From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Myers_Mighty_Mussels
The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Fort Myers, Florida, and play their home games at the Lee County Sports Complex at Hammond Stadium, which has a capacity of 7,500 and opened in 1991. The park is also used as the Minnesota Twins' spring training facility.
The majority owner is Kaufy Baseball, LLC, a privately held company managed by John Martin, who purchased a controlling interest in the club from Andrew Kaufmann in January 2022.[3]
The Mighty Mussels continue the proud tradition of the Florida State League baseball in Fort Myers that began in 1926 with the Fort Myers Palms. The modern day franchise began in Miami during the 1961–1962 offseason to serve as the Class D affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. The team was named the Miami Marlins in honor of the original Marlins of the Triple-A International League who had moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico (and subsequently Charleston, West Virginia), following the 1960 season.
In 1963, there was a restructuring of the classification system of all Minor League Baseball, which resulted in the FSL changing from Class D to Class A-Advanced. They became a Baltimore Orioles affiliate in 1966, and were renamed the Miami Orioles after their MLB parent club from 1971 to 1981. The Orioles owned the franchise until it was sold to an investment group led by then-Class AAA American Association president Joe Ryan on January 30, 1976.[4]
Upon the Baltimore Orioles' severing of their affiliation with the Miami Orioles following the 1981 season, the franchise reverted to the Marlins name and participated in the 1982 FSL season as an independent entry. Without a Major League affiliate, this team was composed of undrafted players from the area, free agents from various organizations and players on loan from the Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres, and Oakland A's organizations.
The following season the Miami Marlins became a San Diego Padres affiliate. This partnership lasted two years and the Marlins were without a parent club for the 1985 season.[citation needed] They filled their roster with ten former major leaguers looking to rejuvenate their careers, including Derrel Thomas, who made it back to MLB later that season with the Philadelphia Phillies. The Marlins continued this practice through the 1988 season. One of their signees in 1987, Dennis Martínez, also returned to MLB, signing with the Montreal Expos later that season. In 1987, the team started receiving some players on loan from the Tokyo Giants. This lasted through the 1988 season.[5]
In 1988, the team began the season at Bobby Maduro Miami Stadium, but moved later in the season to the Miami-Hialeah Lakes High School field.[6] The Marlins had per-game attendance totals of approximately 100 fans.[5]
On February 22, 1989, the South Florida Baseball Club Limited Partnership purchased the Marlins and were renamed the Miami Miracle. They moved the team from Miami Stadium, which the team had called home for the vast majority of its time in South Florida, to Florida International University's University Park with some games to be held at Key West High School.[5][6] South Florida BC LP consisted of Stuart Revo, managing partner, Marvin Goldklang, South Florida commercial real estate developer Michael M. Adler; Potamkin Television, New Age Broadcasting automobile dealership group Potamkin Companies president Alan Potamkin; Sillerman-Magee Communication Management Corp. CEO Robert Sillerman, actor Bill Murray and recording artist Jimmy Buffett. E.J. Narcise was named general manager. While having a partial affiliation with the Cleveland Indians and the Tokyo Giants of the Japanese league, the Miracle were considered an independent entry in the FSL.[6]
The team received only nine players from the Indians for the 1989 season and had to scramble to find players like pitcher Longo Garcia who was released by the San Francisco Giants organization having been a tenth round draft pick. Jim Gattis was named manager by April 1989.[5]
The Miracle were sold again a year later to the Marv Goldklang Group. Mike Veeck (son of Hall of Fame inductee Bill Veeck, and author of the book, Fun is Good) also became part owner of the organization while Murray and Buffett still maintained their shares as well.
In 1990, the team moved again, playing its home games at Pompano Beach Municipal Stadium. The team spent two seasons in Pompano Beach with future big league skipper Fredi González at the helm.[7]
In 1992, with the impending arrival of MLB's Florida Marlins, the Goldklang Group relocated the Miracle to Fort Myers. The Miracle operated as a co-op club with the Minnesota Twins that season, and became a full Twins affiliate a year later. The current Player Development Contract runs through 2018.[8]
In December 2019, the franchise announced that it would be rebrand ahead of the 2020 season and become known as the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels.[9]
In conjunction with
Major League Baseball's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Mighty Mussels were organized into the Low-A Southeast at the Low-A classification.
[10] In 2022, the Low-A Southeast became known as the Florida State League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization, and was reclassified as a Single-A circuit.
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