Salem Red Sox
- Location: Salem, VA
- League: Carolina League 2009-2019; Low-A East 2021; Carolina League 2022-
- Affiliation: Boston Red Sox 2009-present
- Ballpark: Carilion Clinic Field at Salem Memorial Ballpark
Team History[edit]
The Salem Red Sox, of the Low-A Carolina League and briefly in Low-A East, ended the Affiliated Era as a BoSox owned-and-operated club but are changing hands just two years later. The Boston Red Sox farmhands play their home games at Carilion Clinic Field at Salem Memorial Ballpark in Salem, VA.
In 2009, the BoSox bought the then-High-A franchise to get their prospects of that level out of Lancaster, CA - whose ballpark was not only on the other side of the country but so windy it could derail pitchers on their minor league climb. MLB clubs owning rather than affiliating with farm teams had been growing as the big clubs sought to stop getting forced into partnerships they didn't want.
MLB's 2021 Minor League Reorganization, from MLB's point of view, fixed that. Whether intended or not, one side effect was the rise of Diamond Baseball Holdings. Entertainment giant Endeavor Group Holdings created DBH in 2021 specifically to buy and operate minor league clubs. Going into the 2023 season, DBH bought the Salem club from the Red Sox. Of the 16 teams DBH had at that point acquired or contracted to buy, six were wholly or partially owned by their parent club.
The sale may derail recent speculation that the BoSox might pull out of Salem in order to put a team back into Lowell, MA.[1] On the other hand, if the ballpark doesn't meet the new standards by 2025 the new system would allow the BoSox to pull the franchise and put it in Lowell or anywhere else they find viable.
Salem affiliated baseball history stretches to 1955, in the Carolina League - which dropped one level in the reorganization - since 1968 and before that in the Appalachian League. Its teams sported many colorful nicknames that were either derivative of those of their parent club or of local flavor: Friends, Rebels, Pirates, Redbirds, Buccaneers and Avalanche. "Pirates" and "Buccaneers" reflected Pittsburgh Pirates affiliations, while "Avalanche" did so for the Colorado Rockies.
Year-by-Year Record[edit]
External Link[edit]
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