1982 West Haven A's Baseball Program from the Eastern League

West Haven A’s

Eastern League (1980)

Tombstone

Born: November 20, 1980 – Re-branded from West Haven Whitecaps
Moved: October 7, 1982 (Albany A’s)

First Game: April 15, 1981 (W 4-1 vs. Buffalo Bisons)
Last Game: September 6, 1982 (W 4-3 @ Lynn Sailors)

Eastern League Champions: 1982

Stadium

Quigley Stadium
Opened: 1947

Ownership & Affiliation

Owner: David Goldstein

Major League Affiliation: Oakland Athletics

Attendance

West Haven A’s attendance records are now complete.

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Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 2007

Trophy Case

Eastern League Most Valuable Player

  • 1982: Jim Bennett

 

Background

The West Haven A’s were a Connecticut-based Class AA farm club of the distant Oakland Athletics during the early 1980’s. The franchise entered the Eastern League as an expansion team and A’s affiliate in 1980. During their debut season in 1980, the team was known as the West Haven Whitecaps. The Whitecaps were absolutely wretched, finishing 1980 with the 2nd worst record in all of minor league baseball (47-92).

The club dropped the Whitecaps moniker in favor of the “A’s” for the 1981 season. The team’s on-field fortunes shifted as well under new manager Bob Didier.  The 1981 A’s finished in third place in their division with a 71-67 record.

The 1982 A’s were stronger yet, finishing with the league’s best record at 86-54 under Didier.  The A’s swept the Lynn Sailors in the championship series.  Journeyman outfielder Jim Bennettspending his seventh season in the A’s farm system, took home 1982 Eastern League MVP honors. The 24-year old hit .278 with 29 homers and 115 RBIs in 133 games.

Move To Albany

After the  championship series finale, West Haven owner David Goldstein vented to the press about his club’s lack of community support:  “The Mayor (Lawrence Minichino) wasn’t even here.  Neither was anyone from his office.  I think that says something about the kind of support we’re receiving from this city.”  Goldstein said the A’s would only return to West Haven “if worse came to worse”. (Hartford Courant, September 11, 1982).

On October 7th, 1982 a group of investors led by Ben Bernard, the former General Manager of the Eastern League’s Glens Falls White Sox, purchased the A’s from Goldstein for a reported price of $100,000.  Bernard’s group transferred the club and the Oakland A’s affiliation to Heritage Park in Colonie, New York, a suburb of Albany.

The former West Haven A’s franchise still exists in the Eastern League today. It has relocated and switched Major League affiliations numerous times in the decades since:

 

West Haven A’s Shop

 

 

Links

Eastern League Media Guides

Eastern League Programs

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Comments

One Response

  1. Do you know if the West Haven Whitecaps were an Eastern League expansion franchise for 1980 or are they the relocated Waterbury A’s?

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