Key West Cubs Baseball

Key West Cubs

Florida State League (1975)

Tombstone

Born: 1975 – The Key West Conchs are re-branded as the Key West Cubs
Moved: 1976 (Pompano Beach Cubs)

First Game: April 16, 1975 (L 6-5 @ Miami Orioles)
Last Game: September 2, 1975 (L 6-0 @ St. Petersburg Cardinals)

Florida State League Championships: None

Stadium

Ownership & Affiliation

Owners: Dr. Julio DePoo, Joseph DePoo, et al.

Major League Affiliation: Chicago Cubs

Attendance

Key West Cubs attendance records are now complete.

Tilting your mobile device may offer better viewing.

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

 

Background

Key West, Florida had a fitful run with minor league baseball during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. The southernmost outpost of the U.S. played host to four iterations of a Class A Florida State League franchise in the years 1969 to 1975. The San Diego Padres backed a Key West club in 1969. After a summer without baseball in 1970, the FSL returned to Wicker Stadium in 1971 with the Key West Sun Caps, who became the Key West Conchs in 1972.

The Chicago Cubs became the parent club of the Conchs for the 1974 season and stocked the team with pitching prospects, many of whom would later go on to Major League stardom: Bruce Sutter, Donnie Moore, Mike Krukow and Dennis Lamp.  Nevertheless, the team was terrible and finished dead last at 37-94.

During the winter of 1974-75, the ball club was officially re-branded, dropping the traditional Conchs name in favor of “Key West Cubs”. The change was either ignored or accepted half-heartedly.  The team’s 1975 game program (pictured above) still features several ads exhorting “Go Conchs!” and the club’s local ownership is listed as the Executive Members of the Key West Conchs.  The septuagenarian President of the Key West Cubs ownership group with Dr. Julio DePoo, founder of Key West’s private DePoo Hospital.

Demise

Unlike the 1974 Conchs squad, the roster of the 1975 Key West Cubs featured no big names who went on to make a splash in the Bigs. But the team was much more competitive, finishing the campaign at 65-69.  Meager crowds doomed to club at Wicker Stadium. The team relocated to Pompano Beach prior to the 1976 season and pro baseball has never returned to Key West.

 

In Memoriam

Key West Cubs manager Walt Dixon passed away on September 25, 2003 at the age of 82.

Catcher Mike Gordon died of leukemia on May 26, 2014 at age 60. Brockton Enterprise obituary.

 

Links

Florida State League Programs

##

Comments

3 Responses

  1. I was stationed at NAS Key West in the 1970s. Our apartment in Poincicana Plaza Navy Housing Area which was about three blocks or so from Wicker Stadium. In the summer a bunch of us dads and kids would get together walk down to the ball park pulling the kids in their little red wagons. It wasn’t always great base ball; but it was base ball! We had a great time and made some neat memories for us and our kids!

  2. Looking for any 1971 KeyWest Sun caps Florida state league programs, signed baseball, or a Jersey .

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Share