Memphis Redbirds

From Free net encyclopedia

The Memphis Redbirds are the class AAA minor league baseball affiliate of the Major League Baseball St. Louis Cardinals. They play their home games at AutoZone Park in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, the most expensive minor league baseball park ever constructed. They compete in the Pacific Coast League, and are owned as a non-profit community entity. The Memphis Redbirds are the only non-profit professional baseball team in the United States of America.

The St. Louis Cardinals' AAA franchise Redbirds moved to Memphis from Louisville, Kentucky where it had set minor league attendance records (in 1998 the Louisville team became affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers); the franchise moved to Louisville from Springfield, Illinois for the 1982 season. During their first season in Louisville the Redbirds broke the minor league attendance record (previously 670,563, set by San Francisco in 1946) with 868,418 fans attending games. In 1983 the Redbirds became the first minor league franchise to eclipse the one million mark in attendance, outdrawing five major league teams that season, including the nearby Cincinnati Reds. In 2002, Pitcher Rick Heiserman broke the Redbirds' record for games pitched in a career. Heiserman also threw the last professional pitch at the Redbirds' former home, Tim McCarver Stadium, in 1999.