The Miami Marlins were a minor league baseball team based in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. The original Marlins were a Triple-A franchise in the International League from

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...

through

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Jan ...

. The International League team was succeeded by a

Single-A Class A, also known as Single-A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A, Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams classified at the Single-A level, one for each ...

team in the Florida State League (now the

Fort Myers Mighty Mussels The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Fort Myers, Florida, and play their home games at the Lee County Sports Complex a ...

) and today's Miami Marlins (formerly the Florida Marlins) of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

History

The International League Marlins were a transplanted version of the original

Syracuse Chiefs Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

, having been created on December 20, 1955, when the Syracuse club (a member of the IL as early as 1886 and a continuous member since

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

) was sold to Sidney Salomon (future founding owner of the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

) and Elliot Stein. The 1955 Chiefs, an affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies, finished only two games out of the playoffs, but drew only 85,000 fans, last in the eight-team league. In the Marlins' debut season in Miami, the club finished third and attracted 288,000 spectators, second in the IL circuit. Attendance dwindled in the following years, however, and by 1960 the Marlins—by then a

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

affiliate—were at the bottom of the IL, with fewer than 110,000 paying fans. The franchise signed a working agreement with the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

and moved to

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the juri ...

, in

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

, although after little more than a month of play the Marlins moved again to Charleston, West Virginia, on May 19. In 1962, the franchise moved to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, discarding the Marlins name and adopting the

Atlanta Crackers The Atlanta Crackers were Minor League Baseball teams based in Atlanta, Georgia, between 1901 and 1965. The Crackers were Atlanta's home team until the Atlanta Braves moved from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1966. History Atlanta played its first ...

name, a team in the recently disbanded

Class AA Double-A (officially Class AA) is the second-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946, below only Triple-A. There are currently 30 teams classified at the Double-A level, one for each team in Major League ...

Southern Association The Southern Association was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class A (1902–1935), Cla ...

. In 1966, when the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta, the franchise relocated again to Richmond, Virginia, where it played as the Richmond Braves for 43 seasons, through . The franchise then moved to

Gwinnett County, Georgia Gwinnett County ( ) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It forms part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. In 2020, the population was 957,062, making it the second-most populous county in Georgia (after Fulto ...

in 2009, and was known as the

Gwinnett Braves The Gwinnett Stripers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at Coolray Field in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia (with a Lawrencevil ...

through the 2017 season when the franchise became the

Gwinnett Stripers The Gwinnett Stripers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at Coolray Field in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia (with a Lawrencevil ...

in 2018. The former

club, recently rebranded the Syracuse Mets for the 2019 season, reformed in 1961, and was actually the transplanted

Montreal Royals The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team in Montreal, Quebec, during 1897–1917 and 1928–1960. A member of the International League, the Royals were the top farm club (Class AAA) of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939; p ...

(who, in turn, were originally based in Syracuse as the

Stars A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

prior to 1927).

Notable players

Notable Marlins during the 1956–60 period were veterans like Leroy "Satchel" Paige, the great former

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

then in his 50s, three-time league all-star infielder Forrest "Woody" Smith, ex- New York Giants starting pitcher Rubén Gómez, two-time MLB All Star

Sid Gordon Sidney Gordon (August 13, 1917 – June 17, 1975) was an American right-handed Major League Baseball two-time All-Star outfielder, third baseman, and first baseman. He had a 13-year career in MLB for the New York Giants (1941–43, 1946–49, a ...

, 1959 IL

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

champ Artie Kay, former

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

Cal Abrams Calvin Ross Abrams (March 2, 1924 – February 25, 1997), nicknamed "Abie", was an American professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1949 and 1956 for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pira ...

, and fireballer

Virgil Trucks Virgil Oliver "Fire" Trucks (April 26, 1917 – March 23, 2013) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher with the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Browns, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Athletics and New York Yankees between 1941 and 1958. He batte ...

. Their younger players included future big-leaguers like infielder Jerry Adair, outfielders

Whitey Herzog Dorrel Norman Elvert "Whitey" Herzog (; born November 9, 1931) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and manager, most notable for his Major League Baseball (MLB) managerial career. He made his MLB debut as a player in 1956 wit ...

and

Dave Nicholson David Lawrence Nicholson (August 29, 1939 – February 25, 2023) was an American professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball for the Baltimore Orioles ( and ), Chicago White Sox (–), Houston Astros () and Atlanta Brav ...

, and pitchers Rudy Árias,

Don Cardwell Donald Eugene Cardwell (December 7, 1935 – January 14, 2008) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) right-handed pitcher who played for five National League (NL) teams from 1957 to 1970. He was the first pitcher in major league history to ...

, Turk Farrell, Jack Fisher and Dallas Green. Although its home park was

Miami Stadium Miami Stadium (later officially known as Bobby Maduro Miami Stadium) was a baseball stadium in Miami, Florida. It was primarily used for baseball, and was the home field of the Miami Marlins minor league baseball team, as well as other minor le ...

, on August 7, 1956, the largest crowd in minor league history (57‚000) came to see Miami's 50-year-old Paige beat

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

at the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...

Yearly record

Legacy

In February 2008, it was announced that the big league Florida Marlins franchise would change its name to the Miami Marlins in 2012, upon moving into its new stadium, Marlins Park (now loanDepot Park) at the former site of the

. In June 2013, a book titled: "The Forgotten Marlins: A Tribute to the 1956–1960 Original Miami Marlins" was published by Rowman & Littlefield written by author Sam Zygner. In June 2019 a book titled: "Baseball Under the Palms History of Miami Minor League Baseball: The Early Years 1892-1960 (Volume I) was published by Sunbury Press written by authors Sam Zygner and Barbra Cabrera. In May 2022 Volume II: "Baseball Under the Palms; The Later Years of the History of Miami Minor League Baseball" will be released by Sunbury Press written by authors: Sam Zygner and Barbra Cabrera.

Affiliations

The IL Miami Marlins were affiliated with the following major league teams:

References

External links

*Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., ''The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball'', 1997 edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America.
International League: Encyclopedia II – International League – 1960–1969
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miami Marlins (Il) Baseball teams established in 1956 Sports clubs disestablished in 1960 Defunct International League teams Philadelphia Phillies minor league affiliates Baltimore Orioles minor league affiliates Baseball teams in Miami Defunct baseball teams in Florida 1956 establishments in Florida 1960 disestablishments in Florida Baseball teams disestablished in 1960