Sioux Falls Packers

The Sioux Falls Packers, based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, played six professional seasons from 1966 through 1971 as a Class A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, and two amateur seasons before that. The nickname came from the meatpacking industry that anchored the local economy for decades.

The Packers name started in the collegiate summer Basin League in 1964 and 1965, and that first club won the 1964 championship with Don Sutton pitching for it. Sutton went on to 324 major league wins and the Hall of Fame. Ken Griffey Sr. also came through Sioux Falls in the Packers era, several years before his own long major league career and two decades before he and his son played in the same Seattle outfield.

Sioux Falls joined the reformed Class A circuit in 1966 and stayed until the league ceased operations after the 1971 season. Home games were played at Sioux Falls Stadium, which opened in 1941 and is still in use.

The Packers were one identity in a long local run. Sioux Falls played as the Canaries in 1902 and 1903, as the Soos from 1920 through 1923, and as the Canaries again from 1924 into the 1950s. Independent baseball returned to the city in 1993 under the Canaries name, which remains in use today.