10 historical facts about Toledo Mud Hens baseball

1. Baseball goes all the way back to 1883 in Toledo, but the team name "Mud Hens" was not used until 1896.
2. What exactly is a "mud hen?" It's a bird that lives in swampy areas. It's common name is "American Coot."
3. There was no baseball team in Toledo from 1956 to 1964. In 1955, the team that was then the Mud Hens moved to Wichita, Kansas, to become the Wichita Braves. But in 1964 the New York Yankees brought its AAA team, formerly the Richmond Virginians to Toledo and that team became the Mud Hens.
4. In 1914 and 1915, the Mud Hens temporarily moved to Cleveland. The move was to help out the Cleveland Indians with a league feud. The Indians' baseball park apparently had to have a game every day of the season for the Indians to avoid joining a new league. The plan worked and the threatening league died the next season.
5. When the team returned to Toledo in 1916, it was renamed the Toledo Iron Men. But that name only lasted for two years, and after that the "Mud Hens" title was born again.
6. Since 2004, every Mud Hens game has been on television thanks to the Buckeye Sports Cable Network.
7. Since 2002, the Toledo Mud Hens have played the team's home games in downtown Toledo at Fifth Third Field.
8. In the sitcom television show M*A*S*H*, the character known as Klinger (played by Jamie Farr) was from Toledo and a major fan of the Mud Hens. Farr was originally from Toledo, and he often wore Mud Hens hats or jerseys on the television program.
9. The Mud Hens have played at the AAA class level since 1946, today as an affiliate team to the Detroit Tigers.
10. In 2005 and 2006, the Toledo Mud Hens were the winners of the Governors' Cup, the annual championship game for the International League.