Previous Buffalo Bisons teams Buffalo Bisons

t206 baseball card buffalo bisons pitcher dummy taylor, ca. 1909-11

organized baseball in buffalo had been around since @ least 1859, when niagara baseball club of national association of base ball players played first season. first professional team play in buffalo began in 1877; team invited become major league club, buffalo bisons of national league, played 1879 1885. in 1886, bisons moved minor league baseball members of original international league, known eastern league. (an outlaw team known buffalo bisons played in players league, upstart third major league, in 1890, team not considered part of bisons history.) team joined western league in 1899, , within weeks of becoming major league team when western league announced changing name american league in 1900. however, start of 1901 season, buffalo had been bumped league in favor of boston americans; bisons returned minors , eastern league year.

this franchise continued in eastern/international league through june 1970, when transferred winnipeg, manitoba winnipeg whips, due poor attendance, stadium woes, montreal expos (then canada s mlb team) affiliating franchise, , increasingly saturated buffalo sports market saw buffalo sabres of nhl , buffalo braves of nba established same year. (the team had narrowly avoided relocation in 1956, intervention led local broadcaster stan barron prevented team leaving; nonetheless forced move football venue, buffalo war memorial stadium, few years later, after existing ballpark closed.) in 1969, héctor lópez became first black manager @ triple-a level while managing buffalo bisons—six years before frank robinson became first black manager in major league baseball. after stops in winnipeg , hampton, virginia, team suspended after 1973 season make way memphis blues, moving double-a.

in 1979, point braves had left town, double-a eastern league s jersey city s forced leave city due decrepitude of city s roosevelt stadium , opted move waterbury, connecticut, city had eastern league team. again barron leading effort, league awarded franchise buffalo, , bisons (taking on previous team s name , history) returned field.

after 6 seasons in eastern league, bisons rejoined triple-a ranks in 1985, joining american association when wichita aeros franchise rights transferred buffalo. when, part of reorganization of triple-a baseball, american association folded after 1997 season, buffalo joined international league.

since return triple-a baseball in 1985, bisons have qualified playoffs several times. in 2004, although bisons 10 games behind first-place team in june, bisons won division. buffalo won first-round playoff, against durham bulls, , advanced governors cup finals, in had home field advantage on richmond braves. remnants of hurricane ivan caused major flooding problems in richmond , entire series played in buffalo. bisons defeated braves in 4 games , won governors cup second time since 1998. in 2005, buffalo won north division , played indianapolis indians in first round, winning first 2 games in indianapolis, losing 3 remaining games. many of players shuffled cleveland indians throughout final months of season, bisons failed qualify playoffs in 2006. in 2007, buffalo again failed clinch playoff spot, marking first time since buffalo parented pittsburgh pirates bisons missed playoffs in back-to-back seasons.