Baseball Grounds in just its fourth season and have led the Southern League in attendance each of those years.

Since the opening of the Baseball Grounds in 2003, the crowning achievement has been the Suns latest Southern League Championship in 2005. Led by two-time Southern League Manager of the Year John Shoemaker, the Suns stormed through the regular season and the Southern League playoffs while earning Baseball America's coveted Minor League Team of the Year honors. Behind current major leaguers Russell Martin, Chad Billinglsey, Jonathan Broxton and James Loney, along with top prospects Joel Guzman and Andy LaRoche, the Suns put together one of the greatest single teams in Jacksonville Baseball history en route to a memorable championship.

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