Before Aviators, there were the Las Vegas 51s — PHOTOS
Before the Aviators, Spruce and the beautiful, $150 million Las Vegas Ballpark, there were the Las Vegas 51s, Cosmo and Cashman Field.
In 2001, Las Vegas’ pro baseball team changed their name from the Stars to the 51s after switching their affiliation from the San Diego Padres to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the early relationship between the 51s and the Dodgers was rocky.
In 2003, the Dodgers’ then-director of player development called Cashman Field the worst stadium in Los Angeles’ six-team minor league system and said the Dodgers could not develop players in Las Vegas the same way as their competitors due to the facilities at Cashman.
In 2008, the Dodgers ended their Triple-A affiliation with the 51s. The following season, the Las Vegas team partnered with the Toronto Blue Jays, the first American League affiliate for the 51s.
In 2013, the 51s entered a partnership with the New York Mets that lasted until 2018. The team then changed its name in 2019 to the Aviators, a reference to the namesake of the team’s owner, the Howard Hughes Corp., and adopted a fighter pilot logo.
A year later, the team moved into their new home, the Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin, and were freed from Cashman Field once and for all.
Contact Taylor Lane at tlane@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tmflane on Twitter.
