Early Tucson teams Tucson had a number of baseball teams between 1915 and 1958, including the Tucson Old Pueblos, the Tucson Waddies, the Tucson Cowboys (several teams), the Tucson Missions and the Tucson Lizards. None of these were part of the Pacific Coast League. When the last iteration of the Cowboys folded in 1958, Tucson was left with no professional baseball until the advent of the Toros.
Tucson Toros (1969–1997) Hiram "Hi" Corbett, a former Arizona state senator, helped to bring the Pacific Coast League to Tucson, in recognition of which the 1937 ballpark in midtown Tucson's Reid Park was eventually renamed Hi Corbett Field. The Tucson Toros, a AAA team in the league's southern division, began play in 1969. The name Toros was suggested by name-the-team contest winner
Clarence Dupnik, who went on to become the Sheriff of
Pima County, Arizona. From 1969 through 1972, the Tucson Toros were the AAA affiliate of the
Chicago White Sox. During this period, the team managed no better than a fourth-place finish for the season. The Toros did better as the AAA team of the
Oakland Athletics (1973–1976), winning the PCL Eastern Division title in 1973 and finishing in second place in 1975. As the
Texas Rangers farm team (1977–1979) they finished in third and fourth place, but with outstanding individual performances by outfielder Billy Sample (AAA Minor League Player of the Year, 1978) and others. purchased the Tucson Toros from Rick Holtzman. In a "swap", the Toros' former owners moved to
Fresno, California as the
Grizzlies, and inherited the Firebirds' former affiliation with the
San Francisco Giants, while the Phoenix AAA team moved to Tucson while retaining the Tucson club's staff and facilities. The Toros' long affiliation with the Houston Astros was suddenly over, as the "new" Toros signed a one-year agreement with the
Milwaukee Brewers. The one major league prospect with the Toros who was not part of the Brewers' organization was
Travis Lee of the
Arizona Diamondbacks. The new franchise did not yet have a AAA team of its own, so Lee was assigned to the nearby Tucson team for part of the season. Although Lee personally had a good year, the transitional Toros only managed a 64–78 record. It was the Tucson team's last season at Hi Corbett Field, and their last season with the Toros name. In May 1999, longtime Toros general manager Mike Feder was fired from the Sidewinders by Stone, resulting in local uproar. Feder was replaced by Jack Donovan. Following the season, broadcasting entrepreneur Jay Zucker purchased the Sidewinders, reportedly for about $7 to $8 million, after Stone was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Tucson Baseball, LLC, the new ownership group led by Jay and Melinda Zucker, attempted to improve the situation with a variety of promotions, including weekly fireworks. These efforts met with limited success, as Zucker would lose over $200,000 in 2000, his first season as owner. Mike Feder returned as general manager, but would leave again prior to the 2001 season to take a role as Regional Marketing Director for the NFL's New Orleans Saints. Todd Woodford, a previous assistant general manager, returned to Tucson as general manager after spending a year with the PCL's
Salt Lake franchise. In 2002, Rick Parr became the team's general manager. Despite the parent club's World Series win the previous year, the Sidewinders reported 268,807 total attendance for the season, an average of just 3,895 per game (compared to Tucson Electric Park's capacity of 11,000). The team was successful as a supplier of major league baseball level players to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Many individual Sidewinders performed admirably in mid-season call-ups, sometimes returning to the major league club time and again as needed. This earned the Sidewinders the nickname "Baby 'Backs" in 2003. The team finished the 2006 regular season 91–53, the best in AAA baseball for 2006 and a new franchise record. Team manager
Chip Hale was named PCL Manager of the Year. After defeating the
Salt Lake Bees 3–1 in a best-of-five PCL Pacific Conference Championships series, the Sidewinders won the Pacific Coast League Championship Series in three straight games versus the
Round Rock Express. They then defeated the
International League champion, the
Toledo Mud Hens, 5–2 in the
Bricktown Showdown for the Triple-A baseball championship at
AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in
Oklahoma City. Despite this feat, the Sidewinders still suffered from dwindling fan attendance and a general lack of interest from the Tucson market. After the 2006 season, the Sidewinders renewed their player development contract with the Diamondbacks for another two years. Chip Hale was promoted to the Diamondbacks coaching staff as their new third base coach.
Bill Plummer, the former manager of the Diamondbacks' former Double-A affiliate, the
Tennessee Smokies, took over as skipper for the Sidewinders in 2007.
Randy Johnson pitched the home opener as part of a brief rehab stint with the Sidewinders, and picked up a win for the team in his second outing on April 20. Hampered by low attendance and concerns over the location and playing field maintenance at
Tucson Electric Park, Tucson Baseball LLC would sell the Tucson Sidewinders to SK Baseball LLC for $15 million in June 2007. The sale was completed on September 12, 2007. The Silver Sox franchise was sold by the league to former Sidewinders owner Tucson Baseball LLC, but the team's history (including Reno's 2006 GBL Championship) did not go with them. There were original reports of a possible relocation to
Carson City, Nevada, but the team instead moved to Tucson. On September 1, 2008, Jay Zucker of Tucson Baseball LLC and GBL chief executive officer David Kaval announced at a press conference at
Hi Corbett Field in Tucson that the Tucson Toros were coming back and are now officially a part of the Golden League. Zucker owned the rights to the name, logos, colors, uniforms and history of the Toros. In July 2011, the suspended franchise received an eviction notice from the city of Tucson due to reportedly defaulting on their lease at Hi Corbett Field. On July 21, the Toros announced on their website that members of the
Yuma Scorpions would play as the Toros in a doubleheader and that it would be the team's final night in action. On November 29, 2011, the Toros announced that they were folding after agreeing to a settlement of $300,000 paid to the team by the city paving the way for the
University of Arizona baseball team to play their home games at Hi Corbett.
Uniforms Zucker and his wife Melinda wore classic throwback jerseys at the press conference when the initial announcement was made. However, the team would be donning new uniforms to coincide with the new updated team logo and colors of black, red and gold unveiled at the press conference. The players would sport throwback jerseys at times to pay homage to the original team. ==Major League Baseball players==