In 1989, Hagerstown moved up to the Double-A
Eastern League, taking over the
Williamsport Bills franchise and again affiliating with the Orioles. (The Carolina League franchise relocated down
Interstate 70 as the
Frederick Keys, maintaining the Orioles' Class A affiliation.) Suns' fans saw some familiar faces as past players such as
Leo Gómez,
Pete Stanicek, Dave Bettendorf, Ken Dixon, and
Brian Dubois returned. On offense,
David Segui batted .324 with 1 homerun and 27 RBI in 44 games in his second stint with Hagerstown after being promoted from Frederick. Leo Gómez hit 18 home runs, a team leading total. Suns fans also saw the return of
Steve Finley, who came back to Hagerstown via a rehabilitation assignment. In 11 games, Finley hit .417 with 7 RBI and 4 stolen bases. On the pitching side, Mike Linskey was the ace of the starting staff with 10 wins and a 2.81 ERA in 18 starts. Despite his dominance with the Suns, Linskey would never pitch in the major leagues. The Suns finished their first season in Double-A 5 games under .500, and ended up fifth in the then eight team Eastern League. They narrowly missed the playoffs by 3 games and were 24.5 games back of the first place, and eventual league champion,
Albany-Colonie Yankees. attended a Suns game as a sitting
U.S. President in 1990. The Suns failed to make the Eastern League playoffs in 1990. While they fell short of that quest, the Suns still had one of their more interesting years.
Jack Voigt would contribute mightily to the offense as he batted .256 with a team leading 12 homeruns and 70 RBI. Scott Meadows led the team with 75 RBI.
Luis Mercedes batted a league leading .334. He also stole a team leading 38 bases. Three prominent
Baltimore Orioles,
Sam Horn,
Brady Anderson, and
Mike Devereaux, made rehabilitation appearances. Anderson stood out the most among the group as he hit .382 in 9 games. The pitching staff was led by Anthony Telford, who went 10–2 with a 1.97 ERA in 13 starts for the Suns, completing 4 games. Another milestone in 1990 was the visit of
George H. W. Bush to Municipal Stadium to attend a Hagerstown Suns baseball game. This visit was the first time a sitting
President of the United States attended a minor league baseball game. After back to back losing seasons, the Suns returned to their winning ways in 1991, making their only Eastern League playoff appearance. They finished in second place, only to lose to the eventual league champion Albany-Colonie Yankees in the first round. The offense got power from
Paul Carey, who hit a team leading 12 home runs. The Sun's best all around hitter may have been first basemen Ken Shamberg, who hit .275 with 10 homeruns and a team best 82 RBI in 114 games. Top prospect
Arthur Rhodes led the pitching staff. Over the course of 19 starts, Rhodes would go 7–4 with a 2.70 ERA and strikeout 115 batters in 106.2 innings, while walking just 47. Rhodes also won the
Eastern League Pitcher of the Year Award. He also made his major league debut with the Orioles after being promoted directly from Hagerstown. Stacy Burdick was the leader in pitching wins (11), yet it was the last professional season that he pitched. Burdick went 29–17 combined between 3 stints with Hagerstown including time with the Carolina League franchise as well. Todd Stephen led the team in saves out of the bullpen with 17 and had a 2.12 ERA in 89 innings pitched. Much like the year before, Suns fans saw multiple rehabilitation assignments pass through as
Kevin Hickey,
Dave Johnson,
Bob Milacki,
Billy Ripken, and
Glenn Davis each had stops in Hagerstown. All of this added to what was by far the Suns best season in the Double-A Eastern League. The Suns also had their all-time highest attendance record, with 193,753 fans passing through the gate. The team fell short of its quest for the Eastern League playoffs in 1992. Mel Wearing led the team with only 5 homeruns. Scott Meadows would hit .317 in 45 games with the Suns; this proved to be his final year with the Orioles organization.
Manny Alexander, the Suns' shortstop, hit .259 and stole a team-leading 43 bases. He did this at the age of 21, young for Double-A baseball. The 1992 season would also complete a unique trifecta for the Suns. In this season,
Don Buford managed his son
Damon. His other son, Don Jr., had played for the Suns in 1988 and 1989. Don Jr. tied the Suns record for stolen bases by a Suns with 77 in 1988 and would come back in 1989 to steal 30 more. Damon meanwhile, stole 41 bases in 1992 with the Suns. Damon was the only one of the two sons to follow in his father's footsteps by playing in the major leagues. The Suns' and Keys' owners failed to claim an Eastern League expansion franchise for
Bowie in 1993 (coinciding with the
Florida Marlins' and
Colorado Rockies' addition to the majors). They instead chose to move their existing Hagerstown franchise there as the
Bowie Baysox. Hagerstown's relationship with the Baltimore Orioles ended after 1992. Unlike when the Carolina League team had left a few years earlier, there was no guarantee that another team would return to Hagerstown. Hagerstown would not go without, though. Winston Blenckstone relocated his
Myrtle Beach Hurricanes franchise in the
Class A South Atlantic League (SAL) to Hagerstown after the 1992 season and promptly renamed them the
Suns.
Eastern League All-Stars and season leaders ==Major League Baseball (MLB) Players who played for the Carolina League and Eastern League Hagerstown Suns==