Memphis Chicks

The Memphis Chicks (originally short for Chickasaws) were an American minor league baseball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Chicks were charter members of the Southern Association (Class B, 1901; Class A, 1902–35; Class A1, 1936–45; Class AA, 1946–61) from 1901 until November 18, 1960, when the club folded and was transferred to Macon, Georgia, for 1961.

The Chicks suffered a major blow in the spring of 1960 when their venerable ballpark, Russwood Park, was destroyed by fire after a Chicago White Sox-Cleveland Indians exhibition game on Easter Sunday, April 17. The team had opened the season in Nashville and was scheduled to play their home opener in two days. The team played in temporary facilities, including a high school football stadium, for the rest of the season but drew only 48,000 fans for the entire season.

After the 1961 season, the entire Southern Association shut down. Memphis was without baseball until 1968, when a AA Texas League team, the Memphis Blues, came to town as a farm team of the New York Mets. The new team played in a converted American Legion stadium that was renamed Blues Stadium.