Hawaii Islanders

The Hawaii Islanders were a Triple-A affiliate in the Pacific Coast League, based in Honolulu, for 27 seasons, from 1961 to 1987. They started as a farm team for the Kansas City Athletics and played at three different ballparks: Honolulu Stadium, Aloha Stadium, and Les Murakami Stadium. Once one of the most successful franchises in the minors, the team declined and relocated to the mainland after the 1987 season, becoming the Colorado Springs Sky Sox.

The franchise began as an amateur team before the Sacramento Solons, a longtime PCL club, moved to Honolulu on December 17, 1960. Minor league baseball was struggling at the time due to sparse crowds, major league TV broadcasts, expansion and franchise shifts at the top level, and cuts in farm system support—trends that led to the contraction of many teams and entire leagues. The Solons had seen attendance drop after the San Francisco Giants arrived from New York in 1958. Salt Lake City businessman Nick Morgan bought the Solons and moved them to Hawaii, then sold the team to a local group two years later.

By the end of the 1960s, the Islanders were considered the strongest franchise in the minors. In 1970, as an affiliate of the California Angels and managed by Chuck Tanner, they won 98 games and drew over 400,000 fans, leading all minor league teams. Though they lost the PCL playoff championship to the Spokane Indians, Minor League Baseball historians later ranked that 1970 squad as the 38th greatest minor league team ever.

Because the Islanders were 2,500 miles from their nearest opponent, they used an unusual schedule. Early on, PCL teams made four- and seven-game trips to Hawaii, and the Islanders did the same. Later, as the league grew, they played eight-game series against each opponent to cut travel costs.

Travel also affected radio coverage. In the early 1960s, due to the high cost of line charges, Islanders announcers re-created road games from a Honolulu studio—a method used by most major league teams in the 1930s and 1940s. The team’s first play-by-play man was Harry Kalas, fresh out of the military.

When Kalas moved to the mainland (with the Houston Astros and later the Philadelphia Phillies), Hank Greenwald took over; Marty Chase replaced Greenwald in 1966 and stayed through 1968. A young Al Michaels arrived in June 1968 after Chase was called to active Army duty. Other Islanders broadcasters who later worked in Major League Baseball included Ken Wilson, Les Keiter, Mel Proctor, and Allan Elconin (also known as Al Conin).

In the early 1970s, the Islanders were as close to an independent team as existed in the high minors. While standard working agreements usually gave the major league parent complete control over the roster, the Islanders’ early deals with the San Diego Padres typically required the Padres to send only about six players. The Islanders signed the rest themselves and could trade, sell, or release them without San Diego’s approval. This arrangement worked well: the Islanders won consecutive PCL titles in 1975 and 1976.

The Islanders enjoyed success and stability as the Padres’ top affiliate from 1971 to 1982, but spent the latter half of the 1980s in short-term partnerships with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox.

The decline began when the team moved from rickety Honolulu Stadium to Aloha Stadium in 1976. Honolulu Stadium, a wooden structure built in 1926, had long been below Triple-A standards and was known as the “Termite Palace”; it was clearly past its useful life by the mid-1960s. But the new multi-purpose stadium in Halawa, on west-central Oahu, was far from the team’s fan base. Attendance, already dropping, fell further.

Fans disliked the drive, and those taking TheBus balked at walking through the parking lots to reach the seats—unlike Honolulu Stadium, where the bus stop was right at the main gate. Worse, the lease with the state government, which owned Aloha Stadium, prevented the Islanders from earning any money from concessions or advertising, severely limiting revenue. The 1976 pennant winners nearly folded when the IRS padlocked the team office and the PCL briefly revoked their franchise.

That 1976 team almost lost its chance at the pennant due to a May incident. Aloha Stadium management initially refused to allow metal spikes on the artificial turf, which had been installed the previous September. When the Tacoma Twins followed a parent-club order to wear metal spikes, stadium management turned off the center field lights. After 35 minutes, the umpires forfeited the game to the Twins.

The Islanders protested, saying they had no control over the lights, but the PCL sided with the Twins, citing the rule that the home team is responsible for providing acceptable playing conditions. Because of the forfeit, the Islanders entered the final series of the season 1½ games ahead of Tacoma in the Western Division. The Twins then won three straight at home over Spokane, while Hawaii lost two at home to Sacramento, leaving Tacoma one game up with one game left. The results reversed on the final day, and the two teams tied.