Goodbye To The Sky Sox!

Although they will still be playing baseball games in Colorado Springs through September 3rd, the Sky Sox are moving to San Antonio next year, and Triple-A baseball will be leaving Colorado for good.  Triple-A baseball has been in Colorado since 1955, and is it sad to see it go.  The level of play is high, the prices much cheaper than major league baseball, and you can usually sit in the infield just a few rows from the front.  Next year a Pioneer League team (a rookie league) will be playing at the park, and there is a "name the team" contest being held with some of the stupidest names I have ever heard.

When I first moved to Denver back in 1981, the Triple-A affiliate team there was the Denver Bears (two of whom can be seen in the photograph on the right), a team I often went to see play at Mile High Stadium. When I moved to Denver, they were affiliated with the Montreal Expos, but not too long after that they became affiliated with the Chicago White Sox, which thrilled me, since the Sox were the team I followed back when I lived in Chicago.  Later the team was sold to John Dikeou, a Denver real estate guy, who renamed the team the Zephyrs, after an old Twilight Zone episode.  Once major league baseball moved to Denver, Dikeou moved the Zephyrs to New Orleans, where they are now called the New Orleans Baby Cakes.  The Baby Cakes?  Really?