The Sioux Falls Canaries were a minor league baseball team based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States, playing in six different leagues between 1902 and 1953.
In the era, the Sioux Falls Canaries played in Class D level leagues through 1941. Sioux Falls first played as members of the 1902 and 1903 Iowa–South Dakota League. After a period of time without a team, Sioux Falls resumed play in the South Dakota League from 1920 to 1923 and the short-lived Tri State League in 1924. The Canaries joined Nebraska State League in 1933 playing in the league through the 1938 season before competing in the Western League from 1939 to 1941. The Canaries then joined the Class C level Northern League in 1942 and resumed play in the league from 1946 to 1953 following World War II.
The Sioux Falls minor league team was known as the Soos while playing in the South Dakota League from 1920 to 1923. The Sioux Falls Packers played in the amateur collegiate Basin League in 1964 and 1965 before rejoining the professional Northern League in 1966. The Packers won the 1964 league championship. Sioux Falls resumed play in the reformed 1966 Class A level Northern League known as the Packers. The Packers ended their tenure when the Northern League folded following the 1971 season.
The Sioux Falls minor league teams won league championships in the 1902, 1923, 1924, 1937, 1940, 1947 and 1950 seasons, also capturing regular season pennants in 1935 and 1936.
The Sioux Falls Canaries played as a minor league affiliate of the Chicago Cubs in 1939 and from 1947 to 1953. Resuming Northern League play, the Sioux Falls Packers were a Cincinnati Reds affiliate from 1966 to 1971. Several members of the 1975 and 1976 World Series champion Cincinnati Reds teams played for Sioux Falls.
In their first seasons of play, the 1902 and 1903 Sioux Falls Canaries hosted minor home games at a ballpark called The Oval. Sioux City teams next played home games at Nelson Field from 1920 through 1940, before moving to Sioux Falls Stadium. The Sioux Falls Stadium site has hosted the minor league teams since the 1941 season, with numerous ballpark renovations. Today, Sioux Falls Stadium hosts the Sioux Falls Canaries of the American Association of Professional Baseball league. The modern Canaries were formed in 1993, playing at the ballpark as members of the Northern League.
At 19 years of age, Baseball Hall of Fame member Don Sutton pitched for the 1964 Packers in the Basin League while still a collegiate player. In 1941, Hall of famer Dizzy Dean pitched in one home game for the Canaries at the conclusion of his pitching career due to injury.
History Baseball beginnings in Sioux Falls Early baseball town teams in Sioux Falls were playing in the 1880s. These early teams were nicknamed as the Hub City Nine and the Yellow Kids.
The first known professional baseball team was founded in Sioux Falls in 1889, with players receiving payment to play. The Sioux Falls baseball uniforms were bright yellow in color. Seeing the uniforms, Guy LaFollette, the sportswriter for the Sioux Fall Press, first suggested the nickname "Canaries" for the team based on their colors. LaFollette proceeded to refer to the team as the Canaries while covering the team for the newspaper. The local nickname from LaFollette caught on and remained the nickname for many future Sioux Falls professional teams to follow.
In the 1901 season, Sioux Falls hosted an independent semi-professional team. This team was again known as the Canaries. Sioux Falls began the season playing in a South Dakota league with teams from the South Dakota cities of Aberdeen, Flandreau, Madison and Mitchell. However, the league was informal and had no set schedule. On July 23, 1901, both the Mitchell and Madison teams were folded. Sioux Falls continued play and traveled to Minnesota and Iowa, playing the St. Paul Marquettes, a Waseca, Minnesota team and a Fort Dodge, Iowa team among others to finish their season. The Sioux Falls Canaries team ended their 1901 season with a 46-29 record and were the unofficial champions of the South Dakota League.
Third baseman George McBride and outfielder/pitcher George Disch played on the 1901 Canaries team. Disch batted .311 in 24 games and McBride hit .282 while playing in 21 games for Sioux Falls. After his tenure with Sioux Falls, McBride ended the 1901 season playing in the first season of the American League with the Milwaukee Brewers. After his season with the Canaries, Disch also moved to the Milwaukee Brewers in 1902.
1902 & 1903: Iowa–South Dakota League After the 1901 team played in an informal league, minor league baseball began with the 1902 Sioux Falls Canaries, who became members of the Class D level Iowa–South Dakota League.
The Iowa–South Dakota League contained six teams in its inaugural minor league season. Sioux Falls joined the Flandreau Indians, Le Mars Blackbirds, Rock Rapids Browns, Sheldon and Sioux City Cornhuskers teams as league charter members in 1902. The newly formed league began its season schedule on May 27, 1902.
The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, known today as Minor League Baseball, was organized at a meeting in Chicago, Illinois on September 5, 1901. The Iowa-South Dakota League was one of the original 14 minor leagues that began play in 1902. As the Iowa–South Dakota League teams were forming, Sioux Falls and Rock Rapids had conflicts over two players. Both Sioux Falls and Rock Rapids were attempting to sign Fred Carisch and Harry Swalm to their rosters. Eventually, Rock Rapids dropped their claim to Carisch who signed with Sioux Falls.
Sioux Falls native Bobby Warner became the 33-year-old player-manager of the Canaries in their first minor league season. Warner had previously played in the minor leagues with four different teams in the Western Association before his first stint as a manager with his hometown team.
During the 1902 season, Sioux Falls had league leading records of 23-5 on July 3 and 30-10 on July 18 in the first half standings. In the second half standings, Sioux Falls was 25-10, behind only the 26-7 Flandreau Indians on September 12 in the second half standings. On September 23, a newspaper article indicated that all of the league teams lost money except Sioux City, which claimed a $2,500 profit for the season.
In their first season of minor league play, the Sioux Falls Canaries won the 1902 South Dakota League championship. During the season, the Flandreau franchise did not join the league and begin play until June 29. After joining the league, Flandreau was awarded a record of 9-9 when beginning play. This made which made its overall first-half record 31-22. The Canaries had the league's best overall record, finishing 65-24 and a mere ½ game ahead of Flandreau. Sheldon won 15 total games and finished in last place, 49.0 games behind Sioux Falls. The Sioux Falls player/manager Bobby Warner appeared in 81 games and the team owner was Charles Craig.
The 1902 Iowa–South Dakota League played a split season schedule, and Sioux Falls won the first half pennant, with Flandreau winning the second half pennant. However, Flandreau folded before a scheduled playoff between the two teams and did not play, leaving Sioux Falls as the champion.
Pitcher Harry Swain of Sioux Falls won 23 games in 1902 to lead the South Dakota League, while his teammate Joe Corbett finished with a 15-2 record. Moose Baxter hit 21 home runs, a high total for the era and also scored 63 runs to lead the league in both categories. Baxter later played briefly with the 1907 St. Louis Cardinals, appearing in 6 games.
Catcher Fred Carisch played for Sioux Falls in 1902, appearing in 78 games at age 20. Following his season with the Canaries, Carisch made his major league debut in 1903. Carisch played in the major leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1903–1906), Cleveland Naps (1912–1914) and Detroit Tigers (1923), hitting .227 in 226 career games. Before his final major league appearances as a coach-player with Detroit in 1923, Carisch returned to Sioux Falls serving as the team's player/manager from 1920 to 1922.
An organizational meeting was held in May 1903 for the second season of the Class D level Iowa–South Dakota League. The Flandreau and Rock Rapids franchises did not send a representative to the meeting, and the franchises were folded. Sioux Falls was represented at the meeting by owner Charles Craig, LeMars by Bobby Black, Sioux City by Dr. George B. Wood, Charles Hughson and Frank Lohr. The Council Bluffs Bluffers franchise was selected to join the league, represented at the meeting by Buck Keith and Frank Wilson.https://usfamily.net/web/trombleyd/IASD.htm#1903 Season J. U. Sammis, a Le Mars, Iowa attorney, was named as the 1903 president of the Iowa–South Dakota League.
The Flandreau and Rock Rapids teams did not return as the Iowa–South Dakota League reduced to four teams in playing its 1903 season. Bobby Warner returned as the Canaries' manager. Sioux Falls ended the 1903 season in last place. The Canaries ended the season with a 40-42 record, finishing 8.0 games behind the Le Mars Blackbirds, who captured the 1903 Iowa–South Dakota championship with Hall of Famer Branch Rickey on their roster. No league playoff was held. Frank Lohr of Sioux Falls scored 62 runs to lead the league. Player/manager Bobby Warner played in 56 games for the Canaries and batted .256 on the season.
Infielder Clyde Williams played for the Canaries in both the 1902 and 1903 seasons. Following his time with Sioux Falls, Williams played for various minor league teams through the 1910 season before embarking on a collegiate coaching career. Prior to joining Sioux Falls, Williams had been a star player on both the football and baseball teams at the University of Iowa, graduating in the spring of 1902. In four years as a starting quarterback at Iowa, Williams never lost a game, compiling a 23–0–3 record as the starter. In his collegiate career, Williams earned 11 letters at Iowa, four in football, four in baseball, and three in track.Iowa Football Fact Book (PDF), 2008 Iowa Hawkeye Football Media Fact Book, Iowa Sports Information Department, Page 126. Following his tenure with Sioux Falls, Williams became an assistant football coach for Iowa State University and eventually served as the Iowa State Cyclones football head football coach from 1907 to 1912 with a record of 32–15–2. Simultaneously, Williams was the school's first Iowa State coach from 1908 to 1911, with a 20–29 record in beginning the program. He also served as the Iowa State baseball coach. He became the ISU athletic director, serving in that role from 1914 to 1919. He was the namesake of Iowa State's home football stadium from 1915 through 1975, which was named Clyde Williams Field in Williams's honor. Iowa State moved to the new Jack Trice Stadium in 1976.Williams' Iowa State Hall of Fame bio .
The Iowa–South Dakota League did not return to play in 1904, permanently folding following the 1903 season. After the 1903 season, Sioux Falls did host another minor league team for the next 16 seasons following the demise of the Iowa–South Dakota League.
After his hometown team left minor league baseball, Bobby Warner became the player/manager of the Marshalltown Grays in 1904, beginning a two-season tenure managing the team in the Iowa State League.
1920 to 1923: Soos / South Dakota League