MADISON — The Rocket City Trash Pandas will take Minor League Baseball back 40 years as part of their Huntsville Stars Throwback night in August with an appearance by the area’s most famous Minor Leaguer.
Jose Canseco, who lit up the Southern League in his short stay with the Double-A Stars in 1985, will be joined by his twin brother Ozzie, who also played for the Oakland A’s minor league affiliate, Aug. 28 at Toyota Field.
At the age of 20, Jose Canseco played just 58 games in the Stars’ inaugural season but led the team in home runs with 25, and finished second in RBI. He hit .318 with a staggering 1.145 OPS.
The Havana, Cuba, native went on to play 17 seasons in Major League Baseball for Oakland, Texas, Boston, Toronto, Tampa Bay, the New York Yankees, and the Chicago White Sox, slugging 462 home runs with a lifetime.266 batting average.
The Trash Pandas will wear throwback Stars jerseys from that season in which they also won the Southern League championship.
The Stars sent 13 members of the ’85 team to the big leagues, including Canseco, Terry Steinbach, Charlie O’Brien (the first to go up), Luis Polonia, Rob Nelson, Stan Javier, Tim Belcher, and Rick Rodriguez.
They finished the season 78-66 under manager Brad Fischer, defeating the Columbus Astros in the semi-finals, and Charlotte O’s for the Southern League Championship.
The Stars had a league-leading overall attendance of 300,810 at Joe Davis Stadium in Huntsville, now the renovated home of the Huntsville City FC.
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