The Lynn Sailors were a Minor League Baseball franchise that originated in 1980 in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

. The Sailors were affiliated with the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

from 1980 to 1982 and with the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in 1983, when they were known as the Lynn Pirates.While It Lasted".net
/ref> They were a member of the Eastern League in class Double-A and played at

Fraser Field Fraser Field is a baseball park in Lynn, Massachusetts that has played host to many minor-league baseball teams over the years. The North Shore Navigators of the New England Collegiate Baseball League call Fraser Field home. In the springtime, ...

. After the 1983 season, the franchise was moved to

Burlington, Vermont Burlington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located south of the Canada–United States border and south of Montreal. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 44,743. It ...

, and became the

Vermont Reds The Vermont Reds are a defunct minor league baseball team. They played in the Eastern League at Centennial Field in Burlington, Vermont from 1984 to 1987. They were affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds. The team won the Eastern League Champions ...

Lynn Sailors (1980–82)

The Lynn Tigers of the

New England League The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in five of the six New England states (Vermont excepted) between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League B ...

, the city's last professional baseball franchise, folded in the middle of the 1949 season. After more than 30 years without a professional team, Lynn returned to minor league baseball in , when the owners of the

West Haven Yankees West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

moved the franchise to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

's North Shore. The Seattle Mariners, founded as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

in 1977, were slowly building out their

farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

, and did not field a Double-A affiliate before 1980. During the 1979–80 offseason, the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

moved their Double-A affiliation to the

Nashville Sounds The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the ci ...

of the Southern League, and the Mariners replaced them as sponsors of the relocated West Haven franchise, the Lynn Sailors. (Complicating matters further, the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

placed an expansion Eastern League team in

West Haven West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

called the Whitecaps and the

Glens Falls White Sox The Glens Falls Tigers (formerly the Glens Falls White Sox) were an Americans, American minor league baseball team from Glens Falls, New York that played in the Eastern League (1938–2020), Eastern League from 1980 until 1988, the team's ballpark ...

also entered the EL in 1980.) The three Sailors teams were competitive, but sparse media coverage was partially to blame for the less-than-enthusiastic showing at the gate. The maiden edition of the Sailors drew 50,786; it would be the high-water mark for the franchise's four-year history, but still ranked next to last in the Eastern League. In the fall of 1981, after Sailor attendance dropped to 38,468, Mike Agganis, nephew of former

Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

player and Lynn sporting legend

Harry Agganis Aristotle George "Harry" Agganis (April 20, 1929 – June 27, 1955), nicknamed "The Golden Greek", was an American college football player and professional baseball player. After passing up a potential professional football career, he played in M ...

, purchased the franchise. The 1982 Sailors captured the Eastern League North Division pennant by 5 games and swept Glens Falls in the opening round of the playoffs, before falling to West Haven in the finals. But attendance dropped to an all-time low: 23,791—more than 28,000 fans fewer than the league's second-poorest draw. After the season, the Mariners left Lynn and signed a player development contract with the

Chattanooga Lookouts The Chattanooga Lookouts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and are named for nearby Lookout Mountain. The team plays its home g ...

, also a Southern League franchise.

Lynn Pirates (1983)

In 1983, the Pirates were forced to move their Double-A affiliation from the

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

(then in the Eastern League) and succeeded the Mariners in Lynn as parent club of the renamed Lynn Pirates. The Pirates made the playoffs with the second-best overall record in the Eastern League. They swept the Bisons in the best-of-three opening round before losing, two games to one, to the

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in the finals. Because of poor regular-season attendance in Lynn (only 31,575 came through the turnstiles), all the postseason games were played on the road. The Lynn Pirates' last game was a 3–0 playoff loss at

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...

—a three-hit, 10-

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

Roger Clemens William Roger Clemens (born August 4, 1962), nicknamed "Rocket", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Boston Red Sox. Clemens was one of the most dominant pi ...

, then finishing his first pro season. After the playoffs, the Lynn franchise moved to

, for 1984, affiliated with the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

, and became the

. The Sailors/Pirates franchise spent five seasons (1984–88) in Burlington, and is now the

Akron RubberDucks The Akron RubberDucks are a Minor League Baseball team based in Akron, Ohio. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They play in Canal Park, located in downtown Akron, which seats 7,630 ...

. Professional baseball did not return to Lynn until 1996 when the

Massachusetts Mad Dogs Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

of the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Northeast League The Northeast League was a professional independent baseball league that operated in the Northeastern United States from 1995 until 1998 and from 2003 until 2004. Between 1999 and 2002, the league was part of the Northern League after the two lea ...

began play at Fraser Field.

Season-by-season record

Notable players

As Seattle Mariners affiliate (1980–82)

As Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate (1983)

Notes

References

*
Home of the North Shore Spirit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynn Sailors 1980 establishments in Massachusetts 1983 disestablishments in Massachusetts Baseball teams established in 1980 Baseball teams disestablished in 1983 Defunct Eastern League (1938–present) teams Pittsburgh Pirates minor league affiliates Professional baseball teams in Massachusetts Seattle Mariners minor league affiliates Sports in Lynn, Massachusetts