The Berkshire Black Bears were a minor league baseball team

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 in the independent Northeast League..

Originally known as the Pittsfield Electrics (1913-14), Pittsfield Hillies (1919-30), they moved to the Canadian American League

American League

The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...

. When they made the move they became Pittsfield Electrics (1941-48), Pittsfield Indians (1949-50),Pittsfield Phillies (1951). Later they became Eastern league and turned in to the Pittsfield Red Sox (1965-69), Pittsfield Senators (1970-71), Pittsfield Rangers (1972-75), Berkshire Brewers (1976), Pittsfield Cubs (1985-88,Pittsfield Mets (1989-2000), Pittsfield Astros(2001). Soon after, they changed into the Berkshire Black Bears in 2002. At the end of the 2003 season, the Berkshire Black Bears did not renew their lease.

Then franchise was purchased by former Boston Red Sox

Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...

 General Manager Dan Duquette

Dan Duquette

Daniel F. Duquette is the Executive Vice-President of Baseball Operations for the Baltimore Orioles. He was the General Manager of the Montreal Expos from September through January and for the Boston Red Sox from through March...

 in 2004. Duquette's team was first Berkshire Dukes, playing their home games at the Dan Duquette Sports Academy in Hinsdale, Massachusetts

Hinsdale, Massachusetts

Hinsdale is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area...

. Duquette moved the team to nearby Pittsfield, Massachusetts

Pittsfield, Massachusetts

Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Its area code is 413. Its ZIP code is 01201...

 in 2005 after reaching a lease agreement with the city that brought the Dukes to historic Wahconah Park

Wahconah Park

Wahconah Park is a city-owned baseball park located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and nestled in a working class neighborhood. One of the last remaining ballparks in the United States with a wooden grandstand, it was constructed in 1919 and seats 4,500. The stadium is now currently home to the, yet...

.