The Paintsville Yankees was the primary moniker of the

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

team located in

Paintsville Paintsville () is a home rule-class city along Paint Creek in Johnson County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 3,459 during the 2010 U.S. Census. History A Paint Lick Station was referred to in ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

from 1978 to 1984.

History

Also known as the Paintsville Brewers (1983–1984) and

Paintsville Highlanders Paintsville () is a home rule-class city along Paint Creek in Johnson County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 3,459 during the 2010 U.S. Census. History A Paint Lick Station was referred to in ...

(1979), the Paintsville team was affiliated with the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

(1979–1982) and

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

(1983–1984) as members of the

Rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

level

Appalachian League The Appalachian League is a Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wooden ...

. In the team's short history, they were Appalachian League champions from 1979 to 1981 and 1983. They came in second in 1982 and 1984. The franchise moved to Montana for the 1985 season. Notably, Jim Morris, subject of the Disney Movie " The Rookie" made his professional debut for Paintsville in 1983. Major League All-Stars José Rijo, Ron Hansen and

Dan Plesac Daniel Thomas Plesac (born February 4, 1962) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher who played from 1986 to 2003. He pitched for the Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, Arizona Diamondbacks, and P ...

are Paintsville alumni. When asked about his impressions of playing in Paintsville, Morris commented: “I thought it was fantastic, it was up in the mountains. Jenny Wiley State Park was right there, which was awesome. Being from Texas, you get scrub oaks and pecan trees, but you guys had all the hills and valleys and lakes … it was incredible. We had a good time there.”

Ballpark

The Paintsville teams played their home games at Johnson Central High School's Paul G. Fyffe Field, which was demolished in 2007. Paul Fyffe owned and marketed the minor league teams.

Statistics

Managers

* Ronald Mihal (1978) * Bill Livesey (1979) *Mike Easom (1980–1981) *Mike Notaro (1982) *

Tom Gamboa Thomas Harold Gamboa (born February 28, 1948) is an American professional baseball coach and manager. Gamboa has managed in the minor leagues as high as AAA (the Toledo Mud Hens in the International League and the Albuquerque Dukes in the P ...

(1983) * Ron Hansen (1984)

Notable alumni

* Mike Birkbeck (1983) *

Chris Bosio Christopher Louis Bosio (born April 3, 1963) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and pitching coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers and Seattle Mariners from 1986 to 1996. As a player, he was li ...

(1983) * Glenn Braggs (1983) * Jim Corsi (1982) *

Orestes Destrade Orestes Destrade (born May 8, 1962) is a Cuban American former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Florida Marlins. Destrade also played in Nippon Professio ...

(1981) *

Pete Filson William Peter Filson (born September 28, 1958) is an American retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He played during seven seasons at the major league level for the Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, and Kansas City Royals. P ...

(1979) * Greg Gagne (1979) * Ron Hansen(MGR, 1984) 2x MLB All-Star; 1960 AL Rookie of the Year * Kevin Hickey (1978) * Bill Lindsey (1981) * Jim Morris (1983) Movie " The Rookie" *

Otis Nixon Otis Junior Nixon (born January 9, 1959) is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1983), Cleveland Indians (1984–87), Montreal Expos (1988–90), Atlanta Bra ...

(1979) * Ed Olwine (1980) * Jeff Parrett (1983) *

Dan Pasqua Daniel Anthony Pasqua (born October 17, 1961) is an American professional baseball outfielder and first baseman who played in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox from 1985 through 1994. He works as a community rep ...

(1982) *

(1983) 3x MLB All-Star * Eric Plunk (1982) * José Rijo (1982) MLB All-Star; 1990 World Series MVP

References