Wichita Aeros

• Location: Wichita, KS
• League: American Association 1970-1984
• Affiliation: Cleveland Indians 1970-1971; Chicago Cubs 1972-1980; Texas Rangers 1981; Montreal Expos 1982-1983; Cincinnati Reds 1984
• Ballpark: Lawrence-Dumont Stadium

When the American Association expanded in 1970, a team was placed in Wichita, KS and a contest led to the name Wichita Aeros. The team was initially affiliated with the Cleveland Indians, who placed league batting champ Chris Chambliss on the club in their first season. The team won the Western Division crown in 1972 in their first year affiliated with the Chicago Cubs but they fell to the Evansville Triplets in the post-season. The team boasted MVP Pat Bourque, ERA king Joe Decker and Larry Gura.

The club slipped from there, though they remained competitive in 1973 thanks to home run king Adrian Garrett and MVP Pete LaCock. The offense-friendly environment of Wichita led to many other individual titles though the team rarely topped .500 again - Jim Dwyer won the batting crown in 1977, Karl Pagel was MVP and home run leader two seasons later, Mike Richardt had the top batting average in 1981, in 1982 Roy Johnson led in contact hitting while MVP Ken Phelps led in homers, in 1983 Mike Stenhouse was MVP and batting king and finally in 1984 RBI leader Alan Knicely was MVP as well.

In 1981 Wichita switched from the Cubs to the Texas Rangers - that lasted a year, then they became a Montreal Expos farm team for two seasons and finally a Cincinnati Reds affiliate in 1984. The club always played in historic Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

The team could not compete financially and Milton Glickman lost money every year to keep the club in Wichita. Finally he was forced to sell to Bob Rich, who moved the team to Buffalo, NY where they became the very successful Buffalo Bisons.

Source: "The American Association" by Bill O'Neal

Year-by-Year Record

Year	Record	Finish	Manager	Playoffs	Pitching coach
1970	67-73	8th	Ken Aspromonte
1971	66-74	6th	Ken Aspromonte
1972	87-53	1st	Jim Marshall	Lost League Finals
1973	67-68	4th	Jim Marshall
1974	67-68	5th	Mike Roarke
1975	68-68	5th	Mike Roarke
1976	56-79	7th	Doc Edwards
1977	68-64	4th (t)	Harry Dunlop
1978	58-77	8th	Harry Dunlop
1979	57-79	8th	Jack Hiatt
1980	61-74	5th (t)	Jack Hiatt
1981	65-70	5th	Rich Donnelly		Dick Such
1982	70-67	5th (t)	Felipe Alou
1983	65-71	5th	Felipe Alou
1984	78-77	5th	Gene Dusan