The State College Spikes are a minor league baseball team that currently plays in the New York–Penn League. The Spikes play their home games at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park located on the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University in State College. The State College Spikes are the Short Season-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.
The team was founded in 1958 in Auburn, New York as an affiliate of the New York Yankees. Through its first two decades, the team's affiliation passed through the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies. In 1978, however, the team was left without a parent club. Auburn fielded independent teams in the New York-Penn League — with new nicknames each year — until 1980. Erie-area businessmen Dave Masi and Joe Castelli propped up the franchise for the 1980 season, then moved it to Erie, as the Erie Cardinals, reflecting the new affiliation with the St. Louis Cardinals. That affiliation lasted for 25 years, with three further relocations — to Hamilton, Ontario as the Hamilton Redbirds, Glens Falls, New York as the Glens Falls Redbirds and to Augusta, New Jersey as the New Jersey Cardinals.
The team settled in its current location in the State College area in 2006 and became known as the "State College Spikes". After one season with the Cardinals in State College, the Spikes ended their affiliation and became the new Class A-Short Season affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, starting in 2007 and ending in 2012. The Spikes will once again switch affiliations back to the Cardinals for the 2013 season.
Read more about State College Spikes: Affiliation Spilt With Pittsburgh, Team Name, Season By Season Records, Roster
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