History
Minor league baseball officially returned to Maine on October 4, 1992, when Portland was awarded one of two Eastern League expansion franchises (the other being the New Haven Ravens) to begin play in April 1994. The Sea Dogs signed an affiliation agreement with the Florida Marlins on May 3, 1993, beginning what would become a nine-season relationship. The city renovated Hadlock Field, transforming what was once a high-school stadium into a professional ballpark.
The team won its first game, defeating the Reading Phillies on the road 2–1, with the help of a 14th-inning home run by future major league catcher Charles Johnson. The team opened Hadlock Field on April 18, 1994, losing 7–6 to the Albany-Colonie Yankees. City manager Robert Ganley led efforts to renovate Hadlock Field and return professional baseball to Portland.
Cartoonist Guy Gilchrist designed the team's logo as well as logos for the Connecticut Defenders, Binghamton Mets, and New Britain Rock Cats. Gilchrist's comic strip Mudpie had a series of strips in which the young cat's family visit the Portland area and attend a Sea Dog game.
Read more about this topic: Portland Sea Dogs
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“The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.”
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“The history of this country was made largely by people who wanted to be left alone. Those who could not thrive when left to themselves never felt at ease in America.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more”
—John Adams (1735–1826)