Albany Senators (minor league baseball)

The Albany Senators was the name of an American minor league baseball franchise representing Albany, New York, that existed between 1885 and 1959. It played at Hawkins Stadium.

The Senators fielded teams in higher-classification leagues such as the New York State League, the Eastern League that played between 1916 and 1932, the International League, the 1923–1937 New York-Pennsylvania League, and the modern Eastern League, in which it played 22 consecutive seasons, 1938–1959, before the team disbanded. The Senators also played in "outlaw" minor leagues such as the Hudson River League during the 19th century in between stints in "organized baseball."

The Senators won six league championships over their organized baseball history, the last in 1954. The club was a powerhouse during the 1940s as a Class A farm team of the Pittsburgh Pirates, posting winning records between 1942–1948, making the Eastern League playoffs six times, leading in attendance five times, and taking the 1945 EL championship. Among the Pittsburgh farmhands who played for the club was Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner, in 1941–1942.

Over the years, the Senators were also affiliated with the New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Athletics. The last-place 1959 Senators — the latest in a succession of poor clubs — drew only 45,000 fans for the season and Albany was dropped from the Eastern League when it contracted from eight to six teams for 1960. Professional baseball and the EL would not return to New York's state capital until 1983, when the West Haven A's moved to the area as the Albany-Colonie A's.

References

• Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, eds., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 2007.