Lots of news from Minor League land

The last few days there have been a couple of PDC extensions between MLB clubs and their affiiates.

Yesterday the news was announced that the Omaha Storm Chasers and the Kansas City Royals have extended their Player Development Contract with two more years through the 2018 season. It doesn’t come as a surprise because both clubs have been partners since their inaugurational season in 1969. The Storm Chasers were named the Omaha Royals back then and started playing in historic Rosenblatt Stadium, former home of the NCAA College World Series. The two teams have the longest relationship in Triple-A baseball.

Both clubs exchanged the usual courtesy:

“We are proud to announce the continuation of this affiliation between the Storm Chasers and Royals,” said Storm Chasers President and General Manager Martie Cordaro. “We have enjoyed the longest and one of the strongest relationships in all of Triple-A Baseball.  We look forward to growing our relationship with the Royals even more in the upcoming seasons.”

“We are extremely excited about our extension with Omaha,” said Royals Vice President and Assistant General Manager of Player Personnel J.J. Picollo. “The Storm Chasers are a first class operation and we are proud of our longstanding relationship. We are looking forward to building upon this tradition for many years to come. We would like to thank Gary Green, his partners and Martie Cordaro for their commitment to the Kansas City Royals and feel fortunate to be part of their family.”

Next to this news, the StormChasers unveiled a series of new uniforms.

The Storm Chasers also unveiled new uniforms for 2016 and beyond, including several incorporating the powder blue styling of Kansas City Royals color scheme.

The Storm Chasers will don an Alternate Powder Blue jersey with matching cap and an Alternate Black and Powder Blue Jersey with a matching cap at select home games this season. For their road games the team will wear a new road grey jersey and Batting Practice uniforms have also been updated to include the “Vortex” logo.

The alternate powder blue jersey pays homage to the Storm Chasers’ parent club Kansas City Royals’ jerseys that became synonymous with the organization’s rise in the 1980s, with “Storm Chasers” emblazoned across the front. Together with the powder blue jersey comes a powder blue hat with the “Interlocking SC” logo.

In the Southern League, the Birmingham Barons and the Chicago White Sox have extended their PDC with four more years through 2020. Next year both teams will be together for thirty years, the longest tenure in the Southern League and one of the longest in minor league baseball.

The thirty year cooperation has been one of the most successful in minor league baseball as the Barons celebrated championships in 1987, 1989, 1993, 2002 and 2013 and the club reached the play offs 15 times, including a franchise record and Southern League record tying six-straight appearances from 2000-05. In addition, the White Sox captured the 2005 World Series Championship with a roster featuring eight former Barons.

BTW, the logo of the Barons indicates that the club is around since 1885, which is not quite true. The original Birmingham Barons were founded in 1885 but Birmingham has been without minor league baseball for quite some years before the Montgomery Rebels moved to Birmingham in 1981 to name themselves Barons, referring to the old days.

The 2016 season will mark the thirtieth of the Harrisburg Senators. The club has unveiled the commemorative logo and a new cap with the head of Uncle Sam pictured on it.
When baseball returned to Harrisburg in 1987, the Senators colors were Red and Black.  In 2006, the organization introduced a new color scheme still work to this day. Since then Uncle Slam, who had appeared on the team’s hats since 1994, was out of the picture. Today, the Senators announced that “Uncle Slam” will be shown on the new alternate hat.

And then, last but not least;  Autozone Park, home of the Memphis RedBirds (AAA affiliation of the St. Louis Cardinals) has been appointed to be the host stadium of the Triple-A championship game in 2016. This is the overall Triple-A championship game between the champions of the International League and the Pacific Coast League.

For the fifth consecutive year, t-shirt and active wear producer Gildan will be the sponsor of this game that will be televized through NBC.

This year the Tripe-A championship game was between the Fresno Grizzlies and the Columbus Clippers. The Grizzlies won the game with a clear 7-0 score.

Autozone Park will be the sixth different ballpark where the AAA championship game is played since 2011. Before 2011 the championship game was played in Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.