Nashville Sounds
Encyclopedia
The Nashville Sounds are a minor league baseball
team of the Pacific Coast League
(PCL), and the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers
. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee
, and are named for the city's association with the music industry. The team plays its home games at Herschel Greer Stadium
, which opened in 1978 and holds 10,300 fans.
Established as a Double-A team in 1978, the Sounds moved up to the Triple-A level in 1985. The team has served as a farm club for six major league
franchises. A total of 22 managers
have helmed the club and its over 950 players. As of the completion of the 2011 season, the team had played in 4,869 regular season games and compiled a win–loss record of 2,527–2,342.
The team fielded in 1980 was recognized as one of the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time. The 2006 team tied the record for the longest game in PCL history. Of the three nine-inning perfect game
s in the history of the PCL, two have been pitched by members of the Sounds.
The Sounds won the PCL Championship in 2005, sweeping the Tacoma Rainiers
in three games in the final series. Previous league titles won by the team are the Southern League
title in 1979, as the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds
, and again in 1982 as the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees
.
. They were followed by the Blues
, Tigers
, Seraphs
, Centennials
, and Vols
. The city was without a professional baseball team for 14 years after the Double-A Vols ceased operations after their 1963 season. In 1978, the Nashville Sounds were added as an expansion franchise team in the Double-A Southern League
and were affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds
.
President and part owner Larry Schmittou
, head coach of the Vanderbilt University
baseball team, was instrumental in bringing professional baseball back to Nashville. Schmittou's business philosophy revolved around earning profits not from ticket sales, but from the sale of souvenirs and concessions. This philosophy also involved promoting entertainment value, or fun, instead of promoting the baseball game. With the help of country music
star Conway Twitty
, who heard about the proposed team in local newspapers, Schmittou brought in other recording artists such as Larry Gatlin
and Jerry Reed
, as well as other Nashvillians, as Sounds shareholder
s.
The club played their home games at a new facility, Herschel Greer Stadium
, located south of downtown Nashville at the foot of St. Cloud Hill in Fort Negley Park
. Fans responded well to the return of baseball to the city, evidenced by Nashville leading the Southern League in attendance in each of their seven seasons as a member of the league. In 1980, it set the all-time league attendance record (575,676). The team's name, logo, and color scheme originated with the Memphis Sounds
of the American Basketball Association
(ABA), who used them for one season in 1974 before the team relocated and became the Baltimore Claws
. When the ABA merged with the National Basketball Association
in 1976, some of the copyrights were allowed to lapse, and Nashville's baseball team adopted the abandoned schemes. The color blue was added to Memphis' red and white palate. The team’s logo, which was used from 1978 to 1997, reflects the city's association with the country music
industry. It depicts a mustachioed baseball player swinging at a baseball with a guitar, a staple of country music, in place of a bat
. Further illustrating the city’s musical ties is the typeface, with letters resembling music notes
, used to display the team name.
The Sounds played their first home game, a 12–4 victory, on April 26, 1978 against the Savannah Braves
in front of a sellout crowd of 8,156 fans. The home opener was scheduled to take place the previous evening, but was rained out. The team requested to open the season on the road and had to swap a series with the Chattanooga Lookouts
in order to have enough time to complete the stadium. Tractors and grading machines were still preparing the field on game day, and the electricity was turned on only five minutes before the gates opened. The sod, which arrived late, was laid the day before the scheduled opening game with the help of an estimated group of 50 fans who heard an announcement from general manager Farrell Owens on local radio stations inviting them to a "sod party". As the Double-A affiliate of the Reds, the Sounds finished ninth during their inaugural campaign of 1978, but led all of minor league baseball in attendance by drawing 380,000 fans.
Under manager George Scherger
, the Sounds started the 1979 season poorly, before rallying to win 20 of 31 games in late May and June. They entered the last game of the first half in first place, but lost to their cross-state rivals, the Memphis Chicks
and finished in second place. The Sounds and Chicks met again on the last day of the second half in a split doubleheader
; both games were won by Nashville. The two teams then faced-off in a best-of-three series to determine the Western Division champion. The Sounds won the series two games to one before advancing to the Southern League championship series against the Columbus Astros
. Nashville captured the league title by defeating the Astros three games to one. Also in 1979, the team played host to the Southern League All-Star Game. The contest pitted a team of the league's all-stars against the major league Atlanta Braves
. The all-stars defeated the Braves, five runs
to two. Nashville's Duane Walker
was named the MVP.
Originally, the Reds allowed Nashville to use a designated hitter
in their lineup. However, this allowance was later revoked, as the Reds were a part of the National League
which did not use a DH. President Larry Schmittou issued an ultimatum: if Cincinnati would not let them use the DH, they would not renew their contract and would look for a new major league affiliate. The Reds did not renege on their decision to prohibit the DH, so the Sounds looked for a new affiliate after 1979. Schmittou was then approached by five or six clubs looking to enter the Southern League as a Sounds affiliate.
organization. Managers Stump Merrill
and Johnny Oates
and future major leaguers such as Steve Balboni
, Don Mattingly
, Buck Showalter
, Otis Nixon
, Willie McGee
, Pat Tabler
, and Dan Pasqua
helped lead Nashville to first or second-place divisional finishes from 1980 to 1984.
The 1980 Sounds finished the first half of the season one-and-a-half games behind the Memphis Chicks
. In the second half, the team finished in first-place, 14 games ahead of the second-place team. In the Western Division championship series, Nashville lost to Memphis, three games to one. Nine Southern League records were set during the season, the team's pitching staff led the league in ERA
and strikeout
s, and Steve Balboni led the league in runs
, home run
s, and total bases
. The team also set a league attendance record, when a total of 575,676 fans visited Greer Stadium. As of the completion of the 2007 season, this record still stands. In 2001, the 1980 Sounds were ranked as the sixty-ninth greatest minor league baseball team of all-time by baseball historians.
On April 16, 1981, the New York Yankees made a stop in Nashville to play an exhibition game against the Sounds. The 10–1 Yankees victory was played in front of a standing room only crowd of 17,318 fans. Also on hand for the game were Yankees owner George Steinbrenner
, coach Yogi Berra
, and players Reggie Jackson
, Bucky Dent
, Lou Piniella
, Bobby Murcer
, Goose Gossage
, Tommy John
, and Johnny Oates
. The Sounds won the second half of the season and went on to win the Western Division championship after defeating the Memphis Chicks in three straight games. The team suffered in the best-of-five league championship series, falling to the Orlando Twins
, 3–1. Don Mattingly and Willie McGee, who both played for the Sounds in 1981, were later promoted to the major leagues. In 1985, Mattingly was named the American League
Most Valuable Player and McGee named the National League
MVP.
The following year, second half winner Nashville met the Knoxville Blue Jays
in the 1982 division playoffs. After defeating the Blue Jays, the Sounds advanced to the league championship series to play against the Jacksonville Suns
. Nashville defeated the Suns, three games to one, clinching the Southern League championship, giving the franchise their second league title.
The New York Yankees returned for another exhibition game against the Sounds on April 28, 1983. New York had a four-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning, but a five-run rally with two outs propelled the Sounds to a 5–4 win in front of 13,641 fans. Among the Yankees in attendance for the game were Billy Martin
, Yogi Berra
, Goose Gossage, Ken Griffey, Sr.
, Dave Winfield
, Lou Piniella, and Willie Randolph
. During the season, manager Doug Holmquist
, frustrated with the team's disappointing first half, instituted a system of fines for player infractions or poor performance on the field. The program ranged from a US$10 fine for a pitcher walking a batter with one on and two outs to a US$100 fine for missing curfew. Rebounding, Nashville won the second half pennant, earning the team a shot at the Western Division championship. The Sounds, however, lost the fifth game of the best-of-five series to the Birmingham Barons
by a score of seven runs to five, ending their season. On June 21, during a road trip to Orlando, Florida
, teammates Scott Bradley
, Mike Pagliarulo
, Erik Peterson, and Buck Showalter were walking back to their hotel when Peterson was hit by an automobile. When he began to convulse, Bradley put his fingers down Peterson’s throat to keep him from swallowing his tongue. He survived, but with a bruised leg and several lacerations to the head, and he returned to play later in the season. The Southern League All-Star Game returned to Nashville in 1983. Not only did the Sounds host the event, but they also served as the all-star team's competition. The all-stars recorded the victory with a score of three runs to two.
The Sounds were one game shy of winning the first half pennant in 1984. Winning the first half title is something that eluded the team during its entire seven year span at the Double-A level. Nashville captured the second half title, however, for the sixth consecutive season, after defeating Knoxville in a playoff game. The two teams met again in the divisional playoffs, but Knoxville emerged the victor, ending the Sounds' season. One important highlight of the first half of 1984 took place on May 4, when Jim Deshaies
pitched the club’s first no-hitter
against the Columbus Astros
in the second game of a seven-inning doubleheader
. The 5–1 Sounds victory was cut short of being a perfect game following three walks
and a batter being hit by a pitch
, advancing the runner home for the only Astros run
of the game.
In 1983, Sounds President Larry Schmittou
noticed a 5% drop in season ticket sales, a higher ratio of no-shows from season ticket holders, and a slight decline in overall attendance. These issues with spectator turnout were accompanied by a decline in local media coverage, particularly in regard to road games. In order to boost interest in the team, Schmittou tried, unsuccessfully, to purchase a Triple-A franchise late in the 1983 season. Attendance continued to drop in 1984, as season ticket sales were down 12% and overall attendance was down almost 20%.
Schmittou and team owners arrived at terms in June 1984 to purchase the Evansville Triplets
of the American Association
, with plans to move the franchise from Evansville, Indiana
, to Nashville for the 1985 season. In order to prove to the team's Nashville banks, which would back the purchase, that the move was financially viable, Schmittou commissioned a survey to evaluate the potential turnout for a Triple-A team versus a Double-A team. Though the research proved to team owners that the move was a sensible decision, the banks were not impressed. As a result, the team switched banks and went ahead with the purchase and relocation. Nashville’s existing Southern League
franchise was moved to Huntsville, Alabama
, where it became the Huntsville Stars
. The Triplets' legacy was retired, and the team was moved to Nashville. The Triple-A Sounds carried on the history of the Double-A team that preceded it.
The Sounds entered the Triple-A playing level as affiliates of the Detroit Tigers
in 1985. On July 17, Bryan Kelly
pitched the club’s second no-hitter
against the Oklahoma City 89ers
, a 6–0 win. Nashville ended the season in second-place in the Eastern Division, missing out on finishing in first-place by two and a half games.
In 1986, Nashville finished third in their division with a 68–74 regular season record, their first losing season since the inaugural 1978 campaign. Also that season, the Sounds were enlisted to serve as the competition in the Southern League All-Star Game, held in Huntsville, Alabama. The game was won by Nashville with a score of four runs to two.
farm system in 1987, this time as their Triple-A affiliate. As a result, a number of minor leaguers played in the Reds organization at two different levels with Nashville. Spending the beginning of the 1987 season around the top of the standings, the team hit a slump after losing a few key players mid-season. The result was a 64–76 record and a last place finish. One player lost due to injuries was third baseman Chris Sabo
. Sabo was promoted to Cincinnati and was also named the National League
Rookie of the Year in 1988, a first for any former Sounds player.
The 1988 Sounds were in last-place and had a losing record until making numerous management changes late in the season. During a two-week period in July and August 1988, the Sounds went through five different managers. The team started the season with Jack Lind
, who left due to health problems. His position was filled on an interim basis by pitching coach Wayne Garland
until former manager George Scherger
, manager of the 1979 Southern League championship Sounds, was brought in. He retired after one game and was replaced by Jim Hoff
, who stayed a few days before taking up a position with the Reds' front office. Finally, former Texas Rangers
manager Frank Lucchesi
was hired to lead the Sounds for the rest of the season. Lucchesi managed the team's last 39 games, leading them to a final record of 73–69. They finished second in the East Division and were out of the playoffs.
Greer Stadium was home to a rare baseball occurrence on August 6 and August 7, 1988, when Nashville and the Indianapolis Indians
exchanged no-hitter
s on back-to-back nights. First, Indianapolis' Randy Johnson
and Pat Pacillo
combined for a no-hit loss against the Sounds, a 1–0 Nashville win. The next night, Nashville's Jack Armstrong registered a no-hit game against the Indians, a 4–0 Sounds victory. This was the third no-hitter ever pitched by a member of the Sounds.
After finishing in third-place with a 74–72 record in 1989, the Sounds returned in 1990 to experience their most successful season as a part of the American Association, when they compiled an 86–61 record. Finishing the regular season in a tie with the Buffalo Bisons
, the Sounds won the Eastern Division championship in a one-game playoff. The extra-inning affair was ended by Chris Jones' two-run homer in the top of the eighteenth inning. The Sounds advanced to their first American Association championship series, where they lost to the Omaha Royals
three games to two. That year, Nashville set their all-time attendance record when a total of 605,122 fans came out to Greer Stadium.
In 1991, the Sounds started the year in first-place, where they remained for only ten days. By May 1, the team had fallen into third-place in the Eastern Division, where they remained for the rest of the season. Nashville posted a losing record every month during the season and finished the year 16 games behind the first-place Buffalo Bisons
. First baseman Terry Lee
, who led the Sounds in hits
, RBI
, runs
, and home run
s, was selected for the mid-season Triple-A All-Star Game
and the league's post-season All-Star Team. The following year was Nashville's last as a Reds affiliate. The team posted a 67–77 record, winding up in fourth-place and out of the post-season picture.
Nashville switched affiliations again in 1993, this time becoming the top farm club of the Chicago White Sox
. In addition to a new affiliation, the 1993 season also brought the addition of Greer Stadium's signature guitar-shaped scoreboard. In their first year with the White Sox, the Sounds clinched the East Division title with an 81–62 record. In the league championship series, the Iowa Cubs
defeated the Sounds in extra innings in game seven. Nashville's Rick Renick
was named the American Association Manager of the Year.
The Sounds shared their ballpark with the Southern League's Nashville Xpress
, previously known as the Charlotte Knights
, during the 1993 and 1994 seasons. This came about when Charlotte acquired a Triple-A expansion franchise in 1993, leaving the city's Double-A team without a home. Sounds owner Larry Schmittou
offered Greer Stadium as a temporary home for the team. In order to accommodate an additional team at Greer, the Xpress scheduled its home games during the Sounds’ road trips. Baseball America
ranked the dual Nashville teams as number one on its list of the "top 10 happenings in minor league baseball." In 1995, the Xpress relocated to Wilmington, North Carolina
and became the Port City Roosters
.
In 1994, the Sounds earned an 83–61 record. They also made their second consecutive appearance in the league's championship series. In the first round, Nashville swept the New Orleans Zephyrs
in three straight games to advance to the league finals. In the best-of-five series, the Indianapolis Indians
defeated the Sounds three games to one. Nashville hosted the mid-season Triple-A All-Star Game in 1994. Sounds players Ray Durham, Drew Denson, and Scott Ruffcorn were selected for the event, however Ruffcorn was later placed on the disabled list and replaced by Steve Schrenk. Durham won the "Stars of Stars" award, recognizing him as the most valuable All-Star representing the American Association.
The Sounds compiled a 68–76 record, 20 games out of first-place, in 1995. Originally, Michael Jordan
, who played with the White Sox's Double-A Birmingham Barons
in 1994, was signed to play the 1995 season as a non-drafted free agent for the Sounds. However, with the ongoing MLB strike, Jordan decided to quit the sport rather than becoming a replacement player and being labeled a strikebreaker.
The team improved their record in 1996, ending up with 77 wins and 67 losses. Despite a decent winning percentage, Nashville failed to secure a spot in the playoffs. Manager Rick Renick
earned the league's Manager of the Year award, and pitcher Scott Ruffcorn
lead the league with thirteen wins
. This season marked the last that Larry Schmittou
was the team's principal owner. With the city prepared to welcome a National Football League
franchise, the Tennessee Titans
, Schmittou felt that revenue would be drawn away from his baseball team. He sold his entire financial interest in the Sounds to Al Gordon, president of AmeriSports Companies LLC. The following year, Nashville put together a 74–68 season, again failing to win either half of the season, leaving them out of the post-season. In addition to being selected for both the mid-season and post-season All-Star teams, outfielder Magglio Ordóñez
garnered the league's Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards.
Following the 1997 season, the American Association, of which the Sounds were a member, disbanded, and its teams were absorbed by one of the two remaining Triple-A leagues. As a result, Nashville joined the Pacific Coast League
(PCL). The franchise also picked up a new major league affiliation, becoming the top farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates
. For the first time since the team's foundation in 1978, the Sounds adopted a new logo, color scheme, and uniforms which were phased-in over the course of their first two years in the PCL.
In 1998, the team's first season as a Pirates affiliate, the Sounds finished last in the division with a 67–76 record. Improving from the previous year, the 1999 team put together an 80–60 record, but their second-place finish left them out of the post-season picture. Sounds second baseman Matt Howard
led the league in fielding percentage
(.982) and fewest strikeout
s per plate appearance (1:18.2). Pitcher Jimmy Anderson led the PCL in winning percentage
(.846, 11–2).
Nashville finished with a 63–79 record, resulting in a last-place finish in the 2000 divisional standings. Former All-Star Sounds infielder Marty Brown returned to the club to serve as its 25th manager in 2001, becoming the first former Nashville player to serve as the team's skipper. The Sounds compiled a 64–77 record, putting them in third-place and out of the playoffs. Outfielder Tike Redman
tied Iowa's Ross Gload
with a league-leading 10 triples
. On June 30, Redman became the first Sounds player to hit for the cycle
. The Sounds scored a third-place divisional finish with a 72–71 record in 2002.
On April 7, 2003, right-hander John Wasdin
pitched the first perfect game
in Nashville Sounds history in his first start of the season against the Albuquerque Isotopes
. The 4–0 Sounds win was only the second nine-inning perfect game in PCL history. That year, manager Trent Jewett
led the Sounds to an 81–62 record. They clinched the Eastern Division title, giving them their first post-season berth as a member of the Pacific Coast League. Nashville met Albuquerque in the American Conference championship series, defeating them three games to one. They went on to lose the best-of-five league championship series in three straight games to the Sacramento River Cats
.
The franchise completed the 2004 campaign with a 63–79 record, finishing last in the division. Early in the season, Jason Bay
played four games in Nashville before being promoted to Pittsburgh. Following the season, he was named the National League Rookie of the Year. This made him the second former player from Nashville to receive such honors. On May 21, catcher J. R. House
became the second Sounds player to hit for the cycle.
as their sixth different major league franchise. Coincidentally, the major/minor league sports connection between Nashville and Milwaukee is duplicated, but with reverse roles, in ice hockey
, as the Milwaukee Admirals
have been the top-level minor league affiliate of the National Hockey League
's Nashville Predators
since 1998. The Sounds' new affiliation started well as the club captured the 2005 Pacific Coast League championship, Nashville's first professional title since the Sounds' previous league crown in 1982. Managed by Frank Kremblas
and featuring top prospects such as Rickie Weeks
, Prince Fielder
, Nelson Cruz, and Corey Hart, the Sounds won the American North Division title on the second-to-last day of the season. In the conference championship, Nashville defeated the Oklahoma RedHawks
three games to two. The Sounds went on to defeat the Tacoma Rainiers
in three straight games to capture the league title.
On July 15, 2006, Nashville pitchers Carlos Villanueva, Mike Meyers
, and Alec Zumwalt combined to pitch the fifth no-hitter in team history, a 2–0 win over the Memphis Redbirds
. On May 5–6, the Sounds participated in a 24-inning game against the New Orleans Zephyrs
. The contest, played over the course of two days, lasted a total of eight hours and seven minutes. This game matched the longest game, in terms of innings played, in PCL history. Additionally, several team and league records were broken by both teams. The record was originally set on June 8, 1909 in a game between the San Francisco Seals and Oakland Oaks
. A few years later, on September 10, 1911, the record was tied by a contest between the Sacramento Solons
and Portland Beavers
. The Sounds finished the season with a 76–68 record, tied with the Iowa Cubs for first-place in the American North Division. Nashville won the division title and advanced to the post-season by means of a tiebreaker (winning the regular season series versus Iowa nine games to seven). In the conference championship series, Nashville lost to the Round Rock Express
, three games to two.
The 2007 Sounds featured top Brewers prospects Yovani Gallardo
and Ryan Braun
, both of whom were promoted to Milwaukee during the season. Braun, who made his major league debut on May 25, was named National League Rookie of the Year following the season, making him the third former Sounds player to receive this honor. On June 25, Manny Parra
pitched the club's second perfect game, only the third nine-inning perfect game in PCL history, against the Round Rock Express; he was promoted to the Brewers shortly thereafter. The team, led by PCL Manager of the Year Frank Kremblas
, captured the American North Division title for the third straight year and finished the season with a league best .618 winning percentage (89–55). In the conference championship series, they were defeated by the New Orleans Zephyrs, three games to one.
On June 14, 2008, following massive flooding
in the Midwest
, the Sounds and the Iowa Cubs played a game with an official attendance of zero. Though downtown Des Moines
was under a mandatory evacuation, team officials received permission from the city to play the game as long as no fans were allowed into Principal Park
. In order to keep fans away, the lights and scoreboard were not turned on, the game was not broadcast in the local market, and a message on the team's website announced that the game was postponed. PCL Commissioner Branch Rickey III believed that this was the first time such actions were taken out of necessity. The Sounds were further affected by weather when Hurricane Gustav
forced the cancellation of the last three games of their season against the New Orleans Zephyrs. The team spent all but one day of the season at the bottom of the divisional standings. Their 59–81 record (.421) was the worst in the team's 31-year history.
On October 30, 2008, Amerisports Companies LLC entered into an agreement to sell the Sounds to MFP Baseball, a New York-based group of investors consisting of Masahiro Honzawa, Steve Posner, and Frank Ward. George King, PCL Vice President of Business and Operations, said that keeping the team in Nashville was one of the league's top criteria for approval of the sale. The transaction received final approval from Major League Baseball and the PCL on February 26, 2009. Though significant renovations were made to Greer Stadium, MFP continues to explore building a new downtown ballpark for the club, which will remain in Nashville. King was later selected to be the franchise's new general manager.
Rebounding from the worst record in franchise history in 2008, the 2009 Sounds achieved a 75–69 record under new manager Don Money
. Despite a winning record and spending the majority of the season in first-place, the Sounds finished the season two games behind their cross-state rivals, and eventual league champions, the Memphis Redbirds. The team featured top-prospects Alcides Escobar
and Mat Gamel
.
The 2010 season proved to be reminiscent of the previous campaign. Though Nashville finished the year with a winning 77–67 record, it was only good enough to place fourth (last) in the division. Following the completion of the season, the Brewers extened their player development contract, a working agreement between a major and minor league baseball team, with the Sounds through the 2012 season.
Sounds right fielder
Caleb Gindl became the third player in team history to hit for the cycle when he accomplished the feat on July 10, 2011. Center fielder
Logan Schafer
garnered national media attention when he initiated a triple play
on August 20 against the Omaha Storm Chasers. What made the rare occurrence even more unusual is that the ball first bounced off Schafer’s glove and head before landing in his glove for the first out. He then returned the ball to the infield where second baseman
Eric Farris
and first baseman
Mat Gamel completed the triple play by stepping on their respective bases. Nashville ended the year with a 71–73 record, placing third in their division.
The Sounds' current, and only, ballpark is Herschel Greer Stadium
. The venue has experienced numerous expansions and contractions since its completion in 1978, and currently seats 10,300 spectators. Its best known feature is its giant 115.6 foot (35.2 m) guitar-shaped scoreboard
behind the left field wall.
In recent years, following the construction of newer, relatively luxurious minor league ballparks, Greer has fallen below standards set for Triple-A stadiums by professional baseball. It has been the subject of many renovations and upgrades in order to meet current Triple-A standards. Prior to the 2008 season, more than US$1 million in upgrades and repairs were made to the stadium. The improvements, which included a new clubhouse, improved field lighting, and improvements to restrooms, walkways, and seating, were made in order to keep the stadium functional for another three to five years.
On December 16, 2008, the Nashville Metro Council
approved an up to five-year extension to Greer's lease. MFP Baseball, which purchased the Sounds in early 2009, invested over $2.5 million to make repairs and upgrades to the stadium's restrooms, concession stands, scoreboard, sound system, and seating. As of August 2010, the team had identified three sites around Nashville under consideration for the location of a new ballpark: the area south of Korean Veterans Boulevard in the SoBro (South of Broadway) district, the former Polar Ice property at 11th Avenue and Charlotte Avenue, and the parking lot that was once the location of Sulphur Dell
. Team officials continue to seek a deal for the construction of a new ballpark.
and was planned for construction on the west bank of the Cumberland River
in downtown Nashville, just 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the current stadium.
The Sounds and private developers Struever Brothers, Eccles, & Rouse were unable to finalize financing and design plans for the new stadium by the April 15, 2007, deadline set by the Nashville Metro Council. As a result, the First Tennessee Field construction project was canceled. In the meantime, numerous upgrades and repairs were made to Greer in order to preserve its functionality until a new stadium could be built. In January 2008, owners Amerisports Companies LLC introduced a bill into the Tennessee General Assembly
that would have allowed the team to collect a portion of state and local sales tax in order to pay for a new stadium. The team later dropped its efforts to get the bill passed after the city called the endeavor "an act of bad faith" by the Sounds.
The uniform
s of the Nashville Sounds are descendants of the uniforms they adopted in 1999, after becoming affiliates of the Pittsburgh Pirates
. Jerseys and pants for home games are made of white fabric, while those for road games are made of gray fabric. The sleeveless jerseys have red and black piping around the neck and along the row of buttons going up the chest. Pants have the same piping going down the legs on the outside. On home jerseys, the word "Sounds" is written across the chest in red script surrounded by black. A Milwaukee Brewers
logo is located on the front left shoulder. The player’s name is written on the back in black block characters; numbers are also displayed in large red characters surrounded by black. Black t-shirts, of varying sleeve lengths, are worn underneath the jerseys. Road jerseys are the same, but with "Nashville" across the chest in the same style; they also lack the player's name on the back. The official home and road caps are black with the red and white music note logo centered on the front.
The team’s batting practice uniforms, which double as alternate uniforms, are identical to the home outfit, except they are worn with different jerseys. These jerseys are made of red mesh with a single line of black piping going down the sleeves and across the shoulders to the neck. "Sounds" is written across the chest in white script surrounded by black. There are black ventilation stripes located at the armpits, and a Brewers logo on the front left shoulder. Numbers, in white surrounded by black, are sewn on the back in block characters. The alternate uniform is worn with either the regular home/road black cap or the team’s red batting practice cap which bears a yellow and white version of the music note logo.
In conjunction with "Throwback Thursday" promotions which began in 2010, the Sounds wear uniforms reminiscent of those the team wore in the late-1970s and 1980s. The short-sleeved button up jerseys are made of red fabric with red, white, and blue stripes at the sleeve openings. The word "Sounds" is written across the chest in white music note-like script with a blue border. The backs of jerseys display the player's name, sewn in white letters, and their number, sewn in white characters with a blue border. The left sleeve features a patch of the team's original guitar-swinger logo. High pants, with red, white, and blue pin striping down the sides, are worn with blue belts and white socks with a single blue stripe down each side. The team cap is solid blue with an "N" styled like a music note in white, bordered by red on the front.
The pullover v-neck jerseys, worn by the team from 1978 to 1986, were made of white fabric, for home games, and red or blue, for road games or as alternates. They carried bands of red, white, and blue around the neck, with larger bands at the end of the sleeves (the blue version had one thin white band and two large red bands). The team’s pants were white and also displayed these stripes along the sides (small stripes) and at the waistband (large stripes). The word "Sounds" was written across the chest in two-color music note-like script. Numbers were sewn on the back of jerseys. Beginning circa 1985, numbers were also located on the front of jerseys on the player’s left chest, below the team name. The team wore a blue cap with red brim, displaying an "N" styled like a music note in white, bordered by red; this was the official team cap from 1978 to 1995.
From 1987 to 1998, the team’s uniforms featured button up jerseys made of white fabric, for home games, and gray, for road games. Small bands of red, white, and blue appeared at the openings of the sleeves and along the sides of the team’s pants. The word "Sounds" was written across the chest in blue music note-like script, with a red border; the font was changed briefly from 1987 to 1988. Numbers were present on the front of jerseys below the team name on the player’s left chest in blue block characters surrounded by red. The back of the jersey carried the player’s number; during some years, names were also present. Road jerseys had "Nashville" written across the chest and were missing the tri-color bands. The original cap was worn with this uniform until 1995 when the bill was changed to blue and the guitar-swinger logo was added to accompany the “N.”
The team switched to its current black, red, and white color scheme over the course of the 1998 and 1999 seasons. In the latter season, uniforms consisted of pinstriped pants and button up jerseys, with black sleeves carrying a music note logo on the left sleeve. By 2004, the team switched to pants and jerseys almost identical to the current designs. These sleeved jerseys differed in that they carried red and black piping around sleeve openings, a music note logo on the left sleeve, and numbers on the front of jerseys below the team name; they also lacked the logo of their parent club on the chest.
96.3 FM by announcer and station owner, Monte Hale
. He died following the inaugural season, after which Bob Jamison was hired for the 1979 season. Nashville-native and future sports talk show host George Plaster
served as a color commentator
from 1980 to 1981 and 1985 to 1986. Jamison remained the voice of the Sounds through 1990 when he was hired as the radio broadcaster for the California Angels
. For the 1991 season, the Sounds hired former Huntsville Stars
and Iowa Cubs
broadcaster Steve Carroll
. After 1995, Carroll left to become the radio voice of the NHL's
Philadelphia Flyers
and, later, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
.
Steve Selby
served as the voice of the Sounds from 1996 to 1999. He was joined on-air by fellow commentator Mike Capps
for the 1997 season. Chuck Valenches
replaced Capps as the assistant broadcaster in 1998 and was promoted to the role of lead broadcaster at the beginning of 2000. Stu Paul became the Sounds' play-by-play broadcaster in 2010. As of 2011, Sounds home games and select road games are broadcast on WGFX
104.5 FM
. All games are broadcast online via the team website.
Sounds home games were regularly televised by WZTV
from 1982 to 1992. A few games were also aired by WNPX
in 1999. As of 2011, Sounds games are not broadcast on television. However, most games are streamed through the MiLB.TV subscription feature of the official website of Minor League Baseball, with audio provided by a radio simulcast. From 2005 to 2008, a monthly television program, called Sounds On Demand, aired throughout Middle Tennessee
on Comcast
cable channel 49, and was also available "On Demand
" through Comcast Digital Cable programming. The 30-minute show, hosted by Chuck Valenches, featured player interviews, team news, tips from players on how to play the game, and other related content.
The Nashville Sounds' mascot
is an anthropomorphic
cougar named Ozzie. He has yellow fur and wears the same style of uniform as the team, but with no hat. In addition to the team's current home and alternate uniforms, he also wears Sounds home uniforms from the past few seasons. Ozzie has been the team's mascot since 1997.
The first Sounds mascot was introduced during the team's inaugural 1978 season. Homer Horsehide, whose name was selected in a naming contest, resembled their major league affiliate's mascot—Mr. Red
of the Cincinnati Reds
. The character was human in appearance, with the exception of an oversized anthropomorphized baseball in place of a human head. The mustachioed mascot donned a uniform identical to that of Sounds players.
Prior to Ozzie, a lime-green dinosaur named Champ was the team's mascot. His short-lived time as a mascot began in 1995 and ended in 1996. Following altercations with team management and league personnel during games, Champ, vis-à-vis his performer, did not return for the 1997 season.
When Amerisports Companies LLC, took control of the team in April 1997, they decided that a mascot was needed. Since the group also owned the Class A Kane County Cougars
minor league team, which had an extra mascot uniform, the surplus cougar outfit was sent to Nashville. After building a fan following during Ozzie’s first season, team management decided to make him the permanent mascot. Initially, the Ozzie costume was identical to the brown cougar costume which is still in use by Kane County, but was replaced by the current yellow outfit in 1998.
In addition to promotions that are synonymous with minor league baseball like giveaways, theme nights, fireworks nights, and discounted ticket or concessions nights, the Nashville Sounds also host what are called Faith Nights. In 2002, the Sounds became the first sports team to host Faith Night promotions. These Christian-based promotional evenings include pre-game concerts from Christian music artists, Bible-themed bobblehead giveaways, and testimonials from players about their faith. Artists performing at Nashville's Greer Stadium in the past include Jars of Clay
, Hawk Nelson
, and Matthew West. Brent High, then Vice President of Sales for the Sounds, and Mike Snider, the president and owner of Third Coast Sports, an entertainment and sports marketing firm in Nashville, are credited with developing the promotion.
Since their inception, Faith Nights have been among the top-ten most-attended games each season. During Faith Nights in 2004, the Sounds experienced a 93% increase in attendance over their average season attendance for non-Faith Night dates; over 500 church groups attended these games. That fall, the team partnered with the Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity
to build a home for a family in need. The team raised more than $45,000 from donations and 10% of ticket proceeds on Faith Nights.
The promotion has since been adopted by at least 40 other minor league teams. It has also been used by major league teams such as the Atlanta Braves
and St. Louis Cardinals
. Teams from the National Football League
and National Basketball Association
have also shown interest in holding Faith Night promotions. The program has garnered national media attention for the Sounds from The New York Times
and National Public Radio.
. When a number is retired, no player on the team may wear that number in the future. This ensures that the number will be associated with one player of particular importance to the team.
. Hoyt Wilhelm
, who served as the team's pitching coach
from 1982 to 1984, was elected in 1985.
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
team of the Pacific Coast League
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
(PCL), and the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, and are named for the city's association with the music industry. The team plays its home games at Herschel Greer Stadium
Herschel Greer Stadium
Herschel Greer Stadium is a minor league baseball park located in Nashville, Tennessee, on the grounds of Fort Negley, an American Civil War fortification, approximately two miles south of downtown...
, which opened in 1978 and holds 10,300 fans.
Established as a Double-A team in 1978, the Sounds moved up to the Triple-A level in 1985. The team has served as a farm club for six major league
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
franchises. A total of 22 managers
Manager (baseball)
In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...
have helmed the club and its over 950 players. As of the completion of the 2011 season, the team had played in 4,869 regular season games and compiled a win–loss record of 2,527–2,342.
The team fielded in 1980 was recognized as one of the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time. The 2006 team tied the record for the longest game in PCL history. Of the three nine-inning perfect game
Perfect game
A perfect game is defined by Major League Baseball as a game in which a pitcher pitches a victory that lasts a minimum of nine innings and in which no opposing player reaches base. Thus, the pitcher cannot allow any hits, walks, hit batsmen, or any opposing player to reach base safely for any...
s in the history of the PCL, two have been pitched by members of the Sounds.
The Sounds won the PCL Championship in 2005, sweeping the Tacoma Rainiers
Tacoma Rainiers
The Tacoma Rainiers are a minor league baseball team that plays in the Pacific Coast League , and are the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners...
in three games in the final series. Previous league titles won by the team are the Southern League
Southern League (baseball)
The Southern League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the Southern United States. It is classified a Double-A league. The original league was formed in , and shut down in . A new league, the Southern Association, was formed in , consisting of twelve teams...
title in 1979, as the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
, and again in 1982 as the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
.
Reds era (1978–1979)
Nashville's professional baseball history dates back to 1885, beginning with the Nashville AmericansNashville Americans
The Nashville Americans were a minor league baseball team of the Southern League from 1885 to 1886. The team was one of eight charter members of the newly formed league. They were located in Nashville, Tennessee and played home games at Athletic Park, which was opened in 1885...
. They were followed by the Blues
Nashville Blues
The Nashville Blues were a minor league baseball team of the Southern League in 1887. They were located in Nashville, Tennessee and played home games at Athletic Park, which was opened in 1885. Preceded by the Nashville Americans, the Blues were Nashville's second professional baseball team...
, Tigers
Nashville Tigers
The Nashville Tigers were a minor league baseball team of the Southern League from 1893 to 1894. They were located in Nashville, Tennessee and played home games at Athletic Park, which was opened in 1885. Preceded by the Nashville Blues, the Tigers were Nashville's third professional baseball team...
, Seraphs
Nashville Seraphs
The Nashville Seraphs were a minor league baseball team of the Southern League in 1895. They were located in Nashville, Tennessee and played home games at Athletic Park, which was opened in 1885. Preceded by the Nashville Tigers, the Seraphs were Nashville's fourth professional baseball team...
, Centennials
Nashville Centennials
The Nashville Centennials were a minor league baseball team of the Class C Central League in 1897. They were located in Nashville, Tennessee and played home games at Athletic Park, which was opened in 1885. Preceded by the Nashville Seraphs, the Centennials were Nashville's fifth professional...
, and Vols
Nashville Vols
The Nashville Vols were a minor league baseball team based in Nashville, Tennessee from 1901 to 1963; the team was inactive in 1962. Known as the Nashville Baseball Club during their first seven seasons, they were officially named the Nashville Volunteers in 1908 for the state's nickname, The...
. The city was without a professional baseball team for 14 years after the Double-A Vols ceased operations after their 1963 season. In 1978, the Nashville Sounds were added as an expansion franchise team in the Double-A Southern League
Southern League (baseball)
The Southern League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the Southern United States. It is classified a Double-A league. The original league was formed in , and shut down in . A new league, the Southern Association, was formed in , consisting of twelve teams...
and were affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
.
President and part owner Larry Schmittou
Larry Schmittou
Larry Schmittou is an American entrepreneur. He currently owns a S&S Family Entertainment LLC, which operates a chain of bowling centers. He is a former coach of the Vanderbilt University baseball team. From the late 1970s to the mid 1990s, he was the owner of several minor league baseball teams...
, head coach of the Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
baseball team, was instrumental in bringing professional baseball back to Nashville. Schmittou's business philosophy revolved around earning profits not from ticket sales, but from the sale of souvenirs and concessions. This philosophy also involved promoting entertainment value, or fun, instead of promoting the baseball game. With the help of country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
star Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty , born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, was an American country music artist. He also had success in early rock and roll, R&B, and pop music. He held the record for the most number one singles of any act with 55 No. 1 Billboard country hits until George Strait broke the record in 2006...
, who heard about the proposed team in local newspapers, Schmittou brought in other recording artists such as Larry Gatlin
Larry Gatlin
Larry Wayne Gatlin is an American country music singer/songwriter. He is perhaps best known for teaming up with his brothers Steve and Rudy in the late 1970s, becoming one of country music's most successful acts of the 1970s and 1980s. Gatlin has had a total of 33 Top 40 singles...
and Jerry Reed
Jerry Reed
Jerry Reed Hubbard , known professionally as Jerry Reed, was an American country music singer, innovative guitarist, songwriter, and actor who appeared in more than a dozen films...
, as well as other Nashvillians, as Sounds shareholder
Shareholder
A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself ....
s.
Herschel Greer Stadium
Herschel Greer Stadium is a minor league baseball park located in Nashville, Tennessee, on the grounds of Fort Negley, an American Civil War fortification, approximately two miles south of downtown...
, located south of downtown Nashville at the foot of St. Cloud Hill in Fort Negley Park
Fort Negley
Fort Negley was a fortification built for the American Civil War, located approximately south of downtown Nashville, Tennessee. It was the largest inland fort built in the United States during the war...
. Fans responded well to the return of baseball to the city, evidenced by Nashville leading the Southern League in attendance in each of their seven seasons as a member of the league. In 1980, it set the all-time league attendance record (575,676). The team's name, logo, and color scheme originated with the Memphis Sounds
Memphis Sounds
Memphis Sounds was the final name of a franchise in the American Basketball Association. The team had begun as the New Orleans Buccaneers, and after three seasons in New Orleans, Louisiana moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where it had occasionally played some home games in the past to reasonable crowds...
of the American Basketball Association
American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...
(ABA), who used them for one season in 1974 before the team relocated and became the Baltimore Claws
Baltimore Claws
The Baltimore Claws was an American basketball team which was supposed to appear in the 1975-76 season in the American Basketball Association. The team collapsed before the season started, playing only three exhibition games in its brief history.-Background:...
. When the ABA merged with the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
in 1976, some of the copyrights were allowed to lapse, and Nashville's baseball team adopted the abandoned schemes. The color blue was added to Memphis' red and white palate. The team’s logo, which was used from 1978 to 1997, reflects the city's association with the country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
industry. It depicts a mustachioed baseball player swinging at a baseball with a guitar, a staple of country music, in place of a bat
Baseball bat
A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the game of baseball to hit the ball after the ball is thrown by the pitcher. It is no more than 2.75 inches in diameter at the thickest part and no more than 42 inches in length. It typically weighs no more than 33 ounces , but it...
. Further illustrating the city’s musical ties is the typeface, with letters resembling music notes
Note
In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself....
, used to display the team name.
Mississippi Braves
The Mississippi Braves, or M-Braves as they are referred to locally, are a minor league baseball team based in Pearl, Mississippi, a suburb of Jackson. The team is the Class AA affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, and plays in the Southern League. The team is owned and operated by Liberty Media, which...
in front of a sellout crowd of 8,156 fans. The home opener was scheduled to take place the previous evening, but was rained out. The team requested to open the season on the road and had to swap a series with the Chattanooga Lookouts
Chattanooga Lookouts
The Chattanooga Lookouts are a minor league baseball team based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. They are named for nearby Lookout Mountain. The team, which plays in the Southern League, has been a Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers major-league club since the 2009 season. The Lookouts...
in order to have enough time to complete the stadium. Tractors and grading machines were still preparing the field on game day, and the electricity was turned on only five minutes before the gates opened. The sod, which arrived late, was laid the day before the scheduled opening game with the help of an estimated group of 50 fans who heard an announcement from general manager Farrell Owens on local radio stations inviting them to a "sod party". As the Double-A affiliate of the Reds, the Sounds finished ninth during their inaugural campaign of 1978, but led all of minor league baseball in attendance by drawing 380,000 fans.
Under manager George Scherger
George Scherger
George Richard Scherger , nicknamed "'Sugar Bear," was a retired coach in American Major League Baseball and a former longtime minor league infielder and manager...
, the Sounds started the 1979 season poorly, before rallying to win 20 of 31 games in late May and June. They entered the last game of the first half in first place, but lost to their cross-state rivals, the Memphis Chicks
Memphis Chicks
The Memphis Chicks were an American minor league baseball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Chicks were charter members of the Southern Association from 1901 until November 18, 1960, when the club folded and was transferred to Macon, Georgia for 1961.The Chicks suffered a...
and finished in second place. The Sounds and Chicks met again on the last day of the second half in a split doubleheader
Doubleheader (baseball)
A doubleheader is a set of two baseball games played between the same two teams on the same day in front of the same crowd. In addition, the term is often used unofficially to refer to a pair of games played by a team in a single day, but in front of different crowds and not in immediate...
; both games were won by Nashville. The two teams then faced-off in a best-of-three series to determine the Western Division champion. The Sounds won the series two games to one before advancing to the Southern League championship series against the Columbus Astros
Carolina Mudcats
The Carolina Mudcats are a minor league baseball team based in the eastern suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina. The team, which plays in the Carolina League, are the Single-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians major-league club beginning in 2012.-History:...
. Nashville captured the league title by defeating the Astros three games to one. Also in 1979, the team played host to the Southern League All-Star Game. The contest pitted a team of the league's all-stars against the major league Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
. The all-stars defeated the Braves, five runs
Run (baseball)
In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured...
to two. Nashville's Duane Walker
Duane Walker
Duane Allen Walker is a retired Major League Baseball outfielder. He played during five seasons at the major league level for the Cincinnati Reds, Texas Rangers, and St. Louis Cardinals. He was drafted by the Reds in the 1st round of the secondary phase of the 1976 amateur draft...
was named the MVP.
Originally, the Reds allowed Nashville to use a designated hitter
Designated hitter
In baseball, the designated hitter rule is the common name for Major League Baseball Rule 6.10, an official position adopted by the American League in 1973 that allows teams to designate a player, known as the designated hitter , to bat in place of the pitcher each time he would otherwise come to...
in their lineup. However, this allowance was later revoked, as the Reds were a part of the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
which did not use a DH. President Larry Schmittou issued an ultimatum: if Cincinnati would not let them use the DH, they would not renew their contract and would look for a new major league affiliate. The Reds did not renege on their decision to prohibit the DH, so the Sounds looked for a new affiliate after 1979. Schmittou was then approached by five or six clubs looking to enter the Southern League as a Sounds affiliate.
Yankees era (1980–1984)
The Sounds made their first affiliation switch in 1980, becoming a part of the New York YankeesNew York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
organization. Managers Stump Merrill
Stump Merrill
Carl "Stump" Merrill is a former manager in Major League Baseball who served as manager of the New York Yankees in and...
and Johnny Oates
Johnny Oates
Johnny Lane Oates was an American professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees from 1970 to 1981...
and future major leaguers such as Steve Balboni
Steve Balboni
Stephen Charles Balboni is a retired Major League Baseball player with the New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Kansas City Royals, and Texas Rangers. He was a player with home run power and a tendency to strike out. He was nicknamed "Bye Bye" because of his home run hitting prowess...
, Don Mattingly
Don Mattingly
Donald Arthur "Don" Mattingly is a former Major League Baseball first baseman and current manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Nicknamed "The Hit Man" and "Donnie Baseball", he played his entire 14-year baseball career for the New York Yankees...
, Buck Showalter
Buck Showalter
William Nathaniel "Buck" Showalter III is an American Major League Baseball manager for the Baltimore Orioles. He has previously served in a similar capacity with the New York Yankees , Arizona Diamondbacks , and Texas Rangers...
, Otis Nixon
Otis Nixon
Otis Junior Nixon, Jr. is a former Major League Baseball player. He was a center fielder and switch-hitter who played from 1983 to 1999...
, Willie McGee
Willie McGee
Willie Dean McGee is a retired professional baseball player who won two batting titles and was named Major League Baseball's National League MVP. McGee primarily played center and right field, winning three Gold Glove Awards for defensive excellence. McGee spent the majority of his 18-year career...
, Pat Tabler
Pat Tabler
Patrick Sean "Pat" Tabler is a former Major League Baseball player and currently a color analyst for the Toronto Blue Jays on the Canadian sports television network Rogers Sportsnet and formerly with Rod Black on TSN....
, and Dan Pasqua
Dan Pasqua
Daniel Anthony Pasqua , is a former professional baseball player who played in the Major Leagues from 1985-1994. He was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 3rd round of the 1982 amateur draft. Pasqua attended William Paterson University in New Jersey...
helped lead Nashville to first or second-place divisional finishes from 1980 to 1984.
The 1980 Sounds finished the first half of the season one-and-a-half games behind the Memphis Chicks
Memphis Chicks
The Memphis Chicks were an American minor league baseball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Chicks were charter members of the Southern Association from 1901 until November 18, 1960, when the club folded and was transferred to Macon, Georgia for 1961.The Chicks suffered a...
. In the second half, the team finished in first-place, 14 games ahead of the second-place team. In the Western Division championship series, Nashville lost to Memphis, three games to one. Nine Southern League records were set during the season, the team's pitching staff led the league in ERA
Earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...
and strikeout
Strikeout
In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....
s, and Steve Balboni led the league in runs
Run (baseball)
In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured...
, home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
s, and total bases
Total bases
In baseball statistics, total bases refers to the number of bases a player has gained with hits, i.e., the sum of his hits weighted by 1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple and 4 for a home run.Only bases attained from hits count toward this total....
. The team also set a league attendance record, when a total of 575,676 fans visited Greer Stadium. As of the completion of the 2007 season, this record still stands. In 2001, the 1980 Sounds were ranked as the sixty-ninth greatest minor league baseball team of all-time by baseball historians.
On April 16, 1981, the New York Yankees made a stop in Nashville to play an exhibition game against the Sounds. The 10–1 Yankees victory was played in front of a standing room only crowd of 17,318 fans. Also on hand for the game were Yankees owner George Steinbrenner
George Steinbrenner
George Michael Steinbrenner III was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. During Steinbrenner's 37-year ownership from 1973 to his death in July 2010, the longest in club history, the Yankees earned seven World Series...
, coach Yogi Berra
Yogi Berra
Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra is a former American Major League Baseball catcher, outfielder, and manager. He played almost his entire 19-year baseball career for the New York Yankees...
, and players Reggie Jackson
Reggie Jackson
Reginald Martinez "Reggie" Jackson , nicknamed "Mr. October" for his clutch hitting in the postseason with the New York Yankees, is a former American Major League Baseball right fielder. During a 21-year baseball career, he played from 1967-1987 for four different teams. Jackson currently serves as...
, Bucky Dent
Bucky Dent
Russell Earl "Bucky" Dent , is a former American Major League Baseball player and manager. He earned two World Series rings as the starting shortstop for the New York Yankees in and , and was voted the World Series MVP in 1978...
, Lou Piniella
Lou Piniella
Louis Victor Piniella is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. He has been nicknamed "Sweet Lou," both for his swing as a major league hitter and, facetiously, to describe his demeanor as a player and manager...
, Bobby Murcer
Bobby Murcer
Bobby Ray Murcer was an American Major League Baseball outfielder who played for 17 seasons between 1965 and 1983, mostly with the New York Yankees, whom he later rejoined as a longtime broadcaster...
, Goose Gossage
Rich Gossage
Richard Michael "Goose" Gossage is a former Major League Baseball right-handed relief pitcher. During a 22-year baseball career, he pitched from 1972-1994 for nine different teams, spending his best years with the New York Yankees and San Diego Padres. The nickname "Goose" is a play on his surname...
, Tommy John
Tommy John
Thomas Edward John Jr. is a former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball whose 288 career victories rank as the seventh highest total among left-handers in major league history...
, and Johnny Oates
Johnny Oates
Johnny Lane Oates was an American professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees from 1970 to 1981...
. The Sounds won the second half of the season and went on to win the Western Division championship after defeating the Memphis Chicks in three straight games. The team suffered in the best-of-five league championship series, falling to the Orlando Twins
Montgomery Biscuits
The Montgomery Biscuits are a minor league baseball team based in Montgomery, Alabama. The team is the Class AA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays and plays in the Southern League. The 2004 season was the team's first in Montgomery...
, 3–1. Don Mattingly and Willie McGee, who both played for the Sounds in 1981, were later promoted to the major leagues. In 1985, Mattingly was named the 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...
Most Valuable Player and McGee named the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
MVP.
The following year, second half winner Nashville met the Knoxville Blue Jays
Tennessee Smokies
The Tennessee Smokies are a Minor League Baseball team based in the Knoxville, Tennessee metropolitan area. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball as of the 2011 season...
in the 1982 division playoffs. After defeating the Blue Jays, the Sounds advanced to the league championship series to play against the Jacksonville Suns
Jacksonville Suns
The Jacksonville Suns are a minor league baseball team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The team is currently a member of the Southern League and is the class Double-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins Major League Baseball team...
. Nashville defeated the Suns, three games to one, clinching the Southern League championship, giving the franchise their second league title.
The New York Yankees returned for another exhibition game against the Sounds on April 28, 1983. New York had a four-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning, but a five-run rally with two outs propelled the Sounds to a 5–4 win in front of 13,641 fans. Among the Yankees in attendance for the game were Billy Martin
Billy Martin
Alfred Manuel "Billy" Martin, Jr. was an American Major League Baseball second baseman and manager. He is best known as the manager of the New York Yankees, a position he held five different times...
, Yogi Berra
Yogi Berra
Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra is a former American Major League Baseball catcher, outfielder, and manager. He played almost his entire 19-year baseball career for the New York Yankees...
, Goose Gossage, Ken Griffey, Sr.
Ken Griffey, Sr.
George Kenneth "Ken" Griffey is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. He currently serves as Manager for the Bakersfield Blaze, the Reds' Single A minor league affiliate. He is the father of former professional outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr. and former minor leaguer Craig Griffey. He and his...
, Dave Winfield
Dave Winfield
David Mark Winfield is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. He is currently Executive Vice President/Senior Advisor of the San Diego Padres and an analyst for the ESPN program Baseball Tonight...
, Lou Piniella, and Willie Randolph
Willie Randolph
Willie Larry Randolph is a former Major League Baseball second baseman and manager, most recently the third base coach for the Baltimore Orioles...
. During the season, manager Doug Holmquist
Doug Holmquist
Douglas Leonard Holmquist was an American minor league baseball player and manager, as well as Major League Baseball coach for the New York Yankees. He played professionally from to and managed and/or coached from to...
, frustrated with the team's disappointing first half, instituted a system of fines for player infractions or poor performance on the field. The program ranged from a US$10 fine for a pitcher walking a batter with one on and two outs to a US$100 fine for missing curfew. Rebounding, Nashville won the second half pennant, earning the team a shot at the Western Division championship. The Sounds, however, lost the fifth game of the best-of-five series to the Birmingham Barons
Birmingham Barons
The Birmingham Barons are a minor league baseball team based in Birmingham, Alabama. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox major-league club....
by a score of seven runs to five, ending their season. On June 21, during a road trip to Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, teammates Scott Bradley
Scott Bradley (baseball)
Scott William Bradley is a former Major League Baseball catcher in the major leagues from to . He played for the Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, and Cincinnati Reds. He is currently the head coach of Princeton University's baseball team.On June 26, 1986, Bradley was traded...
, Mike Pagliarulo
Mike Pagliarulo
Michael Timothy Pagliarulo, aka "Pags" , is a former Major League Baseball third baseman during the 1980s and into the mid 1990s...
, Erik Peterson, and Buck Showalter were walking back to their hotel when Peterson was hit by an automobile. When he began to convulse, Bradley put his fingers down Peterson’s throat to keep him from swallowing his tongue. He survived, but with a bruised leg and several lacerations to the head, and he returned to play later in the season. The Southern League All-Star Game returned to Nashville in 1983. Not only did the Sounds host the event, but they also served as the all-star team's competition. The all-stars recorded the victory with a score of three runs to two.
The Sounds were one game shy of winning the first half pennant in 1984. Winning the first half title is something that eluded the team during its entire seven year span at the Double-A level. Nashville captured the second half title, however, for the sixth consecutive season, after defeating Knoxville in a playoff game. The two teams met again in the divisional playoffs, but Knoxville emerged the victor, ending the Sounds' season. One important highlight of the first half of 1984 took place on May 4, when Jim Deshaies
Jim Deshaies
James Joseph "Jim" Deshaies , also known as "JD", is a former left-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball and currently a TV commentator with the Houston Astros.- Major-league career :...
pitched the club’s first no-hitter
No-hitter
A no-hitter is a baseball game in which one team has no hits. In Major League Baseball, the team must be without hits during the entire game, and the game must be at least nine innings. A pitcher who prevents the opposing team from achieving a hit is said to have "thrown a no-hitter"...
against the Columbus Astros
Carolina Mudcats
The Carolina Mudcats are a minor league baseball team based in the eastern suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina. The team, which plays in the Carolina League, are the Single-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians major-league club beginning in 2012.-History:...
in the second game of a seven-inning doubleheader
Doubleheader (baseball)
A doubleheader is a set of two baseball games played between the same two teams on the same day in front of the same crowd. In addition, the term is often used unofficially to refer to a pair of games played by a team in a single day, but in front of different crowds and not in immediate...
. The 5–1 Sounds victory was cut short of being a perfect game following three walks
Base on balls
A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08...
and a batter being hit by a pitch
Hit by pitch
In baseball, hit by pitch , or hit batsman , is a batter or his equipment being hit in some part of his body by a pitch from the pitcher.-Official rule:...
, advancing the runner home for the only Astros run
Run (baseball)
In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured...
of the game.
Tigers era (1985–1986)
Larry Schmittou
Larry Schmittou is an American entrepreneur. He currently owns a S&S Family Entertainment LLC, which operates a chain of bowling centers. He is a former coach of the Vanderbilt University baseball team. From the late 1970s to the mid 1990s, he was the owner of several minor league baseball teams...
noticed a 5% drop in season ticket sales, a higher ratio of no-shows from season ticket holders, and a slight decline in overall attendance. These issues with spectator turnout were accompanied by a decline in local media coverage, particularly in regard to road games. In order to boost interest in the team, Schmittou tried, unsuccessfully, to purchase a Triple-A franchise late in the 1983 season. Attendance continued to drop in 1984, as season ticket sales were down 12% and overall attendance was down almost 20%.
Schmittou and team owners arrived at terms in June 1984 to purchase the Evansville Triplets
Evansville Triplets
The Evansville Triplets were a minor league baseball team of the American Association from to . In its last season, Evansville was the Triple-A farm team for the Detroit Tigers...
of the American Association
American Association (20th century)
The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...
, with plans to move the franchise from Evansville, Indiana
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
, to Nashville for the 1985 season. In order to prove to the team's Nashville banks, which would back the purchase, that the move was financially viable, Schmittou commissioned a survey to evaluate the potential turnout for a Triple-A team versus a Double-A team. Though the research proved to team owners that the move was a sensible decision, the banks were not impressed. As a result, the team switched banks and went ahead with the purchase and relocation. Nashville’s existing Southern League
Southern League (baseball)
The Southern League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the Southern United States. It is classified a Double-A league. The original league was formed in , and shut down in . A new league, the Southern Association, was formed in , consisting of twelve teams...
franchise was moved to Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County. The city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsville's population was 180,105 as of the 2010 Census....
, where it became the Huntsville Stars
Huntsville Stars
The Huntsville Stars are a minor league baseball team of the Southern League and are the Double-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Huntsville, Alabama and are named for the space industry with which Huntsville is economically tied .The Stars play their home games at Joe W...
. The Triplets' legacy was retired, and the team was moved to Nashville. The Triple-A Sounds carried on the history of the Double-A team that preceded it.
The Sounds entered the Triple-A playing level as affiliates of the Detroit Tigers
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
in 1985. On July 17, Bryan Kelly
Bryan Kelly (baseball)
Bryan Keith Kelly is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He played during two seasons at the major league level for the Detroit Tigers. He was drafted by the Tigers in the 6th round of the 1981 amateur draft...
pitched the club’s second no-hitter
No-hitter
A no-hitter is a baseball game in which one team has no hits. In Major League Baseball, the team must be without hits during the entire game, and the game must be at least nine innings. A pitcher who prevents the opposing team from achieving a hit is said to have "thrown a no-hitter"...
against the Oklahoma City 89ers
Oklahoma RedHawks
The Oklahoma City RedHawks are a minor league baseball team based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The team, which plays in the Pacific Coast League, is the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros...
, a 6–0 win. Nashville ended the season in second-place in the Eastern Division, missing out on finishing in first-place by two and a half games.
In 1986, Nashville finished third in their division with a 68–74 regular season record, their first losing season since the inaugural 1978 campaign. Also that season, the Sounds were enlisted to serve as the competition in the Southern League All-Star Game, held in Huntsville, Alabama. The game was won by Nashville with a score of four runs to two.
Reds era, part II (1987–1992)
The Sounds rejoined the Cincinnati RedsCincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
farm system in 1987, this time as their Triple-A affiliate. As a result, a number of minor leaguers played in the Reds organization at two different levels with Nashville. Spending the beginning of the 1987 season around the top of the standings, the team hit a slump after losing a few key players mid-season. The result was a 64–76 record and a last place finish. One player lost due to injuries was third baseman Chris Sabo
Chris Sabo
Christopher Andrew Sabo is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Cincinnati Reds , Baltimore Orioles , Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals . At 6'0" and 180 lb , he batted and threw right-handed...
. Sabo was promoted to Cincinnati and was also named the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
Rookie of the Year in 1988, a first for any former Sounds player.
Jack Lind
Jackson Hugh Lind is a retired Major League Baseball shortstop, first baseman, second baseman, and third baseman. He played during two seasons at the major league level for the Milwaukee Brewers, as well as one season in Japan for the Yomiuri Giants...
, who left due to health problems. His position was filled on an interim basis by pitching coach Wayne Garland
Wayne Garland
Marcus Wayne Garland was a Major League Baseball pitcher from 1973 to 1981 for the Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Indians. Garland's best season came in 1976 when he posted a win–loss record of 20–7...
until former manager George Scherger
George Scherger
George Richard Scherger , nicknamed "'Sugar Bear," was a retired coach in American Major League Baseball and a former longtime minor league infielder and manager...
, manager of the 1979 Southern League championship Sounds, was brought in. He retired after one game and was replaced by Jim Hoff
Jim Hoff
Jim Hoff is a former minor league baseball manager in the Cincinnati Reds organization and current minor league field coordinator for the Tampa Bay Rays....
, who stayed a few days before taking up a position with the Reds' front office. Finally, former Texas Rangers
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
manager Frank Lucchesi
Frank Lucchesi
Frank Joseph Lucchesi is a former manager in Major League Baseball who ran the Philadelphia Phillies , Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs...
was hired to lead the Sounds for the rest of the season. Lucchesi managed the team's last 39 games, leading them to a final record of 73–69. They finished second in the East Division and were out of the playoffs.
Greer Stadium was home to a rare baseball occurrence on August 6 and August 7, 1988, when Nashville and the Indianapolis Indians
Indianapolis Indians
The Indianapolis Indians are a minor league baseball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The team, which plays in the International League, is the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates major-league club. The Indians play at Victory Field, located in downtown Indianapolis...
exchanged no-hitter
No-hitter
A no-hitter is a baseball game in which one team has no hits. In Major League Baseball, the team must be without hits during the entire game, and the game must be at least nine innings. A pitcher who prevents the opposing team from achieving a hit is said to have "thrown a no-hitter"...
s on back-to-back nights. First, Indianapolis' Randy Johnson
Randy Johnson
Randall David Johnson , nicknamed "The Big Unit", is a former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. During a 22-year career, he pitched for six different teams....
and Pat Pacillo
Pat Pacillo
Patrick Michael Pacillo is a former Major League Baseball player who pitched for the Cincinnati Reds in 1987 and 1988. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 1st round of the 1984 amateur draft out of Seton Hall University and he debuted on May 23, 1987. In his debut he pitched 5 innings and...
combined for a no-hit loss against the Sounds, a 1–0 Nashville win. The next night, Nashville's Jack Armstrong registered a no-hit game against the Indians, a 4–0 Sounds victory. This was the third no-hitter ever pitched by a member of the Sounds.
After finishing in third-place with a 74–72 record in 1989, the Sounds returned in 1990 to experience their most successful season as a part of the American Association, when they compiled an 86–61 record. Finishing the regular season in a tie with the Buffalo Bisons
Buffalo Bisons
The Buffalo Bisons are a minor league baseball team based in Buffalo, New York. They currently play in the International League and are the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets...
, the Sounds won the Eastern Division championship in a one-game playoff. The extra-inning affair was ended by Chris Jones' two-run homer in the top of the eighteenth inning. The Sounds advanced to their first American Association championship series, where they lost to the Omaha Royals
Omaha Royals
The Omaha Storm Chasers are a United States minor league baseball team currently based in the Omaha suburb of Papillion, Nebraska. The team is the Triple-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals major league club and has been a member of the expanded Pacific Coast League since 1998. From 1969 to 1997,...
three games to two. That year, Nashville set their all-time attendance record when a total of 605,122 fans came out to Greer Stadium.
In 1991, the Sounds started the year in first-place, where they remained for only ten days. By May 1, the team had fallen into third-place in the Eastern Division, where they remained for the rest of the season. Nashville posted a losing record every month during the season and finished the year 16 games behind the first-place Buffalo Bisons
Buffalo Bisons
The Buffalo Bisons are a minor league baseball team based in Buffalo, New York. They currently play in the International League and are the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets...
. First baseman Terry Lee
Terry Lee
For the English footballer of the same name see Terry Lee Terry James Lee is a retired Major League Baseball first baseman. He played during two seasons at the major league level for the Cincinnati Reds. He was signed by the Reds as an amateur free agent in...
, who led the Sounds in hits
Hit (baseball)
In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice....
, RBI
Run batted in
Runs batted in or RBIs is a statistic used in baseball and softball to credit a batter when the outcome of his at-bat results in a run being scored, except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play. The first team to track RBI was the Buffalo Bisons.Common nicknames for an RBI...
, runs
Run (baseball)
In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured...
, and home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
s, was selected for the mid-season Triple-A All-Star Game
Triple-A All-Star Game
The Triple-A All-Star Game is a single baseball game held between the two Triple-A leagues in minor league baseball—the International League and the Pacific Coast League...
and the league's post-season All-Star Team. The following year was Nashville's last as a Reds affiliate. The team posted a 67–77 record, winding up in fourth-place and out of the post-season picture.
White Sox era (1993–1997)
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
. In addition to a new affiliation, the 1993 season also brought the addition of Greer Stadium's signature guitar-shaped scoreboard. In their first year with the White Sox, the Sounds clinched the East Division title with an 81–62 record. In the league championship series, the Iowa Cubs
Iowa Cubs
The Iowa Cubs are a Triple-A minor league baseball team, affiliated with the Chicago Cubs, that plays in the Pacific Coast League. Their home games are played in Des Moines, Iowa, at Principal Park.-Franchise history:...
defeated the Sounds in extra innings in game seven. Nashville's Rick Renick
Rick Renick
Warren Richard Renick is a retired Major League Baseball infielder and outfielder. He played during five seasons at the major league level for the Minnesota Twins. After his playing career, he began a career managing in the minor leagues...
was named the American Association Manager of the Year.
The Sounds shared their ballpark with the Southern League's Nashville Xpress
Nashville Xpress
The Nashville Xpress were a minor league baseball team of the Southern League from 1993 to 1994. They were located in Nashville, Tennessee and played home games at Herschel Greer Stadium, which opened in 1978...
, previously known as the Charlotte Knights
Charlotte Knights
The Charlotte Knights are a minor league baseball team representing Charlotte, North Carolina. The team, which plays in the International League, is the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox of the American League...
, during the 1993 and 1994 seasons. This came about when Charlotte acquired a Triple-A expansion franchise in 1993, leaving the city's Double-A team without a home. Sounds owner Larry Schmittou
Larry Schmittou
Larry Schmittou is an American entrepreneur. He currently owns a S&S Family Entertainment LLC, which operates a chain of bowling centers. He is a former coach of the Vanderbilt University baseball team. From the late 1970s to the mid 1990s, he was the owner of several minor league baseball teams...
offered Greer Stadium as a temporary home for the team. In order to accommodate an additional team at Greer, the Xpress scheduled its home games during the Sounds’ road trips. Baseball America
Baseball America
Baseball America is a magazine which covers baseball at every level, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in high school, college, Japan, and the minor leagues. It is currently published in the form of a bi-weekly newspaper, five annual reference book titles, a weekly podcast, and a...
ranked the dual Nashville teams as number one on its list of the "top 10 happenings in minor league baseball." In 1995, the Xpress relocated to Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
and became the Port City Roosters
Port City Roosters
The Port City Roosters were a minor league baseball team based in Wilmington, North Carolina. The team, which played in the Southern League, was the Double-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners major-league club. The Roosters played in Brooks Field on the campus of the University of North Carolina,...
.
In 1994, the Sounds earned an 83–61 record. They also made their second consecutive appearance in the league's championship series. In the first round, Nashville swept the New Orleans Zephyrs
New Orleans Zephyrs
The New Orleans Zephyrs are a minor league baseball team based in Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. The Zephyrs play in the Pacific Coast League and are the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. The Zephyrs play their home games at Zephyr Field....
in three straight games to advance to the league finals. In the best-of-five series, the Indianapolis Indians
Indianapolis Indians
The Indianapolis Indians are a minor league baseball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The team, which plays in the International League, is the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates major-league club. The Indians play at Victory Field, located in downtown Indianapolis...
defeated the Sounds three games to one. Nashville hosted the mid-season Triple-A All-Star Game in 1994. Sounds players Ray Durham, Drew Denson, and Scott Ruffcorn were selected for the event, however Ruffcorn was later placed on the disabled list and replaced by Steve Schrenk. Durham won the "Stars of Stars" award, recognizing him as the most valuable All-Star representing the American Association.
The Sounds compiled a 68–76 record, 20 games out of first-place, in 1995. Originally, Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
, who played with the White Sox's Double-A Birmingham Barons
Birmingham Barons
The Birmingham Barons are a minor league baseball team based in Birmingham, Alabama. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox major-league club....
in 1994, was signed to play the 1995 season as a non-drafted free agent for the Sounds. However, with the ongoing MLB strike, Jordan decided to quit the sport rather than becoming a replacement player and being labeled a strikebreaker.
The team improved their record in 1996, ending up with 77 wins and 67 losses. Despite a decent winning percentage, Nashville failed to secure a spot in the playoffs. Manager Rick Renick
Rick Renick
Warren Richard Renick is a retired Major League Baseball infielder and outfielder. He played during five seasons at the major league level for the Minnesota Twins. After his playing career, he began a career managing in the minor leagues...
earned the league's Manager of the Year award, and pitcher Scott Ruffcorn
Scott Ruffcorn
Scott Patrick Ruffcorn was a Major League Baseball pitcher from 1993 to 1997 for the Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies. He was a first round draft pick of the Chicago White Sox in the June 1991 draft, and played with the White Sox at the major league level, from 1993-1996. In 1997 he...
lead the league with thirteen wins
Win (baseball)
In professional baseball, there are two types of decisions: a win and a loss . In each game, one pitcher on the winning team is awarded a win and one pitcher on the losing team is given a loss in their respective statistics. These pitchers are collectively known as the pitchers of record. Only...
. This season marked the last that Larry Schmittou
Larry Schmittou
Larry Schmittou is an American entrepreneur. He currently owns a S&S Family Entertainment LLC, which operates a chain of bowling centers. He is a former coach of the Vanderbilt University baseball team. From the late 1970s to the mid 1990s, he was the owner of several minor league baseball teams...
was the team's principal owner. With the city prepared to welcome a National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
franchise, the Tennessee Titans
Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the team began play in 1960 as a charter...
, Schmittou felt that revenue would be drawn away from his baseball team. He sold his entire financial interest in the Sounds to Al Gordon, president of AmeriSports Companies LLC. The following year, Nashville put together a 74–68 season, again failing to win either half of the season, leaving them out of the post-season. In addition to being selected for both the mid-season and post-season All-Star teams, outfielder Magglio Ordóñez
Magglio Ordóñez
Magglio José Ordóñez Delgado is a Venezuelan Major League Baseball right fielder. He has played for the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers . Ordóñez is six feet, one inch tall and weighs .-Professional career:...
garnered the league's Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards.
Pirates era (1998–2004)
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
(PCL). The franchise also picked up a new major league affiliation, becoming the top farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
. For the first time since the team's foundation in 1978, the Sounds adopted a new logo, color scheme, and uniforms which were phased-in over the course of their first two years in the PCL.
In 1998, the team's first season as a Pirates affiliate, the Sounds finished last in the division with a 67–76 record. Improving from the previous year, the 1999 team put together an 80–60 record, but their second-place finish left them out of the post-season picture. Sounds second baseman Matt Howard
Matt Howard
Matthew Christopher Howard is a retired Major League Baseball second baseman. He played during one season at the major league level for the New York Yankees. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 34th round of the amateur draft out of Pepperdine University...
led the league in fielding percentage
Fielding percentage
In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball...
(.982) and fewest strikeout
Strikeout
In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....
s per plate appearance (1:18.2). Pitcher Jimmy Anderson led the PCL in winning percentage
Winning percentage
In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. It is defined as wins divided by wins plus losses . Ties count as a ½ loss and a ½ win...
(.846, 11–2).
Nashville finished with a 63–79 record, resulting in a last-place finish in the 2000 divisional standings. Former All-Star Sounds infielder Marty Brown returned to the club to serve as its 25th manager in 2001, becoming the first former Nashville player to serve as the team's skipper. The Sounds compiled a 64–77 record, putting them in third-place and out of the playoffs. Outfielder Tike Redman
Tike Redman
Julian Jawann "Tike" Redman is a Major League Baseball center fielder who is a free agent. His first year in the major leagues was...
tied Iowa's Ross Gload
Ross Gload
Ross Peter Gload is a first baseman and outfielder who is currently a free agent.-High school/college career:...
with a league-leading 10 triples
Triple (baseball)
In baseball, a triple is the act of a batter safely reaching third base after hitting the ball, with neither the benefit of a fielder's misplay nor another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....
. On June 30, Redman became the first Sounds player to hit for the cycle
Hitting for the cycle
In baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter hitting a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle". Cycles are uncommon in Major League Baseball , occurring 293 times since the first by Curry...
. The Sounds scored a third-place divisional finish with a 72–71 record in 2002.
On April 7, 2003, right-hander John Wasdin
John Wasdin
John Truman Wasdin is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball. He was born in Fort Belvoir, Virginia and raised in Tallahassee, Florida....
pitched the first perfect game
Perfect game
A perfect game is defined by Major League Baseball as a game in which a pitcher pitches a victory that lasts a minimum of nine innings and in which no opposing player reaches base. Thus, the pitcher cannot allow any hits, walks, hit batsmen, or any opposing player to reach base safely for any...
in Nashville Sounds history in his first start of the season against the Albuquerque Isotopes
Albuquerque Isotopes
The Albuquerque Isotopes are a minor league baseball team based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The team, which plays in the Pacific Coast League, is the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers...
. The 4–0 Sounds win was only the second nine-inning perfect game in PCL history. That year, manager Trent Jewett
Trent Jewett
Phillip Trent Jewett is a baseball coach and former minor league baseball player. He was the manager of the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, the top farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball from to...
led the Sounds to an 81–62 record. They clinched the Eastern Division title, giving them their first post-season berth as a member of the Pacific Coast League. Nashville met Albuquerque in the American Conference championship series, defeating them three games to one. They went on to lose the best-of-five league championship series in three straight games to the Sacramento River Cats
Sacramento River Cats
The Sacramento River Cats is a minor league baseball team based in Sacramento, California. The team plays in the Pacific Coast League and is the Triple-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics....
.
The franchise completed the 2004 campaign with a 63–79 record, finishing last in the division. Early in the season, Jason Bay
Jason Bay
Jason Raymond Bay is a Canadian professional baseball player. An outfielder, he currently plays for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball...
played four games in Nashville before being promoted to Pittsburgh. Following the season, he was named the National League Rookie of the Year. This made him the second former player from Nashville to receive such honors. On May 21, catcher J. R. House
J. R. House
James Rodger "J. R." House is a catcher in Major League Baseball with the independent Long Island Ducks. House was drafted in the 5th round. He later gave up baseball, focusing instead on his love of football...
became the second Sounds player to hit for the cycle.
Brewers era (2005–present)
The Sounds changed affiliates in 2005, welcoming the Milwaukee BrewersMilwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
as their sixth different major league franchise. Coincidentally, the major/minor league sports connection between Nashville and Milwaukee is duplicated, but with reverse roles, in ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, as the Milwaukee Admirals
Milwaukee Admirals
The Milwaukee Admirals are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They play in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA at the Bradley Center.-History:...
have been the top-level minor league affiliate of the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
's Nashville Predators
Nashville Predators
The Nashville Predators are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
since 1998. The Sounds' new affiliation started well as the club captured the 2005 Pacific Coast League championship, Nashville's first professional title since the Sounds' previous league crown in 1982. Managed by Frank Kremblas
Frank Kremblas
Francis Michael "Frank" Kremblas Jr. is an American minor league baseball manager, currently with the Indianapolis Indians Triple-A team within the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, and a former minor league player in the Cincinnati Reds farm system from 1989 to 1996.-Early and personal...
and featuring top prospects such as Rickie Weeks
Rickie Weeks
Rickie Darnell Weeks is a Major League Baseball second baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers....
, Prince Fielder
Prince Fielder
Prince Semien Fielder is a Major League Baseball free agent who plays first base. He is currently listed at 5' 11" and . He was selected by the Brewers in the first round of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft out of Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne, Florida.He is the son of former Detroit...
, Nelson Cruz, and Corey Hart, the Sounds won the American North Division title on the second-to-last day of the season. In the conference championship, Nashville defeated the Oklahoma RedHawks
Oklahoma RedHawks
The Oklahoma City RedHawks are a minor league baseball team based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The team, which plays in the Pacific Coast League, is the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros...
three games to two. The Sounds went on to defeat the Tacoma Rainiers
Tacoma Rainiers
The Tacoma Rainiers are a minor league baseball team that plays in the Pacific Coast League , and are the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners...
in three straight games to capture the league title.
On July 15, 2006, Nashville pitchers Carlos Villanueva, Mike Meyers
Mike Meyers (baseball)
Michael Gregory "Mike" Meyers was raised in Tillsonburg, Ontario and is a former professional baseball pitcher who played in the Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, and Milwaukee Brewers organizations from to ....
, and Alec Zumwalt combined to pitch the fifth no-hitter in team history, a 2–0 win over the Memphis Redbirds
Memphis Redbirds
The Memphis Redbirds are the Triple-A minor league baseball affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They play their home games at AutoZone Park in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The stadium's capacity is 14,320. They entered the Pacific Coast League as an expansion team in 1998, and were owned as a...
. On May 5–6, the Sounds participated in a 24-inning game against the New Orleans Zephyrs
New Orleans Zephyrs
The New Orleans Zephyrs are a minor league baseball team based in Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. The Zephyrs play in the Pacific Coast League and are the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. The Zephyrs play their home games at Zephyr Field....
. The contest, played over the course of two days, lasted a total of eight hours and seven minutes. This game matched the longest game, in terms of innings played, in PCL history. Additionally, several team and league records were broken by both teams. The record was originally set on June 8, 1909 in a game between the San Francisco Seals and Oakland Oaks
Oakland Oaks (PCL)
The Oakland Oaks were a minor league baseball team in Oakland, California that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 through 1955, after which the club transferred to Vancouver, British Columbia...
. A few years later, on September 10, 1911, the record was tied by a contest between the Sacramento Solons
Sacramento Solons
The Sacramento Solons were a minor league baseball team based in Sacramento, California. They played in the Pacific Coast League during several periods . The current Sacramento River Cats began play in 2000...
and Portland Beavers
Portland Beavers
The Tucson Padres are a minor league baseball team, representing Tucson, Arizona, in the Pacific Coast League . They are the Triple-A affiliate for the San Diego Padres. The team was formerly known as the Portland Beavers and played its last home game at PGE Park on September 6, 2010...
. The Sounds finished the season with a 76–68 record, tied with the Iowa Cubs for first-place in the American North Division. Nashville won the division title and advanced to the post-season by means of a tiebreaker (winning the regular season series versus Iowa nine games to seven). In the conference championship series, Nashville lost to the Round Rock Express
Round Rock Express
The Round Rock Express is a class Triple-A Pacific Coast League minor league baseball team in Round Rock, Texas, owned by RSR Sports and founded by Reid Ryan, son of Baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan. The team is affiliated with the Texas Rangers, for whom Nolan Ryan serves as the president and...
, three games to two.
Yovani Gallardo
Yovani Gallardo is a Mexican-American right-handed starting pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers. He was selected in the second round of the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft out of Trimble Technical High School in Fort Worth, Texas....
and Ryan Braun
Ryan Braun
Ryan Joseph Braun is an American right-handed Major League Baseball left fielder for the Milwaukee Brewers. A perennial standout, he was ranked No...
, both of whom were promoted to Milwaukee during the season. Braun, who made his major league debut on May 25, was named National League Rookie of the Year following the season, making him the third former Sounds player to receive this honor. On June 25, Manny Parra
Manny Parra
Manuel Alex "Manny" Parra is a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers.-Early life:...
pitched the club's second perfect game, only the third nine-inning perfect game in PCL history, against the Round Rock Express; he was promoted to the Brewers shortly thereafter. The team, led by PCL Manager of the Year Frank Kremblas
Frank Kremblas
Francis Michael "Frank" Kremblas Jr. is an American minor league baseball manager, currently with the Indianapolis Indians Triple-A team within the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, and a former minor league player in the Cincinnati Reds farm system from 1989 to 1996.-Early and personal...
, captured the American North Division title for the third straight year and finished the season with a league best .618 winning percentage (89–55). In the conference championship series, they were defeated by the New Orleans Zephyrs, three games to one.
On June 14, 2008, following massive flooding
June 2008 Midwest floods
The June 2008 Midwestern United States floods were flooding events which affected portions of the Midwest United States. After months of heavy precipitation, a number of rivers overflowed their banks for several weeks at a time and broke through levees at numerous locations. Flooding continued...
in the Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
, the Sounds and the Iowa Cubs played a game with an official attendance of zero. Though downtown Des Moines
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
was under a mandatory evacuation, team officials received permission from the city to play the game as long as no fans were allowed into Principal Park
Principal Park
Principal Park, formerly Sec Taylor Stadium, is a minor league baseball stadium located in Des Moines, Iowa. It is the home field of the Pacific Coast League's Iowa Cubs....
. In order to keep fans away, the lights and scoreboard were not turned on, the game was not broadcast in the local market, and a message on the team's website announced that the game was postponed. PCL Commissioner Branch Rickey III believed that this was the first time such actions were taken out of necessity. The Sounds were further affected by weather when Hurricane Gustav
Hurricane Gustav
The name Gustav has been used for five tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean:* 1984's Tropical Storm Gustav - Spent most of its existence as a tropical depression hovering over Bermuda, no major damage was reported....
forced the cancellation of the last three games of their season against the New Orleans Zephyrs. The team spent all but one day of the season at the bottom of the divisional standings. Their 59–81 record (.421) was the worst in the team's 31-year history.
On October 30, 2008, Amerisports Companies LLC entered into an agreement to sell the Sounds to MFP Baseball, a New York-based group of investors consisting of Masahiro Honzawa, Steve Posner, and Frank Ward. George King, PCL Vice President of Business and Operations, said that keeping the team in Nashville was one of the league's top criteria for approval of the sale. The transaction received final approval from Major League Baseball and the PCL on February 26, 2009. Though significant renovations were made to Greer Stadium, MFP continues to explore building a new downtown ballpark for the club, which will remain in Nashville. King was later selected to be the franchise's new general manager.
Rebounding from the worst record in franchise history in 2008, the 2009 Sounds achieved a 75–69 record under new manager Don Money
Don Money
Donald Wayne Money is a retired major league baseball player. He currently serves as the special instructor of player development for the Milwaukee Brewers....
. Despite a winning record and spending the majority of the season in first-place, the Sounds finished the season two games behind their cross-state rivals, and eventual league champions, the Memphis Redbirds. The team featured top-prospects Alcides Escobar
Alcides Escobar
Alcides Escobar is a Major League Baseball shortstop for the Kansas City Royals. He was considered the best-fielding infielder in the Brewers' organization and was previously one of the top prospects in the organization...
and Mat Gamel
Mat Gamel
Mathew Lawrence Gamel is a Major League Baseball third baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers.-Early life:Gamel attended Bishop Kenny High School in Jacksonville, Florida...
.
The 2010 season proved to be reminiscent of the previous campaign. Though Nashville finished the year with a winning 77–67 record, it was only good enough to place fourth (last) in the division. Following the completion of the season, the Brewers extened their player development contract, a working agreement between a major and minor league baseball team, with the Sounds through the 2012 season.
Sounds right fielder
Right fielder
A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound...
Caleb Gindl became the third player in team history to hit for the cycle when he accomplished the feat on July 10, 2011. Center fielder
Center fielder
A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball fielding position between left field and right field...
Logan Schafer
Logan Schafer
Logan Edward Schafer is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers.-Professional career:Schafer was drafted by Milwaukee in the 3rd round of the 2008 amateur entry draft. He was previously drafted twice, but did not sign; first by the Boston Red Sox in the 31st round in 2006, and...
garnered national media attention when he initiated a triple play
Triple Play
A triple play is a baseball play in which three outs are made as a result of continuous action without any intervening errors between outs.Triple play may also refer to:...
on August 20 against the Omaha Storm Chasers. What made the rare occurrence even more unusual is that the ball first bounced off Schafer’s glove and head before landing in his glove for the first out. He then returned the ball to the infield where second baseman
Second baseman
Second base, or 2B, is the second of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a base runner in order to score a run for that player's team. A second baseman is the baseball player guarding second base...
Eric Farris
Eric Farris
Eric Michael-Jay Farris is a Major League Baseball second baseman with the Milwaukee Brewers.-Personal life:Farris is the only son of Elizabeth and Darryl Farris. He has two sisters, Jeannette and Jessica....
and first baseman
First baseman
First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team...
Mat Gamel completed the triple play by stepping on their respective bases. Nashville ended the year with a 71–73 record, placing third in their division.
Season-by-season results
| Nashville Sounds 5-Year History | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | |Post-season | |||||||
| Record | Win % | League | Division | GB | Record | Win % | Result | |
| 2007 2007 Nashville Sounds season The Nashville Sounds' 2007 season was the franchise's 30th year of play. The team finished the regular season with a record of 89 wins and 55 losses. They finished first in their division, clinching the American North Division title... |
89–55 | .618 | 1st | 1st | – | 1–3 | .250 | Clinched American North Division title Lost American Conference title vs New Orleans Zephyrs New Orleans Zephyrs The New Orleans Zephyrs are a minor league baseball team based in Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. The Zephyrs play in the Pacific Coast League and are the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. The Zephyrs play their home games at Zephyr Field.... , 3–1 |
| 2008 2008 Nashville Sounds season The Nashville Sounds' 2008 season was the franchise's 31st year of play. The team finished the regular season with a record of 59 wins and 81 losses. They finished fourth in their division, which kept them out of the post-season.-Regular season:... |
59–81 | .421 | 16th | 4th | 23 | – | – | — |
| 2009 2009 Nashville Sounds season The Nashville Sounds' 2009 season was the franchise's 32nd year of play. The team finished the regular season with a record of 75 wins and 69 losses. They finished second in their division, which kept them out of the post-season.-Regular season:... |
75–69 | .521 | 5th | 2nd | 2 | – | – | — |
| 2010 2010 Nashville Sounds season The Nashville Sounds' 2010 season was the franchise's 33rd year of play. The team finished the regular season with a record of 77 wins and 67 losses. They finished fourth in their division, which kept them out of the post-season.-Regular season:... |
77–67 | .535 | 5th | 4th | 5 | – | – | — |
| 2011 2011 Nashville Sounds season The Nashville Sounds' 2011 season was the franchise's 34th year of play. The team opened the season at home on April 7, 2011, with a 5–1 win over the New Orleans Zephyrs.-Season standings:-Record versus opponents:-Game log:-Roster:-References:... |
71–73 | .496 | t-6th | 3rd | 9 | – | – | — |
| 5-Year Totals | 371–345 | .518 | – | – | – | 1–3 | .250 | 1 division title, 0 conference titles, and 0 league titles |
Herschel Greer Stadium
Herschel Greer Stadium
Herschel Greer Stadium is a minor league baseball park located in Nashville, Tennessee, on the grounds of Fort Negley, an American Civil War fortification, approximately two miles south of downtown...
. The venue has experienced numerous expansions and contractions since its completion in 1978, and currently seats 10,300 spectators. Its best known feature is its giant 115.6 foot (35.2 m) guitar-shaped scoreboard
Scoreboard
A scoreboard is a large board for publicly displaying the score in a game or match. Most levels of sport from high school and above use at least one scoreboard for keeping score, measuring time, and displaying statistics. Scoreboards in the past used a mechanical clock and numeral cards to...
behind the left field wall.
In recent years, following the construction of newer, relatively luxurious minor league ballparks, Greer has fallen below standards set for Triple-A stadiums by professional baseball. It has been the subject of many renovations and upgrades in order to meet current Triple-A standards. Prior to the 2008 season, more than US$1 million in upgrades and repairs were made to the stadium. The improvements, which included a new clubhouse, improved field lighting, and improvements to restrooms, walkways, and seating, were made in order to keep the stadium functional for another three to five years.
On December 16, 2008, the Nashville Metro Council
Metropolitan Council (Davidson County)
The Metropolitan Council is the legislative body of the consolidated city-county government of Nashville, Tennessee and Davidson County.The Council has 40 members, 35 of which are district council representatives, and five of which are council members at-large. If a member resigns or dies before...
approved an up to five-year extension to Greer's lease. MFP Baseball, which purchased the Sounds in early 2009, invested over $2.5 million to make repairs and upgrades to the stadium's restrooms, concession stands, scoreboard, sound system, and seating. As of August 2010, the team had identified three sites around Nashville under consideration for the location of a new ballpark: the area south of Korean Veterans Boulevard in the SoBro (South of Broadway) district, the former Polar Ice property at 11th Avenue and Charlotte Avenue, and the parking lot that was once the location of Sulphur Dell
Sulphur Dell
Sulphur Dell is a former minor league baseball park in Nashville, Tennessee. It was used for baseball for nearly 100 years, from to . From to , it was the home of the Nashville Vols minor league team...
. Team officials continue to seek a deal for the construction of a new ballpark.
First Tennessee Field
The team had originally planned on leaving Greer Stadium for a new ballpark in the early 2000s. Opening day at the new venue was repeatedly pushed back, eventually to as late as 2008. After years of the Sounds lobbying for a new park and threatening to leave town (either for the suburbs or a new location altogether), the Nashville Metro Council approved a new stadium on February 7, 2006. It was to be called First Tennessee FieldFirst Tennessee Field
First Tennessee Field was the name of a proposed minor league baseball stadium planned for construction in Nashville, Tennessee. The new ballpark was to sit on the banks of the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville, on the former site of the Nashville Thermal Transfer Plant...
and was planned for construction on the west bank of the Cumberland River
Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a waterway in the Southern United States. It is long. It starts in Harlan County in far southeastern Kentucky between Pine and Cumberland mountains, flows through southern Kentucky, crosses into northern Tennessee, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before...
in downtown Nashville, just 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the current stadium.
The Sounds and private developers Struever Brothers, Eccles, & Rouse were unable to finalize financing and design plans for the new stadium by the April 15, 2007, deadline set by the Nashville Metro Council. As a result, the First Tennessee Field construction project was canceled. In the meantime, numerous upgrades and repairs were made to Greer in order to preserve its functionality until a new stadium could be built. In January 2008, owners Amerisports Companies LLC introduced a bill into the Tennessee General Assembly
Tennessee General Assembly
The Tennessee General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.-Constitutional structure:According to the Tennessee State Constitution of 1870, the General Assembly is a bicameral legislature and consists of a Senate of thirty-three members and a House of Representatives of...
that would have allowed the team to collect a portion of state and local sales tax in order to pay for a new stadium. The team later dropped its efforts to get the bill passed after the city called the endeavor "an act of bad faith" by the Sounds.
Uniforms
Uniform
A uniform is a set of standard clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, security guards, in some workplaces and schools and by inmates...
s of the Nashville Sounds are descendants of the uniforms they adopted in 1999, after becoming affiliates of the Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
. Jerseys and pants for home games are made of white fabric, while those for road games are made of gray fabric. The sleeveless jerseys have red and black piping around the neck and along the row of buttons going up the chest. Pants have the same piping going down the legs on the outside. On home jerseys, the word "Sounds" is written across the chest in red script surrounded by black. A Milwaukee Brewers
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
logo is located on the front left shoulder. The player’s name is written on the back in black block characters; numbers are also displayed in large red characters surrounded by black. Black t-shirts, of varying sleeve lengths, are worn underneath the jerseys. Road jerseys are the same, but with "Nashville" across the chest in the same style; they also lack the player's name on the back. The official home and road caps are black with the red and white music note logo centered on the front.
The team’s batting practice uniforms, which double as alternate uniforms, are identical to the home outfit, except they are worn with different jerseys. These jerseys are made of red mesh with a single line of black piping going down the sleeves and across the shoulders to the neck. "Sounds" is written across the chest in white script surrounded by black. There are black ventilation stripes located at the armpits, and a Brewers logo on the front left shoulder. Numbers, in white surrounded by black, are sewn on the back in block characters. The alternate uniform is worn with either the regular home/road black cap or the team’s red batting practice cap which bears a yellow and white version of the music note logo.
In conjunction with "Throwback Thursday" promotions which began in 2010, the Sounds wear uniforms reminiscent of those the team wore in the late-1970s and 1980s. The short-sleeved button up jerseys are made of red fabric with red, white, and blue stripes at the sleeve openings. The word "Sounds" is written across the chest in white music note-like script with a blue border. The backs of jerseys display the player's name, sewn in white letters, and their number, sewn in white characters with a blue border. The left sleeve features a patch of the team's original guitar-swinger logo. High pants, with red, white, and blue pin striping down the sides, are worn with blue belts and white socks with a single blue stripe down each side. The team cap is solid blue with an "N" styled like a music note in white, bordered by red on the front.
Past
Originally, the team’s color scheme consisted of red, white, and blue. Uniforms utilizing this palate were worn from 1978 to 1998. During this time, the team wore two major styles of uniforms: pullover jerseys and button up jerseys. Each of these styles experienced a number of minor design alterations from season to season.The pullover v-neck jerseys, worn by the team from 1978 to 1986, were made of white fabric, for home games, and red or blue, for road games or as alternates. They carried bands of red, white, and blue around the neck, with larger bands at the end of the sleeves (the blue version had one thin white band and two large red bands). The team’s pants were white and also displayed these stripes along the sides (small stripes) and at the waistband (large stripes). The word "Sounds" was written across the chest in two-color music note-like script. Numbers were sewn on the back of jerseys. Beginning circa 1985, numbers were also located on the front of jerseys on the player’s left chest, below the team name. The team wore a blue cap with red brim, displaying an "N" styled like a music note in white, bordered by red; this was the official team cap from 1978 to 1995.
From 1987 to 1998, the team’s uniforms featured button up jerseys made of white fabric, for home games, and gray, for road games. Small bands of red, white, and blue appeared at the openings of the sleeves and along the sides of the team’s pants. The word "Sounds" was written across the chest in blue music note-like script, with a red border; the font was changed briefly from 1987 to 1988. Numbers were present on the front of jerseys below the team name on the player’s left chest in blue block characters surrounded by red. The back of the jersey carried the player’s number; during some years, names were also present. Road jerseys had "Nashville" written across the chest and were missing the tri-color bands. The original cap was worn with this uniform until 1995 when the bill was changed to blue and the guitar-swinger logo was added to accompany the “N.”
The team switched to its current black, red, and white color scheme over the course of the 1998 and 1999 seasons. In the latter season, uniforms consisted of pinstriped pants and button up jerseys, with black sleeves carrying a music note logo on the left sleeve. By 2004, the team switched to pants and jerseys almost identical to the current designs. These sleeved jerseys differed in that they carried red and black piping around sleeve openings, a music note logo on the left sleeve, and numbers on the front of jerseys below the team name; they also lacked the logo of their parent club on the chest.
Radio and television
During the opening season of 1978, Nashville Sounds games were broadcast on WMTSWMTS-FM
' is a student run college radio station licensed to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA. The station is currently owned by Middle Tennessee State University....
96.3 FM by announcer and station owner, Monte Hale
Monte Hale (broadcaster)
Monte Hale was a radio personality and owner of the WMTS-FM radio station located at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee...
. He died following the inaugural season, after which Bob Jamison was hired for the 1979 season. Nashville-native and future sports talk show host George Plaster
George Plaster
George Plaster is the former host of The Sports Zone, a daily afternoon sports talk radio program broadcasting on WGFX-FM in Nashville, Tennessee. Plaster had hosted the show since shortly after its 2003 inception, and for ten years prior, hosted SportsNight, a similar program on WWTN-FM...
served as a color commentator
Color commentator
A color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...
from 1980 to 1981 and 1985 to 1986. Jamison remained the voice of the Sounds through 1990 when he was hired as the radio broadcaster for the California Angels
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California, United States. The Angels are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The "Angels" name originates from the city in which the team started, Los Angeles...
. For the 1991 season, the Sounds hired former Huntsville Stars
Huntsville Stars
The Huntsville Stars are a minor league baseball team of the Southern League and are the Double-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Huntsville, Alabama and are named for the space industry with which Huntsville is economically tied .The Stars play their home games at Joe W...
and Iowa Cubs
Iowa Cubs
The Iowa Cubs are a Triple-A minor league baseball team, affiliated with the Chicago Cubs, that plays in the Pacific Coast League. Their home games are played in Des Moines, Iowa, at Principal Park.-Franchise history:...
broadcaster Steve Carroll
Steve Carroll
Steve Carroll is an American professional sports broadcaster currently serving as the play-by-play announcer for the National Hockey League's Anaheim Ducks. Other hockey teams that Carroll has announced for include the Des Moines Buccaneers, Nashville Knights, New Haven Nighthawks, New Orleans...
. After 1995, Carroll left to become the radio voice of the NHL's
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
and, later, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California, USA. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
.
Steve Selby
Steve Selby
Steve Selby is an American minor league baseball radio broadcaster. Since 2005, he has been the play-by-play radio announcer for the Memphis Redbirds, the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals based in Memphis, Tennessee....
served as the voice of the Sounds from 1996 to 1999. He was joined on-air by fellow commentator Mike Capps
Mike Capps (broadcaster)
Mike Capps is a minor league baseball radio broadcaster and former news anchor and reporter. Since 2000, he has been the Director of Broadcasting and play-by-play announcer for the Round Rock Express, the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers based in Round Rock, Texas.Capps spent part of his...
for the 1997 season. Chuck Valenches
Chuck Valenches
Chuck Valenches is a minor league baseball radio broadcaster and voice actor. He most recently served as a play-by-play announcer for the Nashville Sounds, the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers based in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1998 to 2009....
replaced Capps as the assistant broadcaster in 1998 and was promoted to the role of lead broadcaster at the beginning of 2000. Stu Paul became the Sounds' play-by-play broadcaster in 2010. As of 2011, Sounds home games and select road games are broadcast on WGFX
WGFX
WGFX is a radio station broadcasting on the FM band at 104.5 MHz licensed to the city of Gallatin, Tennessee, but serving the Nashville market as a whole. It is currently branded as 104.5 The Zone, broadcasting a sports talk format. It is owned by Cumulus Media and operates out of studios on Second...
104.5 FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
. All games are broadcast online via the team website.
Sounds home games were regularly televised by WZTV
WZTV
WZTV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Nashville, Tennessee. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 15 from a transmitter on Knob Road north of downtown along I-24...
from 1982 to 1992. A few games were also aired by WNPX
WNPX
WNPX-TV is a U.S. television station licensed to Cookeville, Tennessee, which broadcasts on Channel 28 . It is owned and operated by ION Media Networks ....
in 1999. As of 2011, Sounds games are not broadcast on television. However, most games are streamed through the MiLB.TV subscription feature of the official website of Minor League Baseball, with audio provided by a radio simulcast. From 2005 to 2008, a monthly television program, called Sounds On Demand, aired throughout Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee is a distinct portion of the state of Tennessee, delineated according to state law as the 41 counties in the Middle Grand Division of Tennessee....
on Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
cable channel 49, and was also available "On Demand
Video on demand
Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
" through Comcast Digital Cable programming. The 30-minute show, hosted by Chuck Valenches, featured player interviews, team news, tips from players on how to play the game, and other related content.
Mascots
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
is an anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
cougar named Ozzie. He has yellow fur and wears the same style of uniform as the team, but with no hat. In addition to the team's current home and alternate uniforms, he also wears Sounds home uniforms from the past few seasons. Ozzie has been the team's mascot since 1997.
The first Sounds mascot was introduced during the team's inaugural 1978 season. Homer Horsehide, whose name was selected in a naming contest, resembled their major league affiliate's mascot—Mr. Red
Mr. Red
Mr. Red is the first mascot of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team. He is a humanoid figure dressed in a Reds uniform, with an oversized baseball for a head. Sometimes, Mr. Red is referred to by the team as "The Running Man" for the way he has posed on the logo circa 1968.Mr. Red made his first...
of the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
. The character was human in appearance, with the exception of an oversized anthropomorphized baseball in place of a human head. The mustachioed mascot donned a uniform identical to that of Sounds players.
Prior to Ozzie, a lime-green dinosaur named Champ was the team's mascot. His short-lived time as a mascot began in 1995 and ended in 1996. Following altercations with team management and league personnel during games, Champ, vis-à-vis his performer, did not return for the 1997 season.
When Amerisports Companies LLC, took control of the team in April 1997, they decided that a mascot was needed. Since the group also owned the Class A Kane County Cougars
Kane County Cougars
The Kane County Cougars are a Class A minor league baseball team, affiliated with the Kansas City Royals, that plays in the Midwest League. Their home games are played in Geneva, Illinois, about 35 miles west of Chicago....
minor league team, which had an extra mascot uniform, the surplus cougar outfit was sent to Nashville. After building a fan following during Ozzie’s first season, team management decided to make him the permanent mascot. Initially, the Ozzie costume was identical to the brown cougar costume which is still in use by Kane County, but was replaced by the current yellow outfit in 1998.
Faith Nights
Jars of Clay
Jars of Clay is a Christian rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. They met at Greenville College in Greenville, Illinois.Jars of Clay consists of Dan Haseltine on vocals, Charlie Lowell on piano and keyboards, Stephen Mason on lead guitars and Matthew Odmark on rhythm guitars...
, Hawk Nelson
Hawk Nelson
Hawk Nelson is a Christian rock band from Peterborough, Ontario. The band has become very popular in the Christian music scene and was voted "Favorite New Artist" by CCM Magazine in their February 2006 Reader's Choice Awards. In 2006 Hawk Nelson won a No...
, and Matthew West. Brent High, then Vice President of Sales for the Sounds, and Mike Snider, the president and owner of Third Coast Sports, an entertainment and sports marketing firm in Nashville, are credited with developing the promotion.
Since their inception, Faith Nights have been among the top-ten most-attended games each season. During Faith Nights in 2004, the Sounds experienced a 93% increase in attendance over their average season attendance for non-Faith Night dates; over 500 church groups attended these games. That fall, the team partnered with the Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity International
Habitat For Humanity International , generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or simply Habitat, is an international, non-governmental, non-profit organization devoted to building "simple, decent, and affordable" housing, a self-described "Christian housing ministry." The international...
to build a home for a family in need. The team raised more than $45,000 from donations and 10% of ticket proceeds on Faith Nights.
The promotion has since been adopted by at least 40 other minor league teams. It has also been used by major league teams such as the Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
and St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
. Teams from the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
and National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
have also shown interest in holding Faith Night promotions. The program has garnered national media attention for the Sounds from The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and National Public Radio.
Roster
- For a complete list of all-time Sounds players, see Nashville Sounds all-time rosterNashville Sounds all-time rosterThe Nashville Sounds minor league baseball franchise has played in Nashville, Tennessee since its inception in the 1978 season. As of the completion of the 2011 season, 984 players had competed in at least one game for the Sounds...
.
Retired numbers
Nashville has honored two of its players by retiring their uniform numbersUniform number (Major League Baseball)
As in many sports, a baseball player's uniform number has the purpose of identifying the player. However, it has come over time to have a much more significant meaning to the player and fans. A number can be symbolic of a player's legacy, and has resulted in all kinds of superstition...
. When a number is retired, no player on the team may wear that number in the future. This ensures that the number will be associated with one player of particular importance to the team.
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| Skeeter Barnes Skeeter Barnes William Henry "Skeeter" Barnes is a retired Major League Baseball utility player for the Cincinnati Reds , Montreal Expos , St... |
Don Mattingly Don Mattingly Donald Arthur "Don" Mattingly is a former Major League Baseball first baseman and current manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Nicknamed "The Hit Man" and "Donnie Baseball", he played his entire 14-year baseball career for the New York Yankees... |
Jackie Robinson Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947... |
| 1B First baseman First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team... / 3B Third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run... / OF Outfielder Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder... 1979, 1988–1990 Retired early 1990s |
1B First baseman First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team... / OF Outfielder Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder... 1981 Retired August 12, 1999 |
Retired throughout professional baseball on April 15, 1997 |
Hall of Famers
One person associated with the Sounds has been elected to the National Baseball Hall of FameNational Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...
. Hoyt Wilhelm
Hoyt Wilhelm
James Hoyt Wilhelm was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985....
, who served as the team's pitching coach
Coach (baseball)
In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, or head coach, who determines the lineup and decides how to substitute players during the game...
from 1982 to 1984, was elected in 1985.
Managers
- For a complete list of all-time Sounds managers and owners, see List of Nashville Sounds managers and owners.
Nashville Sounds Managerial Record (Last Five Managers) # |Years |Post-season Games Wins Losses Win % Appearances Wins Losses Win % 19 Richie Hebner Richie HebnerRichard Joseph Hebner is an American former professional baseball third baseman. He played from 1968 to 1985 in Major League Baseball. He played with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, and Chicago Cubs, all of the National League, and the Detroit Tigers of the American...
2000 2000 Nashville Sounds seasonThe Nashville Sounds 2000 season was the franchise's twenty-third year of play. The team finished the regular season with a record of 63 wins and 79 losses...
85 34 51 .400 – – – — 20 Marty Brown 2001 2001 Nashville Sounds seasonThe Nashville Sounds 2001 season was the franchise's twenty-fourth year of play. The team finished the regular season with a record of 64 wins and 77 losses...
–20022002 Nashville Sounds seasonThe Nashville Sounds 2002 season was the franchise's twenty-fifth year of play. The team finished the regular season with a record of 72 wins and 71 losses...
284 136 148 .479 – – – — 18 Trent Jewett Trent JewettPhillip Trent Jewett is a baseball coach and former minor league baseball player. He was the manager of the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, the top farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball from to...
2003 2003 Nashville Sounds seasonThe Nashville Sounds 2003 season was the franchise's twenty-sixth year of play. The team finished the regular season with a record of 81 wins and 62 losses. They finished first place in their division, clinching the Eastern Division title...
–20042004 Nashville Sounds seasonThe Nashville Sounds 2004 season was the franchise's twenty-seventh year of play. The team finished the regular season with a record of 63 wins and 79 losses...
285 144 141 .505 1 3 4 .429 21 Frank Kremblas Frank KremblasFrancis Michael "Frank" Kremblas Jr. is an American minor league baseball manager, currently with the Indianapolis Indians Triple-A team within the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, and a former minor league player in the Cincinnati Reds farm system from 1989 to 1996.-Early and personal...
2005 2005 Nashville Sounds seasonThe Nashville Sounds' 2005 season was the franchise's 28th year of play. The team finished the regular season with a record of 75 wins and 69 losses. They finished first in their division, clinching the American North Division title...
–20082008 Nashville Sounds seasonThe Nashville Sounds' 2008 season was the franchise's 31st year of play. The team finished the regular season with a record of 59 wins and 81 losses. They finished fourth in their division, which kept them out of the post-season.-Regular season:...
572 299 273 .523 3 9 8 .529 22 Don Money Don MoneyDonald Wayne Money is a retired major league baseball player. He currently serves as the special instructor of player development for the Milwaukee Brewers....
2009 2009 Nashville Sounds seasonThe Nashville Sounds' 2009 season was the franchise's 32nd year of play. The team finished the regular season with a record of 75 wins and 69 losses. They finished second in their division, which kept them out of the post-season.-Regular season:...
–present432 223 209 .516 – – – — Totals – – 1,658 836 822 .504 4 12 12 .500
See also
- Nashville Sounds awards, All-Stars, and league leaders
- Nashville Sounds no-hitters
- Nashville Sounds Opening Day starting pitchers
- Nashville Sounds team records