Montgomery Biscuits

The Montgomery Biscuits are a minor league baseball team based in Montgomery, Alabama. The team is the Class AA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays and plays in the Southern League. The 2004 season was the team's first in Montgomery. The Biscuits play in Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium, which has a capacity of 7,000.

The franchise joined the Southern League in 1973 as the Orlando Twins, a minor-league affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, which held spring training in Orlando, Florida at the time. The Orlando Twins played at Tinker Field in downtown Orlando, near the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium. In 1990, the team was renamed the Orlando Sun Rays. In 1993, the Chicago Cubs became the team's new major-league affiliate, and the team was renamed the Orlando Cubs. While still a Chicago Cubs affiliate, the team renamed itself once again in 1997 and became the Orlando Rays. The following year, for one season only, the Seattle Mariners were the Rays' major-league affiliate. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays, an American League expansion team in 1998, assumed the Orlando Rays' major-league affiliation the following year.

The Orlando Rays' last season at Tinker Field was 1999. From 2000 to 2003, the Orlando Rays played in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, in Champion Stadium at Walt Disney World Resort. Despite the fact that the team played in a state-of-the-art stadium that was built in 1997 and used during spring training by the Atlanta Braves, attendance did not meet expectations; after trailing the Southern League in attendance in multiple years, the Rays' owners announced the team would move to Montgomery in 2004 (terminating their 10-year lease with Disney after four seasons). Rays players who went on to the major-league level include Carl Crawford, Toby Hall, Jorge Cantu, Dewon Brazelton, Chad Gaudin, Matt Diaz, Jonny Gomes and Seth McClung.

The Biscuits became Montgomery's first professional baseball team since 1980, when the Montgomery Rebels played their final season in the Southern League. The Biscuits' owners selected the team's nickname from an entry in a "name the team" contest, due in part to the potential marketing and pun possibilities (ex. "Hey, Butter, Butter, Butter" or the team's souvenir store, the "Biscuit Basket"). During games, biscuits are shot from an air cannon, into the stands.

While in Orlando, the franchise won three Southern League championships: in 1981 (as the Twins), 1991 (as the Sun Rays), and 1999 (as the Rays).

On September 15, 2006, in just their third year of existence, the Biscuits defeated the Huntsville Stars to win the team's first Southern League championship in Montgomery. One year later, in 2007, the Biscuits again defeated the Huntsville Stars to win their second consecutive Southern League championship. They became the first team since the 1975-1977 Montgomery Rebels to win back-to-back championships.

Current Major League Baseball players who first played for the Biscuits include pitchers Scott Kazmir, James Shields, Jason Hammel, Andy Sonnanstine, David Price, and Juan Salas, catcher Shawn Riggans, infielders B.J. Upton and Evan Longoria, and outfielders Delmon Young and Joey Gathright.

Their mascot is "Monty", an anthropomorphized buttermilk biscuit. Monty appears in the logo and on the hat and is also the star of the documentary,"The Story of Monty the Biscuit".^[1] The mascot for the Orlando Rays was "Spike", a bear.^[2] The origin of Spike is unknown but presumed to predate the Devil Rays, as the club was previously controlled by the Cubs as well as the Twins (who have a bear mascot, T.C. Bear).

Current roster

References

1. ^ YouTube - The Story of Monty the Biscuit
2. ^ Orlando Rays

External links

• Official site
• Video history of the team