The Richmond Flying Squirrels are a

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 based in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

. The team, which is a part of the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

major league club, and plays at The Diamond. The Flying Squirrels have been affiliated with the Giants since 2010, making it the longest-running active affiliation in the Giants organization among teams not owned by the Giants. The Squirrels were previously known as the Connecticut Defenders. The Flying Squirrels mark affiliated baseball's return to Richmond after a one-year absence prompted by the relocation of the former Triple-A

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...

's Richmond Braves to

Lawrenceville, Georgia Lawrenceville is a city in and the county seat of Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States. It is a suburb of Atlanta, located approximately northeast of downtown. It was incorporated on December 15, 1821. As of the 2020 census, the populatio ...

, in 2009, where they are now called the

Gwinnett Stripers The Gwinnett Stripers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at Coolray Field in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia ...

. The Squirrels hold the current record for the longest distance from their major league affiliate, at 2,872.5 miles from

Oracle Park Oracle Park is a ballpark in the South of Market, San Francisco, SoMa district of San Francisco, California. Since 2000, it has been the home of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). The stadium stands along San Francisco Bay ...

History

On September 23, 2009, it was announced that the Connecticut Defenders would leave

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

for their current home at The Diamond in

, where they will continue seeking proposals for a new ballpark in the Richmond metropolitan area. The team name was changed to the "Flying Squirrels". The name the Richmond Flying Squirrels was chosen through a ''

Richmond Times-Dispatch The ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'' (''RTD'' or ''TD'' for short) is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond, Virginia, and the primary newspaper of record for the state of Virginia. Circulation The ''Times-Dispatch'' has the second-highest circul ...

'' readers' "name-the-team-contest," which ended on October 15, 2009. The name was submitted by Brad Mead of Prince George, Virginia. Other finalists were the Rock Hoppers, Hambones, Rhinos, Flatheads, and Hush Puppies. (The name Hambones was later ruled out of the contest after the city's uproar and the NAACP finding that "the Hambones" could be seen as a derogatory term directed towards the African-American community.) In conjunction with

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Flying Squirrels were organized into the Double-A Northeast. In 2022, the Double-A Northeast became known as the Eastern League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization.

Logo

The new Flying Squirrels logo was unveiled on December 1, 2009. It is a black, red, and grey flying squirrel meant to look like the outline of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

with a patch in the shape of an "R" (for Richmond) on top of an acorn over its heart, roughly where Richmond is located in Virginia. The logo was designed by San Diego-based sports branding firm

Brandiose Brandiose Studios, Inc., commonly referred to as Brandiose, is an American Brand, branding firm based in San Diego, California. Founded by Jason Klein and Casey White in 2000, the company is especially known for its branding and design work with ...

. It was named the logo of the year by Ballpark Digest in 2010 and the best minor-league logo by Baseball America in 2015.

Season records

*As Norwich Navigators **1995: 70–71 (3rd), manager Jimmy Johnson **1996: 71–70 (3rd), manager Jim Essian **1997: 73–69 (2nd), manager Trey Hillman **1998: 66–76 (4th), manager Trey Hillman **1999: 78–64 (2nd), manager Lee Mazzilli **2000: 76–66 (3rd), manager Dan Radison **2001: 83–59 (2nd), manager Stump Merrill **2002: 76–64 (1st), manager Luis Sojo **2003: 62–79 (6th), manager Shane Turner **2004: 69–74 (5th), manager Shane Turner **2005: 71–72 (3rd), manager Dave Machemer *As Connecticut Defenders **2006: 64–77 (5th), manager Dave Machemer **2007: 63–78 (5th), managers Dave Machemer (through July 21) and Shane Turner **2008: 68–73 (4th), manager Bien Figueroa **2009: 83–59 (1st), manager Steve Decker *As Richmond Flying Squirrels **2010: 68–73 (5th), manager Andy Skeels **2011: 76–66 (2nd), manager Dave Machemer **2012: 70–71 (4th), manager Dave Machemer **2013: 70–72 (4th), manager Dave Machemer **2014: 79–63 (1st), manager Russ Morman **2015: 72–68 (3rd), manager José Alguacil **2016: 62–79 (5th), manager Miguel Ojeda **2017: 63–77 (5th), manager Kyle Haines **2018: 62–76 (6th), manager Willie Harris **2019: 55–84 (6th), manager Willie Harris **2020: Season canceled due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

**2021: 57–56 (4th), manager Jose Alguacil **2022: 66–71 (5th), manager Jose Alguacil **2023: 74–64 (2nd), manager Dennis Pelfrey **2024: 64–74 (4th), manager Dennis Pelfrey

Playoffs

*1997 season: Lost to Portland, 3–2, in first round *1999 season: Defeated Trenton 3–2, in first round; lost to

Harrisburg Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...

3–2, in championship round. *2001 season: Lost to

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

, 3–1, in first round *2002 season: Defeated

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

, 3–0, in first round; defeated

3–2 to win Eastern League title. *2009 season: Defeated

, 3–1, in first round; lost to

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

3–1, in championship round. *2014 season: Defeated

, 3–1, in first round; lost to Binghamton 3–0, in championship round. *2022 season: Lost to Erie SeaWolves 2–0 in first round *2023 season: Lost to Erie SeaWolves 2–0 in first round

Roster

References

Notes Sources
Eastern League Announces Relocation to Richmond for the 2010 Season – Official Eastern League Press Release

Defenders relocating to Richmond – Minor League Baseball news story

External links

Official website
{{Virginia Sports Baseball teams established in 2010 Eastern League (1938–present) teams Baseball in Richmond, Virginia Professional baseball teams in Virginia San Francisco Giants minor league affiliates 2010 establishments in Virginia Double-A Northeast teams Squirrels in popular culture