Nashville Xpress

In conjunction with the 1993 Major League Baseball expansion, George Shinn, owner of the Double-A Southern League's Charlotte Knights baseball team, was granted an expansion franchise in the Triple-A International League, which would begin playing in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1993.[2] Shinn, who had applied for Charlotte to receive one of two available Triple-A expansion teams, was recommended by the expansion committee after their visit to evaluate the city.[3][4] Of the nine applicant cities, Charlotte had the newest stadium, the only major league sports franchise (the National Basketball Association's Charlotte Hornets), and the largest metro area population.[4] Gaining a Triple-A team meant Shinn would need to relocate, or sell, his existing Southern League team as the higher classification team held the rights to the territory.[5][6] He solicited offers to purchase the club to help defray a US$5 million International League enfranchisement cost.[7] The interested parties included the Southern League, which hoped to place the team in an attractive market within its Southeastern territory,[8] and the city of Jackson, Tennessee, which had been rejected from receiving a 1993 Double-A expansion franchise.[9]

The Nashville Xpress played their home games at Herschel Greer Stadium.

In October 1992, Shinn chose to sell to Tom Benson, owner of the National Football League's New Orleans Saints, who sought to relocate the club to New Orleans.[6][10] According to The Charlotte Observer, the asking price was $3.6 million,[11] though the actual selling price was undisclosed.[12] The move was blocked, however, when Minor League Baseball granted territorial rights to the higher-classification Triple-A Denver Zephyrs, who wanted to move to New Orleans after being uprooted by the Colorado Rockies National League expansion team.[6] Following unsuccessful litigation and appeals, Benson opted out of the purchase and the franchise was still in need of a ballpark for the coming season.[6] In late January 1993, less than three months away from Opening Day, Southern League owners met to explore all options and find a solution.[6]

Southern League president Jim Bragan had approached Larry Schmittou, president and owner of several minor league teams, about placing the club at Ernie Shore Field in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, home of Schmittou's Class A-Advanced Winston-Salem Spirits.[13] The ballpark's age and low seating capacity did not meet the requirements for a Double-A facility,[13] so Schmittou offered Herschel Greer Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, home of the Triple-A Nashville Sounds, as a temporary ballpark for the displaced team until Shinn could find a permanent location.[14] In the end, the owners decided to accept the offer and place the team in Nashville for one season. Schmittou and Shinn entered into a management agreement wherein Schmittou and the Sounds' staff would operate the club and Shinn would retain ownership.[14]

With the league's approval, the franchise relocated to Nashville.[15] The Triple-A Charlotte Knights carried on the history and identity of the Double-A team that preceded it, and the Nashville Xpress were established as an entirely new team.[7] Nashville's nickname was in dual reference to the freight trains which ran along tracks beyond Greer Stadium's outfield wall and the team's sudden arrival and expected departure after the season.[15] Their logo depicted a steaming locomotive barreling across a baseball with "Nashville" written above in red and "Xpress" below in navy blue. To accommodate two teams at Greer, the Xpress' 71 home games, consisting of 68 dates with three doubleheaders,[16] were scheduled for during the Sounds' road trips, and the team went on the road when the Sounds played at home.[15] The arrangement meant that Greer would host baseball games for all but 11 days between the Sounds' April 8 opener and the Xpress' September 5 finale.[17]

The Xpress became the Double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins after prospective owner Tom Benson signed a player development contract—a working agreement between major and minor league clubs—when still planning to buy and relocate the franchise.[14] Nashville was managed by former major leaguer Phil Roof.[18] The coaching staff was rounded out by pitching coach Rick Anderson and hitting coach Mark Funderburk, both of whom also had major league playing experience,[19] and athletic trainer Rick McWane.[20]

Eddie Guardado, was the starting pitcher in Nashville's first win on April 9, 1993.

The Xpress played their first game on April 8, 1993, against the Orlando Cubs at Tinker Field in Orlando, Florida. Nashville's Rich Becker started the game by reaching base on an error and then scoring a run on Scott Stahoviak's RBI ground out in the top of the first inning. The 1–0 lead was short lived as Orlando hit two two-run home runs off of Bill Wissler in the bottom of the first. Both teams scored again, but the Cubs' four first-inning runs were enough to defeat the Xpress, 5–3.[21] Nashville got its first win the next night as they defeated the Cubs 5–3 with help from starting pitcher Eddie Guardado, who pitched six shutout innings, and Steve Dunn, who scored the winning run on an eighth-inning three-run homer.[22] Their home opener at Greer was played on April 16 against Orlando. Pitchers Todd Ritchie, Mike Misuraca, and Jason Klonoski limited Cubs batters to five hits and no runs in the 4–0 shutout. Nashville scored the winning run in the second inning when Brian Raabe doubled bringing home David Rivera and Rich Becker. The game was attended by 1,715 people on a cold night.[23]

The Southern League's 142-game season was split into two halves wherein the division winners from each half qualified for the postseason championship playoffs.[16][24] Nashville managed to hold off the other four teams in the Western Division to win the first half title with a league-best 40–31 record.[24] In recognition of their first-half performances, pitcher Oscar Múñoz and outfielder Rich Becker were selected for the 1993 Double-A All-Star Game.[25] Múñoz, who did not play in the game after having pitched six innings the night before, led the Southern League with 11 wins and 118 strikeouts,[25] while Becker possessed a .280 batting average with 10 home runs and 42 runs batted in (RBI); he struck out in his only at bat off the bench.[25]

The Xpress lost three members of their starting rotation when Eddie Guardado was called up to make his major league debut with the Twins in late June,[26] all-star pitcher Oscar Múñoz was moved up to the Twins' Triple-A Portland Beavers in August,[27] and Todd Ritchie was unable to play for the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury.[27] Despite winning the first-half, the Xpress struggled after the all-star break.[27] They finished in fourth place with a 32–39 record, 11 games out of first.[28]

Nashville faced the Birmingham Barons, winners of the Western Division's second half, in the best-of-five division championship series.[28] In game one, held at Greer Stadium, the teams entered the fifth inning tied with two runs apiece, but Mike Robertson's grand slam put the Barons up 6–2. The Xpress answered with three runs in the sixth but left runners in scoring position in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings on the way to a 7–5 loss.[29] In the second game, the Xpress bullpen gave up nine runs in the eighth, blowing a 6–4 lead and resulting in a 13–6 loss.[30] Game three of the series shifted to Birmingham, Alabama, where Nashville allowed nine runs in the sixth inning as the Barons erased what was a 3–1 Xpress lead. Birmingham won the game 10–3 and eliminated Nashville from the playoffs, ending their only postseason appearance in franchise history.[31]

Combining both halves, the Xpress' composite record stood at 72–70 for the 1993 season.[32] Oscar Múñoz was chosen to receive the Southern League Most Outstanding Pitcher Award after compiling an 11–4 record with a 3.08 earned run average (ERA) and 139 strikeouts in ​131 ²⁄₃ innings pitched.[33][34] Rich Becker, who co-led the league in runs scored (93),[35] was named to the Southern League's postseason all-star team and was called up to Minnesota to make his major league debut after the playoffs ended.[31][36] Marty Cordova tied for the league lead in extra-base hits (54), and pitcher Jeff Mansur tied for the most complete games (4).[37] The team led the Southern League in stolen bases (164), walks (584), on-base percentage (.344), fewest walks issued (396), and fewest passed balls (9).[32]

Larry Schmittou ran the Nashville Express simultaneous to the Nashville Sounds for two years.

George Shinn continued to look for a buyer for his Southern League franchise while Larry Schmittou continued to operate the team in Nashville.[38] Dennis Bastien, owner and general manager of the Charleston Wheelers South Atlantic League team, offered to exchange his Class A Charleston franchise, all of its assets, and over $1 million for the Xpress.[38] Becoming a three-party transaction, a group of Charleston-area investors agreed to then buy the Wheelers from Shinn so the city could keep its team.[38] The arrangement was announced in October 1993,[39] and Bastien closed on the acquisition of the Xpress in May 1994.[9] The team had a new owner, but still lacked a city and stadium of its own. With the 1994 season soon to begin, Schmittou agreed to allow Bastien's franchise to remain at Greer for another year.[40]

Rick Anderson coached the Xpress' pitchers to a league-leading 3.40 ERA and 917 strikeouts in 1994.[41]

Phil Roof and the rest of the 1993 coaching staff returned to lead the team on the diamond in 1994.[19][20][42] The Xpress began the season with an 11–3 loss to the Carolina Mudcats at Greer Stadium on April 7.[43] They stayed in the running for the first-half title until the last three days of the half.[44] Despite winning 27 of 40 games before being eliminated,[44] Nashville fell four-and-a-half games short of first place with a 39–31 record, third best in the Western Division.[45] Starting pitchers LaTroy Hawkins and Marc Barcelo were selected to participate in the Double-A All-Star Game.[46] At the time, Hawkins held a 9–2 record with a 2.33 ERA.[47] He missed the game after his promotion to Triple-A two weeks prior made him ineligible,[47] as did Barcelo (9–2; 2.43 ERA) after pitching six innings the previous day.[48]

Nashville jumped out to an early division lead but, much like the first half, were eliminated from second half title contention three games before the end of the season. In their final home game, played on September 1 against the Huntsville Stars, Nashville held a 1–0 lead going into the eighth inning, but Huntsville scored three runs in both the eighth and ninth innings on the way to a 6–2 defeat of the home team.[49] Though the loss prevented them from clinching the division title, the Xpress were still in contention for a wild card playoff spot if they could finish in second place behind the first-half champion Stars with a pair of wins in their last two games.[49] A 5–3 loss to the Chattanooga Lookouts at Engel Stadium on the next-to-last day of the season, however, ended their hopes of returning to the playoffs.[50] The Xpress closed out their 1994 schedule on the road against Chattanooga on September 3; Nashville's batters were limited to just two hits in a 5–0 loss.[51] They ended the second half in fourth-place at an even 35–35, four games out of first.[52]

The Xpress recorded a 74–66 composite record in their final year in Nashville.[41] Right-hander Brad Radke was named to the Southern League's 1994 postseason all-star squad.[36] He and Barcelo were tied with another player for the Southern League lead in games started (28).[53] LaTroy Hawkins tied for the league's best winning percentage (.818, 9–2).[53] Nashville's pitching staff led the league in ERA (3.40) and strikeouts (917) while allowing the fewest stolen bases (105).[41] After playing 282 regular season games and compiling an all-time record of 146–136, the franchise left Nashville.[32][41]

Dennis Bastien intended to relocate his club to Lexington, Kentucky, in 1995, but those plans fell through when he was unable to broker a financial deal with the city to build a ballpark.[38] In July 1994, the Southern League's board of directors stated that they wanted the team out of Nashville in 1995 and in a permanent location by 1996.[9][54] Schmittou was unwilling to have the team back for another season as hosting the team at Greer was too big of a financial risk.[55]

Rather than choose a city within the league's Southeastern footprint, Bastien proposed a temporary move to Bayamón, Puerto Rico.[40][56] The Xpress would play at Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium and be managed by the ownership group of the Memphis Chicks.[54] The plan's chief problems involved the high travel costs to be incurred by flights to and from Puerto Rico and how to schedule the season so as to lessen those costs.[57] Furthermore, the Minnesota Twins began looking for a new Double-A affiliate when they learned of the move,[58] leaving the Xpress in need of a new major league affiliate who would be willing to send their players to Puerto Rico.[59] The only major league clubs left without Double-A clubs were the Detroit Tigers and the Seattle Mariners.[59] The Tigers elected to partner with the Trenton Thunder,[60] leaving the Xpress to affiliate with the Mariners.[61] Seattle, however, did not approve of their team playing in Puerto Rico, so the plan was scrapped.[61]

In January 1995, Bastien arrived at terms to move the franchise to Springfield, Missouri, where they would play in a new stadium scheduled to open in 1997.[62] In the intervening two seasons, the franchise played in Wilmington, North Carolina, at Brooks Field on the campus of the University of North Carolina Wilmington as the Port City Roosters.[63][64] The Roosters were operated by Steve Bryant, owner of the Carolina Mudcats, similar to the manner in which Schmittou ran the Xpress.[65]

The team never made it to Springfield after the city was unable to secure federal funding for a ballpark.[66] Bastien made an attempt to place the team in the Springfield suburb of Ozark, but residents voted down a sales tax increase to pay for a stadium.[67] He subsequently sold the franchise to sports investor Eric Margenau, who moved the team to Mobile, Alabama, where they began play at Hank Aaron Stadium as the Mobile BayBears in 1997.[67][68] In 2018, the BayBears were sold to BallCorps, LLC.[69] The team remained in Mobile for the 2019 season after which they were relocated to Madison, Alabama,[69] a suburb of Huntsville, where they became known as the Rocket City Trash Pandas.[70]

These players won Southern League awards, were voted onto midseason All-Star teams, or were selected for postseason All-Star teams while members of the Xpress.

These are records of players who led in distinct statistical categories during their career with the Xpress.[18][42]