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Professional baseball in Columbus dates back to at least 1875, when the Columbus Buckeyes team was Columbus’ local affiliate in the International Association for Professional Base Ball Players.
They were followed by the Columbus Senators, who played their games at Recreation Park in German Village and Neil Park on Cleveland Avenue.
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The Senators had Columbus’ first Black baseball player in 1887, 50 years before Jackie Robinson integrated the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Columbus Dispatch reported four Black players among Ohio teams in these early years, including Columbus’ J. Higgins, who played briefly before a color line excluded Black players from the recognized professional leagues by the end of the decade.
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In 1931, the Saint Louis Cardinals took control of the Columbus team as part of their developing organization, naming the team the “Red Birds." Columbus officials liked the name since it helped market the city as a center of aviation with our recently opened airport and local involvement in early transcontinental air service.
The Red Birds were the first team to play in what was originally known as Franklin County Stadium on Mound Street in Franklinton.
In 1955, a contest to rename the team included suggestions like Bears, Capitals, Carnations, Bux, Reapers, Homesteaders, Falcons, Swanks, Mariners, Christophers, and of course, Buckeyes, though it was clear that the Ohio State University had by then made a pretty solid claim to that name. A January 1955 Dispatch article suggested that “a good hot ‘horse’ to put your ballot on is Jets," which did indeed become the team’s new name that year. Another Dispatch article later that week noted “Columbus Jets ... Short, catchy, looks good in a headline, stands for speed, power and belongs to the modern age." And it was another aviation-focused name for Columbus.
The Jets played from 1955 through 1970. By then, the stadium was in poor repair, and the owners decided not to invest in refurbishments. Columbus baseball fans were surprised when the Pittsburgh Pirates, the city's Major League Baseball affiliate at that time, moved their farm team to Charleston, West Virginia, that year as a result. Columbus went without professional baseball for the next several years.
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In 1976, Franklin County Commissioners announced that they would reinvest in the stadium. County Commissioner and former Jets team general manager Harold Cooper would handle negotiations, and the county would manage the stadium and the team.
After approximately $5 million in refurbishments, it was announced that the Pirates would again have a farm city in Columbus under the team name the "Clippers," which it remains today. A total of 15,721 fans watched the Clippers beat the Pawtucket Red Sox 6-5 in the refurbished stadium on April 22, 1977.
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In 1979, the Clippers won their first International League Governors’ Cup Championship in their first year as a New York Yankees AAA minor league affiliate.
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The stadium was renamed Cooper Stadium, for Harold Cooper, then-International League President and Franklin County Commissioner, in 1984. Cooper began his baseball career at age 9 in the concession stands for the Red Birds, later served as general manager for the Jets, and eventually became International League president after his instrumental role in founding the Clippers franchise.
“The Coop” as the stadium was known, hosted its final game in 2008. Play began in the new Huntington Park stadium in the Arena District beginning in 2009. The Clippers are now an affiliate for Ohio’s own Cleveland Guardians, and are 11-time Governors’ Cup champions (most recently in 2019), second only in championships to the Red Wings of Rochester, New York.
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The Clippers continue to play at Huntington Park, with schedules available at mlib.com/columbus. Get free admission to Clippers games through the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Culture Pass program. Search “Culture pass” at columbuslibrary.org for details and availability.
Grace Freeman is a Librarian with Columbus Metropolitan Library.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Professional baseball has been in Columbus since at least 1875
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