From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradenton_Marauders

The Bradenton Marauders are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Bradenton, Florida, and play their home games at LECOM Park, which also serves as the Pirates' spring training facility.

The franchise can be directly traced to 1957 as the Tampa Tarpons, a team in the Florida State League, then a Class D minor league, based in Tampa.[1] From their inception, the Tarpons played all their home games at Al Lopez Field, built in 1955 and located at the current site of Raymond James Stadium.

The Tarpons were affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1957 to 1960. In 1961 they began a long affiliation with the Cincinnati Reds. During the 1970s several Tarpon alumni went on to be part of Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine". Future Reds star Pete Rose led the first place Tarpons in 1961 with a .331 batting average and 30 triples, still an FSL record.[2] Other Reds players of the era who started with the Tarpons include Ken Griffey, Sr., Johnny Bench, Dan Driessen, Rawly Eastwick, and Dave Concepción. Later, the 1990 World Series Champion Reds roster included former Tarpons such as Tom Browning, Rob Dibble, and Paul O'Neill. Randy Poffo, who later became famous as professional wrestler "Macho Man" Randy Savage, finished a minor league baseball career with the Tarpons in 1974.[3] The Tampa Tarpons won three league championships, in 1957, 1959 and 1961.[4]

In the 1980s rumors arose that a major league team would come to Tampa, which would threaten the viability of the Tarpons and other minor league teams in the Tampa Bay Area. In 1988 the Chicago White Sox replaced Cincinnati as the Tarpons' affiliate, launching murmurs that the White Sox would themselves relocate to the area.[5] Fearing his team would soon be displaced, in 1989 Tarpons owner Mitchell Mick sold his franchise to the White Sox, who moved it to Sarasota as the Sarasota White Sox.[6]

The team started play in "Sarasota" as the Sarasota White Sox in the 1989 season.[6] They remained in the city for the next 21 seasons, going through a series of name changes due to their affiliation changes. They were known as the White Sox from 1989 to 1993, as the Sarasota Red Sox from 1994 to 2004, and the Sarasota Reds from 2004 to 2009. In Sarasota, the team played in Payne Park (1989) and then Ed Smith Stadium (1990–2009). They won two division championships, in 1989 and 1992, and made playoff appearances in 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994, and 2007.[4]