Being both an angler and a baseball player, I love when my two worlds overlap. Between the Minor Leagues, small colleges and traveling teams, there are some cool fish-based baseball teams out there. Sure, MLB has the Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays (yawn!), but the lesser known teams like the Bridgeport Bluefish above are way more interesting. Here are some other fun fish teams…
Back in 2012, the Carolina Mudcats, the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds moved from Zebulon, North Carolina to Pensacola, FL. You gotta love ’em — their team gift store is called the “bait shop!”
The Charlotte County Redfish are an Independent Minor League Baseball team in the South Coast League. Founded in 2007, the Redfish are one of the founding teams of the SCL. The Redfish play their home games at Charlotte County Stadium in Port Charlotte, FL.
The Independent League Sacramento Steelheads played a couple seasons in Sacramento and then a year or two as the “Solano Steelheads” before folding. The biggest story to come out of the franchise was when former National League most valuable player (played with the Giants) Kevin Mitchell, who was playing at the time for the Sonoma County Crushers, punched the owner of the Steelheads in the face after an on-field brawl in Vacaville.
The River Falls Fighting Fish are, as near as I can tell, an adult rec league or semi-pro team in Saint Paul, Minnesota. All apologies to the Fish if I’m wrong about that…
Wisconsin’s Kenosha Kingfish play in the independent Northwoods League.
Also in Wisconsin (based in Mequon)are the Lakeshore Chinooks, who play in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league. The Chinooks play their home games at Kapco Park on the campus of Concordia University Wisconsin.
Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish are an NCAA Division 2 baseball team out of Florida.
The award for the the least fishy-looking logo goes to the Columbia Blowfish, which is a proud member of the Coastal Plain League, the nation’s hottest summer collegiate baseball league. Celebrating its 15th season in 2011, the CPL features 15 teams playing in South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. The CPL gives college players the chance to refine their skills with the use of wooden bats.
The Hiroshima Toyo Carp is a professional baseball team in Japan’s Central League. The team has not been in serious contention since their last championship in 1991. They remain the only team in the league to have never been above third place since the year 2000.
