Reno Silver Sox

The Reno Silver Sox, based in Reno, Nevada, joined the California League in mid-1955 and made the Biggest Little City in the World the league's easternmost outpost for decades. The name, derived from Nevada's Silver State nickname, first appeared in 1947, when an earlier Silver Sox club became Nevada's first team in Organized Baseball as a charter member of the Class C Sunset League. That original club won the 1948 league championship and produced one of the strangest games in minor league history: on June 1, 1947, two Reno players each hit four home runs in the same game, the only time teammates have accomplished the feat together.

The California League era began when the financially exhausted Channel Cities Oilers were handed off to Reno backers midway through the 1955 season. The revived Silver Sox played their first game at Moana Stadium on July 1, 1955, and by 1956 had signed on with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The partnership peaked spectacularly: Willie Davis was league MVP for Reno in 1959, the 1960 club won the pennant outright, and the 1961 Silver Sox went 97-63, won both halves of the season, and were later ranked among the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time. That 1961 roster included future big leaguers Ken McMullen and Dick Nen, with Nen winning two-thirds of the Triple Crown with 32 home runs and 144 RBIs.

The Silver Sox name carried on in Reno through 1981 and returned from 1988 to 1992, with alumni across the years including Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley, who pitched at Moana Stadium in 1972 and 1973. Reno remains the only city outside California to host a California League team for more than a single season.

Our design is adapted from original Silver Sox artwork found in vintage team programs, the classic batting sock character that Reno fans would have actually held in their hands.