Team logo Cap insignia Division Eastern Division Manager Jared Sandberg League title 2007 | Current Class A Founded 29 September 2006 League Midwest League | |
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Previous leagues South Atlantic League (2001-2009) Current Tampa Bay Rays (2007–present) Previous Los Angeles Dodgers (2001–2006) Location Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States Ballpark Bowling Green Ballpark (2009–) | ||
Sights sounds bowling green hot rods
The Bowling Green Hot Rods are a minor league baseball team in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They are a Class A team in the Midwest League, and have been a farm team of the Tampa Bay Rays since September 29, 2006. The team began playing at Bowling Green Ballpark in 2009, replacing the Columbus Catfish.
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The "Hot Rods" name refers to the connections that Bowling Green has to the automotive and racing industries such the National Corvette Museum, Holley Carburetor, Beech Bend Raceway and the Bowling Green Assembly Plant, which is the only location in the world that produces General Motors' Chevrolet Corvette.
History
The Hot Rods began life as the Wilmington Waves, one of two South Atlantic League expansion teams for the 2001 season. However, the Waves' stay at Brooks Field in Wilmington, North Carolina, lasted for a mere single season. The Waves took on the "South Georgia" moniker when the team was moved to the Paul Eames Sports Complex in Albany, Georgia, for the 2002 season. The team retained the South Georgia Waves name when it again moved to Golden Park in Columbus, Georgia, just before the 2003 campaign. One year later, in 2004, the franchise would change names and became the Columbus Catfish.
In April 2008, the team moved the team to Bowling Green for the 2009 season under the new nickname "Hot Rods." Their first manager as the Hot Rods was Matt Quatraro.
In 2010, the Hot Rods and the Lake County Captains moved from the South Atlantic League to the Midwest League, a plan meant to alleviate travel expenses associated with routine road trips as well as player movement within the teams' respective major/minor league systems.
In December 2013, Art Solomon, owner of the Hot Rods for five years, sold the team to Manhattan Capital Sports.
The Hot Rods have been widely recognized for their creative and fun promotional efforts. In 2009, the team's What Could've Been Night was named Promotion of the Year by MiLB.com. In 2010, Hot Rods Assistant General Manager Greg Coleman was honored as Marketer of the Year by the Professional Marketing Association. In 2014, the team adopted the slogan "It's Just #FUNNER".
