Sacramento Solons
A Pacific Coast League team with multiple incarnations in Sacramento.
A minor league baseball club, the Sacramento Solons were part of the Pacific Coast League in 1903, 1905, 1909–1914, 1918–1960, and 1974–1976. The Sacramento River Cats, the current team, started in 2000.
Quick Facts
- City
- Sacramento, California
- League
- Pacific Coast League (1909–1914, 1918–1960, 1974–1976)
Facts from the source article.
Nickname
The team's name derived from Sacramento's status as the state capital; "solons" was a journalistic term for senators, referencing the Greek lawmaker Solon. Solon Huntington, a 19th-century Sacramento businessman, also shared the name. The team was sometimes called the Sacramento Sacts or Sacramento Senators. During 1913–1914, under manager Harry Wolverton, San Francisco newspapers dubbed them the Wolves, a nickname that later followed the team to San Francisco as the Mission club.
Early years
A Sacramento team played from 1900 to 1902 in the California League, known as the Senators and also the Gilt Edges. That franchise became a charter member of the Pacific Coast League in 1903 as the Sacramento Solons, also called the Sacts or Senators. The other charter teams were the Los Angeles Angels, Portland Beavers, Oakland Oaks, San Francisco Seals, and Seattle Indians. The Solons finished second in 1903 but moved to Tacoma for 1904, becoming the Tacoma Tigers. The Tigers won the PCL pennant in 1904 and the first half of the split 1905 season, then lost the 1905 postseason to the Angels. The Tacoma team moved to Fresno in 1906 as the Fresno Raisin Eaters, returned to Sacramento in 1907 for three seasons in the California League, and rejoined the PCL in 1909. Poor attendance in 1914 forced a mid-season move to San Francisco as the San Francisco Missions; the team was sold to Bill "Hardpan" Lane and moved to Salt Lake City for 1915 as the Salt Lake City Bees.
Heyday
The Sacramento Solons began as the Senators before Branch Rickey bought the team in 1935 and changed the name. Rickey’s close associate Philip Bartelme was the club’s president from 1936 to 1944. The Solons topped the standings in 1937 but fell to the San Diego Padres in the postseason. Their sole Pacific Coast League pennant came in 1942. During the PCL’s peak, the Solons attracted decent crowds when facing rivals from Los Angeles, Hollywood, San Francisco, and Oakland. After the Dodgers and Giants relocated to California in 1957, those PCL franchises moved to Spokane, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and Vancouver. The Solons stayed put, but the nearby San Francisco Giants cut into attendance. A 1959 plan to sell the team to John Ducey for a move to Edmonton was rejected. Following the 1960 season, the club was sold and shifted to Honolulu, becoming the Hawaii Islanders in 1961.
Minor league return
The third incarnation of the Sacramento Solons started life in 1969 as the Eugene Emeralds during a Triple-A league reshuffle. By the end of 1973, Eugene was judged too small to sustain Pacific Coast League baseball, so the franchise relocated to Sacramento for the 1974 season and revived the Solons name. The team’s former home, Edmonds Field, was already gone, leaving only Hughes Stadium, a 23,500-seat football venue. Its layout turned the park into a hitter’s dream—left field measured under the standard 250 feet from home plate. Even after finishing last two years in a row, the Solons drew the PCL’s biggest crowds thanks to a flood of home runs. When the Texas Rangers became the parent club, they refused to send top prospects to the rundown Hughes Stadium with its tiny dimensions. The owners then “leased” the team to San Jose for the 1977 and 1978 seasons, renaming it the San Jose Missions, while hoping to secure a proper baseball park. Poor attendance in San Jose led to a sale, and the club moved to Ogden, Utah, for 1979. The PCL came back to Sacramento in 2000 when a group headed by Art Savage bought the Vancouver Canadians and shifted them to the capital, calling them the Sacramento River Cats. They chose a fresh name over the traditional Solons. Playing at the purpose-built Raley Field, the River Cats have ranked among Minor League Baseball’s attendance leaders, topping all minor league teams in their first nine seasons back.
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