Anthony DeMatteo
Staff Writer
Two years before the New York Mets were magic, members of the 1969 World Series champions spent a season in Jacksonville.
In 1967, the Jacksonville Suns were the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets, fielding future baseball greats Nolan Ryan and Jerry Koosman at old Wolfson Park.
The team won the Triple-A International League title.
Forty years later, the Suns, now the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, are honoring the 1967 team with a new uniform the club unveiled Tuesday.
The Suns will wear the blue pinstripe “throwbacks” for Saturday games. The team will also have a new batting practice uniform this season.
The Suns also rolled out the promotion schedule for the upcoming campaign.
Among the highlights are current Dodger James Loney and Matt Kemp bobblehead giveaway nights, Christian concerts in April and August and a Sept. 2 appearance by the Famous Chicken.
July 14 will be Tug McGraw 1967 Bobblehead Giveaway night at the park as the Suns host the Birmingham Barons. The first 3,000 fans will get a bobblehead doll of McGraw, who pitched for 19 seasons in the major leagues. Also during that homestand is Simpsons Night, when fans can dress as a character from the cartoon series to be eligible for prizes.
Last year, the Suns drew close to 413,000 fans at the Baseball Grounds.
General Manager Kirk Goodman said the team will rely on partnerships and promotions with local businesses to help make the season successful.
“A lot of local businesses are involved,” said Goodman. “We count on the sponsorship. Coca-Cola is one of our biggest sponsors. Sysco Foods has been with us a while and so has Publix, W.W. Gay and many others. We count on a base of support to make these things possible for our fans.”
Goodman said it is an exciting time of year for the Suns, as some of the players the Dodgers will assign to Jacksonville are becoming clear.
“We have an idea of who some of our players are going to be,” he said. “We just got the spring training schedule for our guys so we know we can go to Vero (Beach, the Dodger’s spring training home) and watch them play. But it’s really never set until they actually get off the bus here on April 2.”