Previous Class D League titles 1 (1960) | League Florida State League Founded 1953 | |
Previous Chicago Cubs (1962)
Milwaukee Braves (1961)
Cincinnati Redlegs (1957–1960)
Detroit Tigers (1956) Previous names Palatka Cubs (1962)
Palatka Redlegs (1957–1961)
Palatka Tigers (1956) | ||
The Palatka Redlegs were a minor league baseball team that existed from 1956 to 1962.
They played in the Florida State League. From 1957 to 1960, they were affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds. In 1961 they were affiliated with the Milwaukee Braves.
The Redlegs enjoyed a fairly successful run during their affiliation with the Reds, finishing no worse than third place in 4 seasons, including making the league finals in 1957 and winning the championship in 1960. However, as a Braves affiliated team they would finish 61-78 which placed them 6th in the FSL.
The 1961 team was memorialized in Pat Jordan's award-winning book "A False Spring." Jordan was a one-time phenom who never made it to the big leagues, he wrote of his minor league experiences in Palatka, like the time a player sprinted in, grabbed a bat, clubbed a snake and threw it over the outfield fence.
The team began as an affiliate of the Detroit Tigers in 1956, as the Palatka Tigers. It was also affiliated with the Chicago Cubs, and became the Palatka Cubs before folding in 1962.