The Schenectady Blue Jays

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

club was an American minor league baseball franchise based in

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Yo ...

, for 12 consecutive seasons, 1946–57. It was a member of the Class C

Canadian–American League The Canadian–American League, nicknamed the Can-Am League, was a class C level minor league baseball circuit which ran from 1936 through 1951, with a three-year break during World War II. Teams * Amsterdam Rugmakers, 1938–1942, 1946–1 ...

through 1950, and the Class A Eastern League thereafter. The Blue Jays were affiliated with

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has been Citize ...

and played at McNearney Stadium from the middle of 1946 through their final season.''The Daily Gazette"
Schenectady, New York

Franchise history

The Blue Jays were founded at the beginning of the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

boom in minor league baseball. Schenectady had previously been represented by a team in the

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

, the Mohawk Giants (1913–1914),Information
at

Baseball Reference Baseball-Reference is a website providing baseball statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. The site is often used by major media organizations and baseball broadcasters as a source for statistics. It offers a variety of advan ...

and by the Schenectady Electricians and Schenectady Frog Alleys of the

New York State League The New York State League was an independent baseball league that played six seasons between 2007 and 2012 in New York State and the New York City metro area. Over 500 NYSL players have been signed by professional teams. Players from forty-eight ...

(1895–1904) and the

Eastern Association The Eastern Association of counties was an administrative organisation set up by Parliament in the early years of the First English Civil War. Its main function was to finance and support an army which became a mainstay of the Parliamentarian m ...

(1909). The Phillies, purchased during the war by the R. R. M. Carpenter family, began to build out their farm system in 1946 and added Schenectady to their roster of affiliates. The nickname '' Blue Jays'' became the Phillies' secondary moniker before the start of the 1944 season and was common to at least two other Philadelphia farm teams, the Class C Salina Blue Jays and Class D Green Bay Blue Jays. The 1946 Schenectady Jays finished seventh in the eight-team Can-Am League. But the 1947 edition, managed by Leon Riley, father of future

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

player, coach and executive

Pat Riley Patrick James Riley (born March 20, 1945) is an American professional basketball executive, former coach, and former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been the team president of the Miami Heat since 1995, and he also s ...

, won the league pennant by 13 games and the playoff championship; it drew over 146,000 fans, almost 60,000 more than the second-most-popular Can-Am League team. After the 1950 season, the Phillies replaced their Eastern League affiliate, the Utica Blue Sox, with the Schenectady Blue Jays, who moved up two levels to Class A, which was then almost equivalent to today's Double-A ranking. Schenectady won the Eastern League championship in 1956 and finished a strong second in 1957, but attendance had fallen to below 60,000 and the Phillies transferred their affiliation to the Williamsport Grays for 1958, thus ending the Blue Jays' 12-year lifespan.

Year-by-year record

Notable alumni

* Harry Anderson * Ed Bouchee * Don Cardwell * Chuck Essegian * Turk Farrell * Pancho Herrera *

Eddie Kasko Edward Michael Kasko (June 27, 1931 – June 24, 2020) was an American infielder, manager, scout and front office executive in Major League Baseball (MLB). Kasko was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and raised in nearby Linden. He graduated from ...

Tommy Lasorda Thomas Charles Lasorda (September 22, 1927 – January 7, 2021) was an American professional baseball pitcher and manager. He managed the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1976 through 1996. He was inducted into the Natio ...

* Steve Ridzik * Jack Sanford *

Carl Sawatski Carl Ernest Sawatski (November 4, 1927 – November 24, 1991) was an American professional baseball player and executive. In the Major Leagues, he was a catcher for the Chicago Cubs (1948, 1950 and 1953), Chicago White Sox (1954), Milwaukee Brave ...

* Barney Schultz

References

{{reflist

External links

Q&A with Baseball Historian on Schenectady Blue Jays

The Daily Gazette ''The Daily Gazette'' is an independent, family-owned daily newspaper published in Schenectady, New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New Y ...

, Schenectady, New York
Information
at

Finding Aid to Frank Keetz Professional Baseball Collection
(includes material on Schenectady Blue Jays), Schenectady County Historical Society. Schenectady, New York Defunct Eastern League (1938–present) teams Defunct baseball teams in New York (state) Professional baseball teams in New York (state) Philadelphia Phillies minor league affiliates Baseball teams established in 1946 Baseball teams disestablished in 1957 1946 establishments in New York (state) 1957 disestablishments in New York (state)