San Jose JoSox

The San Jose JoSox, based in San Jose, California, played the 1956 and 1957 seasons in the Class C California League, owner of one of the most distinctive names of baseball's portmanteau era. From 1947 through 1955 the club had been the San Jose Red Sox, a Boston affiliate that won league championships in 1949 and 1953. When Boston withdrew after 1955, the newly independent club kept a piece of its old identity, welding San Jose to Sox and playing two seasons as the JoSox.

Independence was a hard way to make a living in the 1950s minors, and after two seasons the club found a new parent in Pittsburgh, becoming the San Jose Pirates for 1958. That season ended with the franchise relocating to Las Vegas in May, and San Jose then sat out of the league until the Bees arrived in 1962.

The JoSox played at San Jose Municipal Stadium, the WPA-built ballpark that opened in 1942 and still hosts California League baseball today, making the JoSox one short, strangely named chapter in one of the longest continuous baseball traditions in the West.

Our design is adapted from original JoSox artwork found in the team's own 1950s game materials, featuring the cap-tipping Joe Sox character, a genuine piece of San Jose baseball graphics rather than a modern invention.