The Richmond Flying Squirrels are a Minor League Baseball team based in Richmond, Virginia. The team, which is a part of the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants major league club, and plays at The Diamond. The Flying Squirrels have been affiliated with the Giants since 2010, making it the longest-running active affiliation in the Giants organization among teams not owned by the Giants. The Squirrels were previously known as the Connecticut Defenders. The Flying Squirrels mark affiliated baseball's return to Richmond after a one-year absence prompted by the relocation of the former Triple-A International League's Richmond Braves to Lawrenceville, Georgia, in 2009, where they are now called the Gwinnett Stripers. The Squirrels hold the current record for the longest distance from their major league affiliate, at 2,872.5 miles from Oracle Park.

History

On September 23, 2009, it was announced that the Connecticut Defenders would leave Norwich for their current home at The Diamond in Richmond, Virginia, where they will continue seeking proposals for a new ballpark in the Richmond metropolitan area. The team name was changed to the "Flying Squirrels". The name the Richmond Flying Squirrels was chosen through a Richmond Times-Dispatch readers' "name-the-team-contest," which ended on October 15, 2009. The name was submitted by Brad Mead of Prince George, Virginia. Other finalists were the Rock Hoppers, Hambones, Rhinos, Flatheads, and Hush Puppies. (The name Hambones was later ruled out of the contest after the city's uproar and the NAACP finding that "the Hambones" could be seen as a derogatory term directed towards the African-American community.) In conjunction with Major League Baseball's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Flying Squirrels were organized into the Double-A Northeast. In 2022, the Double-A Northeast became known as the Eastern League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization.

Logo

The new Flying Squirrels logo was unveiled on December 1, 2009. It is a black, red, and grey flying squirrel meant to look like the outline of Virginia with a patch in the shape of an "R" (for Richmond) on top of an acorn over its heart, roughly where Richmond is located in Virginia. The logo was designed by San Diego-based sports branding firm Brandiose. It was named the logo of the year by Ballpark Digest in 2010 and the best minor-league logo by Baseball America in 2015.

Season records

Playoffs

Roster