Columbus Clippers - Before The Clippers

Before The Clippers

Except for six seasons — 1971–76 — Columbus has been represented in the highest levels of minor league baseball since 1902, at first in the American Association (1902–54) by the Columbus Senators and Columbus Red Birds, and since then in the International League. The first IL team in Ohio's capital, the Columbus Jets, was the transplanted Ottawa Athletics which moved to Columbus in 1955. While playing for its first two seasons as the top farm club of the Kansas City Athletics, the Jets spent the next 14 years as a top affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates (whose owner, John Galbreath, hailed from Columbus). The franchise moved to Charleston, West Virginia, as the Charleston Charlies in 1971.