Buffalo Bisons

The Buffalo Bisons are a professional minor league baseball team based in Buffalo, New York. They currently play in the International League (IL) and are currently the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. The Bisons play at Coca-Cola Field in downtown Buffalo.

The current incarnation of the Bisons was founded in 1979, when Buffalo ownership interests purchased the Jersey City A's of the Double-A Eastern League and moved the team to the city.

Previous Buffalo Bisons teams
The history of teams known as the Buffalo Bisons dates to a major league club, the Buffalo Bisons of the National League, who played from 1879 to 1885. In 1886, the Bisons moved into minor league baseball as members of the original International League. (An "outlaw" team also known as the Buffalo Bisons also played in the Players' League, an upstart third major league, in 1890, but that team is not currently considered part of the Bisons history.) This team joined the Western League in 1899, and was within weeks of becoming a major league team when the Western League announced it was changing its name to the American League in 1900. However, by the start of the 1901 season, Buffalo had been bumped from the league in favor of the Boston Americans; the Bisons returned to the minors that year.

This franchise continued in the IL (formerly known as the Eastern League) through June 1970, when it transferred to Winnipeg, Manitoba as the Winnipeg Whips, due to poor attendance and stadium woes. In 1969, Héctor López became the first black manager at the Triple-A level while managing Buffalo Bisons—six years before Frank Robinson became the first black manager in Major League Baseball. After stops in Winnipeg and Hampton, Virginia, the team was suspended after the 1973 season to make way for the Memphis Blues.

The Bisons name was revived when a Double-A Eastern League franchise moved to Buffalo in 1979. That team assumed the previous Bisons team history.

After six seasons in the Eastern League, the Bisons rejoined the Triple-A ranks in 1985, joining the American Association when the Wichita Aeros' franchise rights were transferred to Buffalo. When, as part of a reorganization of Triple-A baseball, the American Association folded after the 1997 season, Buffalo joined the International League.

Since their return to Triple-A baseball in 1985, the Bisons have qualified for the playoffs several times. In 2004, although the Bisons were 10 games behind the first-place team in June, the Bisons would go on to win their division. Buffalo won its first-round playoff, against the Durham Bulls, and advanced to the Governors' Cup Finals, in which they had home field advantage over the Richmond Braves. The remnants of Hurricane Ivan caused major flooding problems in Richmond and the entire series was played in Buffalo. The Bisons defeated the Braves in four games and won the Governors' Cup for the second time since 1998. In 2005, Buffalo won the North Division and played the Indianapolis Indians in the first round, winning the first two games in Indianapolis, but losing all three remaining games. With many of its players shuffled to the Cleveland Indians throughout the final months of the season, the Bisons failed to qualify for the playoffs in 2006. In 2007, Buffalo failed once again to clinch a playoff spot, marking the first time since Buffalo was parented with the Pittsburgh Pirates that the Bisons missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.

Mets era
After the 2008 season, Buffalo parted ways with Cleveland, as the Indians signed an affiliation agreement with the Columbus Clippers beginning in 2009. The Bisons then signed a two-year agreement to be the top home for New York Mets prospects.

On December 16, 2008, the Mets officially announced that Ken Oberkfell would be the Bisons new manager for 2009. At the same press conference, the Bisons also unveiled their new logo. The logo paid homage to baseball's history in the city of Buffalo with the city's skyline in the background. The logo, along with the new colors of blue and orange, closely resemble that of the team's new parent club, the Mets.

In the 2009–2010 off-season, the Bisons were chosen to host the 2012 Triple-A All-Star Game to celebrate 25 years at Coca-Cola Field. The game was played on Wednesday, July 11, 2012.

In late July 2010, the Bisons and Mets agreed on a two-year extension that carried their agreement through the 2012 season.

The 2010–2011 off-season saw changes to the Bisons coaching staff. Ken Oberkfell was replaced by Tim Teufel, who was a member of the 1986 Mets team. Teufel was introduced on Friday January 21, 2011, as the 16th manager in the Bisons' modern era.

The 2011–2012 off-season once again saw coaching changes. Tim Teufel was replaced by Wally Backman. He was introduced on November 17, 2011.

Blue Jays era
The Bisons' agreement with the Mets ended after the 2012 season because the Bisons' management was dissatisfied with poor attendance and performance during the Mets era. The Bisons enjoyed only one winning season out of the four years that they were affiliated with the Mets. Consequently, the Bisons signed a player development contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on September 18, 2012. The Blue Jays are geographically the closest MLB team to Buffalo and such a partnership would build on other international fan base efforts in the region, such as the Bills Toronto Series in football.

As part of the rebuilding efforts, the Bisons announced a new uniform (a throwback uniform using a modernized variant of their 1980s logo and colors) and the return of former Bisons manager Marty Brown in November 2012.

On April 18, 2013 the Bisons scored 27 runs on 29 hits against the Syracuse Chiefs, setting records for the most runs and hits in an International League game since 1973.

On August 29, 2013, the Bisons and Blue Jays agreed on extending the contract to the 2016 season.

Titles
The Bisons have won the Governors' Cup, the championship of the IL, 6 times, including the inaugural Cup, and played in the championship series 10 times.


 * 1933 – Defeated Rochester
 * 1936 – Defeated Baltimore
 * 1938 – Lost to Newark
 * 1947 – Lost to Syracuse
 * 1949 – Lost to Montréal
 * 1957 – Defeated Miami
 * 1961 – Defeated Rochester
 * 1998 – Defeated Durham
 * 2002 – Lost to Durham
 * 2004 – Defeated Richmond

Since 1998 the Bisons have won the IL North Division four times (1998, 2001, 2004, and 2005). They have also won the Thruway Cup, a regular-season competition between Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse, six times since its inception in 1998.

Retired numbers

 * 6: Ollie Carnegie
 * 25: Luke Easter
 * 30: Jeff Manto

Notable former Bisons
Players named to the Bisons' "All 25 Seasons Team" are indicated by a double dagger (‡)


 * Danys Báez
 * Rafael Betancourt
 * Milton Bradley
 * Russell Branyan‡
 * Tim Byrdak
 * Asdrúbal Cabrera
 * Fernando Cabrera‡
 * Robinson Cancel
 * Shin-Soo Choo
 * Bartolo Colón‡
 * Alex Cora
 * Coco Crisp
 * Ike Davis
 * R.A. Dickey
 * Chad Durbin
 * Ben Francisco‡
 * Freddy García
 * Brian Giles‡
 * Chris Gimenez
 * Danny Graves‡
 * Sean Green
 * Jeremy Guthrie
 * Franklin Gutiérrez
 * Travis Hafner
 * Roberto Hernández
 * Maicer Izturis
 * Kevin Kouzmanoff
 * Aaron Laffey
 * Cliff Lee
 * Ryan Ludwick
 * Víctor Martínez
 * Jeff Manto‡
 * Darnell McDonald
 * John McDonald
 * Jason Michaels
 * Edward Mujica
 * Magglio Ordóñez
 * Jhonny Peralta‡
 * Rafael Pérez
 * Brandon Phillips‡
 * Tom Prince‡
 * Alex Ramirez‡
 * Manny Ramirez
 * Rick Reed‡
 * Josh Satin
 * Richie Sexson‡
 * Marco Scutaro
 * Kelly Shoppach
 * Grady Sizemore
 * Brian Tallet
 * Dorn Taylor‡
 * Tim Wakefield
 * Jake Westbrook

Mascots
The main mascots of the team have traditionally been Buster T. Bison along with his cousin Chip, but as of 2006, a new mascot named Belle the Ballpark Diva has appeared, along with flamboyant reporter Johnny Styles. Buster and Belle pursued a love interest, and were married following a game on August 26, 2007, against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees.

Buster and Chip wear Bisons jerseys and caps. Buster's number was the last two numbers of the season up to 2009, however, as of the 2010 season his number is 83, signifying the year Buster first appeared as the team's mascot. Chip's number has always been $1/2$. The Bisons have had a number of other mascots in the past. MicroChip, who was smaller and presumably "younger" than Buster and Chip, wore a Bisons jersey as well. His number was $1/4$. Loudmouth, a mime played by actress Tracey B. Wilson, was another mascot for the team. The other official mascot of the Bisons was Howie the Ump. He wore a costume much like Buster and Chip, but it was a costume of a human umpire, with an umpire's uniform and mask. He was very short-lived, existing only during the 1995–1997 seasons, and was played by local improvisational comedian Randy Reese.

Other unofficial Bisons entertainers include Conehead, a beer vendor who wears a rubber cone-head hat, and The Earl of Bud (entertainer Earl Howze, Jr., currently of Chattanooga, Tennessee), another beer vendor, who would climb on the dugout and dance at some point during the game. The Earl of Bud made an appearance at the 20th Anniversary game for Dunn Tire Park in August 2007. He also made appearances at the ballpark in July and August 2012.

Media/game broadcasts
All Bisons games can be heard on WWKB/1520 in Buffalo and many games are televised on Time Warner Cable SportsNet throughout Western New York. Ben Wagner handles play by play while veteran Duke McGuire is color commentator.

Beginning in 2009, Friday games aired as a Game of the Week package on WGR AM 550. These games are a simulcast of those airing on WWKB. Also, Buffalo Bisons games are sometimes aired on SportsNet New York, which is co-owned by Time Warner Cable and the New York Mets (as well as Comcast).

Jim Rosenhaus, a Bisons broadcaster for 11 years, is now a Cleveland Indians broadcaster. His predecessor Pete Weber, who was the Bisons play-by-play broadcaster for 13 years, currently serves in that role for the Nashville Predators.