Salem Avalanche Tickets

Salem Avalanche
The Salem Avalanche is a name of a minor league baseball team, being present in the town of Salem in Virginia. They are considered as a Class High-A team in the Carolina League and had remained a farm team of the Houston Astros since 2003.

The franchise was affiliated with the Colorado Rockies from 1995-2002. It had a history of affiliations with different teams and under different names. The team plays its home games at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium, which was opened in 1995 having the seating capacity of over 6,300 people.

Kelvin Bowles was a person, who has owned Avalanche and its predecessor teams, right 1986 to 2006. He is a local resident and major league baseball scout. He had purchased the shares of the team, when it was in danger of moving from Salem.

The team was sold to a pair of businessmen from Atlanta in the year of 2006, who also own the Fort Wayne Wizards. Later in the month of December in 2007, the team was sold to Fenway Sports Group, a subsidiary of the Boston Red Sox ownership group. The team is currently affiliated with the Astros through 2008, and expected to become a Boston affiliate in the 2009 season.

The history of professional baseball in the Roanoke Valley can be tracked down the way back to 1887,. It was the time, when Roanoke Machine Works fielded its first professional team, and played all over the area through the 1888 season.

There were variety of professional teams, appeared on the scene during the next 50 years of the valley. The current team had relocation to Roanoke in 1943 and for the first time was an affiliate with a major league team.

In the late forties the Roanoke Red Sox pulled off an upset over the parent Red Sox playing at Maher Field in Roanoke. Salem started in the play as there was no professional team being available 1955 season.

The Salem Athletic Club fielded the Salem Rebels, an independent team to play in the Appalachian League at Municipal Stadium. In 1960 the team joined the Pittsburgh Pirates system and also spent some time as a San Francisco Giants affiliate in the early sixties prior to joining the Carolina League in 1968.

Salem had seen a change in names again in 1980 as it was switched to the affiliations of the San Diego Padres and then the Texas Rangers over the net few seasons. The Redbirds had made the playoffs in their first two seasons but suffered through the worst season in Salem history losing over 100 games in 1982.

The Redbirds switched the affiliations and moving back with Pittsburgh in 1987 and there was a change in the name of the team to the Salem Buccaneers. Famous Redbirds include former Philadelphia Phillies closer Mitch Williams and Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers.

In its first season back with the Pirates organization the Salem Buccaneers captured the 1987 Carolina League Championship followed by a Division Winner in 1988. Even though the Buccaneers struggled over the following seasons many major leaguers came through Salem including San Francisco Giants OF Moises Alou and Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield.

Salem Memorial Stadium was constructed for the brand new Salem Avalanche at a total cost of $10.1 million,, an affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, in August of 1995.

The 2001 season saw Salem's fourth Carolina League Championship as the Avalanche won the title after reaching the playoffs as a Wild Card. Prior to the 2006 season, the Avalanche and the City of Salem struck a deal with Lewis-Gale Medical Center to rename Salem's ballpark.