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64-710: The Sugar Kings began life in 1946 as the Havana Cubans , founded by Washington Senators scout Joe Cambria . That year, they (rather than a Cuban League side) represented Cuba at the inaugural Interamerican Series , the predecessor to the modern Caribbean Series . Led by manager Oscar Rodriguez, the Cubans experienced tremendous success both on and off the field. Havana finished first in Class C (later Class B) Florida International League in each of their first five seasons of play, winning over 100 games twice and compiling

128-593: A double and, then proceeded to score the winning run when Earl McNeely hit a ground ball that took another bad hop over Lindstrom's head. It was the only World Series triumph for the franchise during their 60-year tenure in Washington. The Senators repeated as American League champions in 1925 but lost the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates . After Johnson's retirement in 1927 ,

192-583: A wild card team, the team with the best second-place record, qualified for the playoffs. The best-of-five semifinals pitted the North Division winner against the wild card team, and the South and West Division winners against each other. The winners then played in a best-of-five round to determine the champion. The last team to win the championship this way was the Columbus Clippers , who won

256-706: A 99–53 record and swept to the pennant seven games ahead of the Yankees. But the Senators lost the World Series to the Giants in five games, and after that, the city would not host another World Series until 2019 , when the Washington Nationals , its current National League team, defeated the Houston Astros . The Senators sank all the way to seventh in 1934 . Attendance plunged as well, and after

320-729: A franchise-record 313,232 fans, again second to Toronto. However, the Sugar Kings were eliminated by the Maple Leafs in the Governors' Cup playoffs. The next three seasons were less successful, as Havana finished with identical 72-82 records in 1956-57, finishing in sixth place both years. In 1957, attendance cratered to 84,320, less than half that of any other IL club. However, despite a franchise-worse 65-88 record and last-place finish in 1958, attendance rebounded to 178,000. In 1959, led by future major league manager Preston Gómez ,

384-547: A prolonged process that resulted in his rejecting the Twin Cities' first offer before agreeing to relocate. The American League opposed the move at first, but in 1960 , in the face of the Continental League 's proposed Minnesota franchise, a deal was reached. The Senators moved and were replaced with an expansion Washington Senators team for 1961 . The old Washington Senators became the new Minnesota Twins ;

448-449: A record of 474-249 in five years under Rodriguez. The overall record would be even better had Havana not been stripped of 17 wins in 1946 for having too many experienced players for their class. Nonetheless, the Cubans still had the league's top record even without the victories. Havana then won consecutive FIL championships in 1947 and 1948. The 1947 Cubans were recognized as one of the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time . The team

512-711: A single playoff game between the East and West division winners. Beginning with the 2023 season, the league adopted a split season format, in which the league championship is determined by a best-of-three playoff series between the winners of each half of the season, with the winner meeting the champion of the Pacific Coast League in the Triple-A National Championship Game . The Rochester Red Wings have won 19 International League championships, more than any other team, followed by

576-515: A time, from 1911 to 1933, the Senators were one of the more successful franchises in Major League Baseball . The team's rosters included Baseball Hall of Fame members Goose Goslin , Sam Rice , Joe Cronin , Bucky Harris , Heinie Manush and one of the greatest players and pitchers of all time, Walter Johnson . But the Senators are remembered more for their many years of mediocrity and futility, including six last-place finishes in

640-546: The American League declared itself a major league in 1901 , the new league moved the previous minor Western League 's Kansas City Blues franchise to Washington, a city that had been abandoned by the older National League a year earlier. The new Washington club, like the old one, was called the "Senators" (the second of three franchises to hold the name). Jim Manning moved with the Kansas City club to manage

704-621: The COVID-19 pandemic , the league was known as the Triple-A East in 2021 before reverting to the International League moniker in 2022. A league champion has been determined at the end of each season. With few exceptions, champions from 1884 to 1932 were simply the regular-season pennant winners—the team with the best win–loss record at the conclusion of the regular championship season. The first league champions were

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768-589: The Columbus Clippers (11) and the Baltimore Orioles , original Buffalo Bisons , and Toronto Maple Leafs (10). Among active IL franchises, Rochester has won 19 championships, the most of all teams, followed by Columbus (11) and the Durham Bulls and Syracuse Mets (8). During the era of the Governors' Cup playoffs from 1933 to 2020, the most cup titles were won by Columbus (11), followed by Rochester (10) and Syracuse (8). The International League

832-802: The Columbus Jets 4-0 and defeated the Richmond Virginians 4-2 to win the Governors' Cup . They then took on the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association in the Junior World Series . After two games with small crowds and frigid conditions at Metropolitan Stadium , the decision was made to move the balance of the series to Havana. On their home turf, the Sugar Kings took the series

896-693: The Devil and becomes slugger Joe Hardy, the "long ball hitter the Senators need that he'd sell his soul for" (as spoken by him in a throwaway line near the beginning of the drama). His hitting prowess enables the Senators to win the American League pennant over the then-dominant Yankees. One of the songs from the musical, "Heart", is frequently played at baseball games. The (expansion) Washington Senators were mentioned several times in Tom Clancy's book Without Remorse . As they performed even worse than

960-545: The Trenton Trentonians , who won by four games over the Lancaster Ironsides in 1884. The 1891 and 1892 seasons were contested as split seasons or "double seasons". Under this format, the schedule was split into two parts. The team with the best record at the end of the first season won the first pennant. Standings were then reset so that all clubs had clean records to begin the second season. If

1024-439: The "Big Train", won 417 games and struck out 3,508 batters, a major-league record that stood for more than 50 years. In 1911 , the Senators' wooden ballpark burned to the ground, and they replaced it with a modern concrete-and-steel structure on the same location. First called National Park, it later was renamed Griffith Stadium , after the man who was named Washington manager in 1912 and whose name became almost synonymous with

1088-518: The "Grifs" during Clark Griffith 's tenure as manager during 1912 – 1920 ). The name "Nationals" appeared on the uniforms for only two seasons, and then was replaced with the "W" logo. However, the names "Senators," "Nationals" and shorter "Nats" were used interchangeably by fans and media throughout the team's history; in 2005 , the latter two names were revived for the current National League franchise that had previously played in Montreal . For

1152-505: The 1940s and 1950s. Joe Judge , Cecil Travis , Buddy Myer , Roy Sievers and Eddie Yost were other notable Senators players whose careers were spent in obscurity due to the team's lack of success. The Washington Senators had an overall win–loss record of 4,223–4,864–101 (.465) during their 60 years in Washington, D.C.. Six former Washington Senators players were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame . When

1216-768: The 1953 season, the Springfield Cubs folded, leaving an opening in the Triple-A International League. Maduro moved his franchise to the IL and renamed it the Sugar Kings. After playing the 1954 season as an independent club, the franchise signed an agreement with the Cincinnati Reds for the 1955 season and the Sugar Kings became Cincinnati's top farm club for the remainder of their existence. In addition to Reds prospects, several talented Cuban players and other Latinos who eventually made it to

1280-691: The 1961 season, then folded due to poor attendance. The franchise was then sold to a Florida group from Jacksonville and became the Jacksonville Suns , who began play in the International League in 1962. That franchise moved to Portsmouth, Virginia , in 1969 and became the Tidewater Tides , and remains in that region as the Norfolk Tides . In February 1987, the Miami City Commission voted unanimously in favor of

1344-488: The 2022 season, MLB renamed the Triple-A East the International League, and it carried on the history of the IL prior to reorganization. Rather than hold playoffs for its championship, the Triple-A East's 2021 title was awarded to the team with the best regular-season record. The Durham Bulls won this championship by four-and-a-half games ahead of the Buffalo Bisons . Along with these changes, all references to

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1408-400: The Governors' Cup as the championship of the International League were discontinued and a different trophy was awarded. In 2022, the league was reorganized in East and West Divisions. Under this alignment, the winners of each division met in a single game to determine the league champion. Beginning in 2023, the regular-season was split into two halves, and the winners of each half meet in

1472-538: The International League held an interleague partnership with the American Association , called the Triple-A Alliance , in which they played an interlocking schedule, and the leagues' champions met in the Triple-A Classic . During this period, the IL was divided into East and West Divisions, and the division winners faced off in a best-of-five series to determine champions. After the dissolution of

1536-563: The Major Leagues donned the Sugar Kings uniform, including Luis Arroyo , Pompeyo Davalillo , Tony González , Cookie Rojas , Elio Chacón , Danny Morejón , Preston Gómez , Leo Cárdenas , and Mike Cuellar . In their inaugural season at the Triple-A level, the Sugar Kings drew 295,453 fans despite a fifth-place finish, second behind only pennant-winning Toronto . The next season, Havana won 87 games, their most in IL play, and drew

1600-553: The Senators and the minor leagues for the next few years. He became the Senators' regular third baseman in 1959 , leading the League with 42 home runs and earning a starting spot on the American League All-Star team. Clark Griffith died in 1955 , and his nephew and adopted son Calvin took over the team presidency. He sold Griffith Stadium to the city of Washington and leased it back, leading to speculation that

1664-473: The Senators endured a few losing seasons until returning to contention in 1930 , this time with Johnson as manager. But after the Senators finished third in 1931 and 1932 , behind powerful Philadelphia and New York, Griffith fired Johnson, a victim of high expectations. For his new manager in 1933 , Griffith returned to the formula that worked for him in 1924, and 26-year-old shortstop Joe Cronin became player-manager. The change worked, as Washington posted

1728-623: The Senators settled back into mediocrity. Griffith, frustrated with the owners' penny-pinching, bought a controlling interest in the team in 1920 and stepped down as field manager a year later to focus on his duties as team president. The minority interest was owned by William Richardson, who was content to remain in the background. The shares passed to his twin brother George on his death in 1942, and then to George's son William Richardson II in 1948. William Richardson II sold his shares to an unrelated party in 1949. In 1924 , Griffith named 27-year-old second baseman Bucky Harris player-manager. Led by

1792-495: The Series at three games apiece and force Game 7. The Senators trailed the Giants 3–1 in the eighth inning of Game 7, when Bucky Harris hit a routine ground ball to third which hit a pebble and took a bad hop over Giants third baseman Freddie Lindstrom . Two runners scored on the play, tying the score at three. In the ninth inning with the game tied, 3–3, Harris brought in an aging Johnson to pitch on just one day of rest – he had been

1856-525: The Sugar Kings rebounded to finish 80-73, finishing third in the IL standings. Amid revolution in Cuba that saw Fidel Castro rise to power, the Sugar Kings did not escape the turmoil. The most notable incident occurred on the night of July 25 in a home game against the Rochester Red Wings . As the game dragged on into extra innings, the clock passed midnight to the 26th, marking the anniversary of

1920-467: The Triple-A Alliance following the 1991 season, the International League maintained this divisional alignment but returned to having a semifinal round wherein the top two teams in each division played each other to qualify for the Governors' Cup finals. The league was split into three divisions, North, South, and West, from 1998 to 2020. Under this arrangement, the three division winners and

1984-574: The United States at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball . A champion has been determined at the end of each season since the league was formed in 1884. Through 1932, champions were usually the regular-season pennant winners—the team with the best win–loss record at the conclusion of the season. From 1933 to 2020, postseason playoffs were held to determine champions. Participants from 1933 to 1987 were usually

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2048-683: The Washington Hall of Stars display at Nationals Park (previously they were listed at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium ). So are Ossie Bluege , George Case , Joe Judge , George Selkirk , Roy Sievers , Cecil Travis , Mickey Vernon and Eddie Yost . The Senators did not retire any numbers during their tenure in Washington D.C., though have had two players who played for the franchise in both Washington and Minnesota retired, that being Harmon Killebrew's #3, who played in Washington for seven seasons and Jim Kaat's #36, who played in Washington for two seasons. The longtime competitive struggles of

2112-465: The addition of a talented 19-year-old pitcher named Walter Johnson in 1907 . Raised in rural Kansas , Johnson was a tall, lanky man with long arms who, using a leisurely windup and unusual sidearm delivery, threw the ball faster than anyone had ever seen. Johnson's breakout year was 1910 , when he struck out 313 batters, posted an earned-run average of 1.36 and won 25 games for a losing ball club. Over his 21-year Hall of Fame career, Johnson, nicknamed

2176-603: The ball club: Clark Griffith . A star pitcher with the National League's Chicago Colts in the 1890s, Griffith jumped to the AL in 1901 and became a successful manager with the Chicago White Sox and New York Highlanders . Walter Johnson blossomed in 1911 with 25 victories, although the Senators still finished the season in seventh place. In 1912 , the Senators improved dramatically, as their pitching staff led

2240-490: The beginning of the Cuban Revolution . Celebratory gunfire outside the ballpark grazed Cincinnati shortstop Leo Cardenas and third base coach Frank Verdi , who both sustained minor injuries. Rochester pulled their team off the field and left Cuba, cancelling the final game of the series. However, the Sugar Kings were allowed to finish out their schedule and returned to the postseason. In the playoffs, Havana swept

2304-406: The best-of-five. The IL utilized a divisional alignment for the first time in 1963. The first-place teams from each division, North and South, met in the first round, as did the second-place teams, with the winners meeting in the finals. The circuit reverted to having no divisions in 1964 but returned to the same playoff format with North and South Divisions for 1973 and 1974. From 1988 to 1991,

2368-476: The butt of many nationwide jokes during the 1950s, with the debut and running of a Broadway musical play in 1955 in New York City called " Damn Yankees " (based on an earlier best-selling novel and later movie in 1958), which followed a hapless elderly D.C. fan being given a "Faustian" or "devil's bargain," selling his soul to transform the team by becoming a young powerful new Senators player (played in

2432-468: The complexion around the nation's capital for the rest of the 1950s as the new " Baltimore Orioles " swiftly built their team prospects with astute trades and farm system output during the rest of the decade, finally becoming pennant contenders by 1960 . They continued their winning ways as one of the most dominant teams in professional baseball for the next two decades overpowering even the hapless third Senators franchise in 1961–1971. The Senators were also

2496-604: The distance, rallying to walk off in Game 7 to take the series 4-3. The five games in Havana drew 100,000 people. In 1960, Castro nationalized all U.S.-owned enterprises in Cuba, and on July 8, Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick (under pressure from Secretary of State Christian Herter ) announced that the Sugar Kings would move to Jersey City, New Jersey , and became the Jersey City Jerseys . They lasted only through

2560-728: The expansion Senators would become the Texas Rangers in 1972 , and baseball would not return to the city until 2005 , when the former Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals . Stan Coveleski Joe Cronin Ed Delahanty Rick Ferrell Lefty Gomez Goose Goslin * Clark Griffith * Bucky Harris * Whitey Herzog Walter Johnson * Heinie Manush * Sam Rice * Al Simmons George Sisler Tris Speaker Early Wynn Cronin, Goslin, Griffith, Harris, Johnson, Killebrew and Wynn are listed on

2624-528: The first Senators team. The Senators began their history as a consistently losing team, at times so inept that San Francisco Chronicle columnist Charley Dryden famously joked, "Washington: First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League," a play on the famous line in Henry Lee III 's eulogy for President George Washington as "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen". The 1904 Senators lost 113 games, and

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2688-433: The first and fourth-place teams and a series between the second and third-place teams. The winners of these semifinals then faced one another for the championship in a best-of-seven series. The first Governors' Cup was won in 1933 by the original Buffalo Bisons, who defeated the Rochester Red Wings , 4–2. Sporadically from 1966 to 1980, one or both rounds were reduced to best-of-five series. From 1981 to 2020, both rounds were

2752-511: The first season, four games to two. In 1932, the Newark Bears became the last team to win the championship by virtue of winning the regular-season pennant before a recurring series of playoffs were instituted. Frank Shaughnessy , general manager of the International League's Montreal Royals , was interested in developing a way for multiple clubs to share in the excitement of postseason play. His new playoff format , devised to maintain

2816-409: The four teams with the highest winning percentages . From 1988 to 2020, the four qualifiers were the division winners and one or two wild card teams. The winner of each season's playoffs was awarded the Governors' Cup . These playoffs and the issuing of trophy were discontinued in 2021, when the winner was the team with the best regular-season record. In 2022, the league championship was determined by

2880-466: The hitting of Goose Goslin and Sam Rice , and a solid pitching staff headlined by the 36-year-old Johnson, the Senators captured their first American League pennant, two games ahead of Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees. The Senators faced John McGraw 's heavily favored New York Giants in the 1924 World Series . Despite Johnson losing both of his starts, the Senators kept pace to tie

2944-504: The interest of fans and players alike during the Great Depression , provided an opportunity for four teams to compete for the league's championship. In 1933, he introduced his plan to league president Charles H. Knappe, and the result was the Governors' Cup playoffs. Several other leagues noticed the success of the "Shaughnessy Plan" and began using the system as well. The governors of Maryland , New Jersey , and New York and

3008-467: The last Governors' Cup in 2019. The 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The International League ceased operations before the 2021 season in conjunction with Major League Baseball 's (MLB) reorganization of Minor League Baseball . In place of the International League, MLB created the Triple-A East, a circuit divided into three divisions, Northeast, Midwest, and Southeast. Prior to

3072-570: The league in team earned run average and in strikeouts . Johnson won 33 games while teammate Bob Groom added another 24 wins to help the Senators finish the season in second place behind the Boston Red Sox . The Senators continued to perform respectably in 1913 with Johnson posting a career-high 35 victories, as the team once again finished in second place, this time to the Philadelphia Athletics . Starting in 1916 ,

3136-411: The lieutenant governors of the provinces of Quebec and Ontario , in which the league's eight teams were located at the time, sponsored a trophy to be awarded annually to the winner of the International League playoffs. The original trophy, designed by the supervisor of the league's umpires and silversmith W. B. Carpenter, was created out of solid silver. In 1988, IL president Harold Cooper donated

3200-406: The losing pitcher in Game 5. Johnson held the Giants scoreless into extra innings. In the bottom of the 12th inning, Muddy Ruel hit a high foul ball near home plate . The Giants' catcher, Hank Gowdy , dropped his protective face mask to field the ball but, failing to toss the mask aside, stumbled over it and dropped the ball, thus giving Ruel another chance to bat. On the next pitch , Ruel hit

3264-413: The movie version by heart-throb leading-man actor Tab Hunter ) and lead the lowly team to a pennant versus the Yankees. In 1954, Senators farm system director Ossie Bluege signed a 17-year-old Harmon Killebrew . Because of his $ 30,000 signing bonus, an enormous amount for that time, baseball rules required Killebrew to spend the rest of 1954 with the Senators as a "bonus baby." Killebrew bounced between

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3328-411: The next season the team's owners, trying for a fresh start, changed the team's name to the "Nationals" (and occasionally nicknamed the "Nats"). However, the "Senators" name remained widely used by fans and journalists — in fact, the two names were used interchangeably — although "Nats" remained the team's nickname. The Senators name was officially restored in 1956 . The club continued to lose, despite

3392-491: The renaming Miami Stadium in honor of Bobby Maduro, who had migrated to USA. The ballpark became known officially as Bobby Maduro Miami Stadium one month later. On May 17, 2021, The Miami Marlins unveiled a new alternate uniform which pays homage to the old Sugar Kings uniform. Washington Senators (1901%E2%80%9360) The Washington Senators were a Major League Baseball team based in Washington, D.C. . It

3456-544: The same team won both seasons, they were declared the league champion. This was the case in 1891 when the original Buffalo Bisons won both halves. If a different team won the second season, the two winners would meet in a playoff series to determine the champion. This happened in 1892 when the Binghamton Bingoes , winners of the second season, defeated the Providence Clamdiggers , winners of

3520-464: The season Griffith traded Cronin to the Red Sox for journeyman shortstop Lyn Lary and $ 225,000 in cash (even though Cronin was married to Griffith's niece, Mildred). Despite the return of Harris as manager in 1935–42 and 1950–54, Washington remained mostly a losing ball club for the next 25 years, contending for the pennant only in the talent-thin war years of 1943 and 1945 . In the fall of 1953 ,

3584-537: The second major baseball franchise shift of the mid-20th century took place (after the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1952), with long suffering Baltimore civic and business interests purchasing the perennially cellar-dwelling St. Louis Browns from controversial but enterprising owner Bill Veeck and moving them 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Washington to the Chesapeake Bay port city. In

3648-588: The spring of 1954 , the Browns moved to a newly renovated and modernized Memorial Stadium on the site of their former northeastern city collegiate football bowl, and replacing the earlier minor league level "Triple A" "Orioles" (also sometimes nicknamed the "Birds") of the International League where they had been consistent champions since the 1910s. The additional competition in the same League for Maryland and Virginia area baseball fans added to

3712-445: The team they replaced, they were the subject of an updated joke: "Washington: First in war, first in peace, and still last in the American League." When the current Nationals had their own struggles, the joke was updated once again, this time to "Washington: First in war, first in peace, and last in the National League." Governors%27 Cup The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in

3776-627: The team was planning to move, as the Boston Braves , St. Louis Browns and Philadelphia Athletics had done in the early 1950s, and the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers would do later in the decade. After an early flirtation with San Francisco (with a "Triple A" Pacific Coast League team, the San Francisco Seals ), by 1957 Griffith was courting Minneapolis–St. Paul in the Upper Midwest state of Minnesota ,

3840-668: The team were fictionalized in the 1954 book The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant , which became the 1955 Broadway musical Damn Yankees and the 1958 film starring then "heart-throb" leading-man actor Tab Hunter . The plot centers on Joe Boyd, a middle-aged real estate salesman and long-suffering fan of the Washington Senators baseball club. In this musical comedy-drama of the Faust legend , Boyd sells his soul to

3904-536: The trophy to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York , where it is on permanent display. A new trophy was minted in its place to be presented to the winner of the Governors' Cup playoffs. Under this system, the top four teams in the league, based on winning percentage , competed for the championship. From 1933 to 1987, the first round typically consisted of a best-of-seven-games series between

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3968-424: Was also successful at the box office, leading the league in attendance each year from 1946-50. In their first three seasons, Havana led all Class C teams in attendance, including a mark of 264,813 in 1947 that is still the highest total ever recorded by a Class C franchise. During the 1953 season, Roberto "Bobby" Maduro bought the team and immediately had aspirations of bringing Major League Baseball to Havana. After

4032-471: Was founded in 1884. The modern circuit traces its roots from several predecessor leagues: the Eastern League (1884), New York State League (1885), International League (1886–1887), International Association (1888–1890), Eastern Association (1891), and Eastern League (1892–1911). It adopted consistent use of the International League name in 1912. After the cancellation of the 2020 season due to

4096-414: Was one of the American League 's eight charter franchises, founded in 1901 . The team relocated to the Twin Cities in 1961 , becoming the Minnesota Twins . The team was officially named the "Senators" during 1901 – 1904 , the Nationals during 1905 – 1955 and the Senators again during 1956 – 1960 , but nonetheless was commonly referred to as the Senators throughout its history (and unofficially as

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