Albuquerque Isotopes
- Location: Albuquerque, NM
- League: Pacific Coast League 2003-2019; Triple-A West 2021; Pacific Coast League 2022-
- Class: AAA
- Affiliation: Florida Marlins 2003-2008; Los Angeles Dodgers 2009-2014; Colorado Rockies 2015-
- Ballpark: Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park 2003-
Team History[edit]
The Albuquerque Isotopes of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League and briefly in Triple-A West, are nicknamed for a fictional team in a 2001 episode of The Simpsons. The Colorado Rockies farmhands play their home games at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque, NM.
In "Hungry, Hungry Homer", Homer Simpson goes on a hunger strike to stop the Springfield Isotopes from moving to Albuquerque. When the episode aired, Albuquerque was temporarily without a team; when one moved there, it was named Isotopes at least in part because of the TV episode. Colorful Simpsons statues are scattered around the ballpark. The name is also appropriate because New Mexico was the home of the first nuclear weapons test in history and remains the home of two nuclear research laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories.
The Isotopes began play in 2003, when the Calgary Cannons moved from Canada to New Mexico. In 2007, the Isotopes won Baseball America's annual Freitas Award, given to a Minor League Baseball team at each classification level for outstanding operations.
With this team as with previous franchises, Albuquerque had a long-standing relationship with the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, after the Dodgers changed partners - rather dramtically - by buying the Oklahoma City RedHawks, the 'Topes joined the Rockies in 2015.
In this day of alternate brands, the 'Topes may be the first to use two in one day; August 2, 2021, they used their Green Chile Cheeseburgers ID in one game of a double-header and their two-time Copa de la Diversión-winning Mariachis de Nuevo Mexico (New Mexico Musicians) brand in the other. The Copa grew from a 2017 Hispanic engagement campaign.
Year-by-Year Record[edit]
Related Sites[edit]
- Albuquerque Isotopes Baseball Club
- Summary of the Simpsons episode in which Albuquerque tries to lure away the Isotopes
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