# Buffalo Bisons
**Buffalo Bisons** are a professional [Minor League Baseball](https://www.edgepedia.org/minor-league-baseball) team based in [Buffalo, New York](https://www.edgepedia.org/buffalo-new-york), that plays at the Triple-A level in the [International League](https://www.edgepedia.org/international-league) as the top affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.[1](https://www.milb.com/buffalo/ballpark/sahlen-field) The team plays at Sahlen Field, a downtown ballpark built before the 1988 season that remains one of the largest parks in minor league baseball.[1](https://www.milb.com/buffalo/ballpark/sahlen-field) The Bisons name has been used by several Buffalo clubs since the 1870s, including a National League franchise of 1879 to 1885, and the current team carries on a Buffalo baseball tradition that stretches back to 1877.[2](https://www.mlb.com/mets/news/featured/explore-sahlen-field-home-of-the-buffalo-bisons)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| League and class | Triple-A International League, affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays[1](https://www.milb.com/buffalo/ballpark/sahlen-field) |
| Home ballpark | Sahlen Field, capacity 16,600, natural grass, dimensions LF 325 ft, CF 404 ft, RF 325 ft[1](https://www.milb.com/buffalo/ballpark/sahlen-field) |
| Ballpark opened | April 14, 1988 (Bisons 1, Denver 0); first hit by Jim Reboulet, first win by Bob Patterson[1](https://www.milb.com/buffalo/ballpark/sahlen-field) |
| Major League history in Buffalo | National League Bisons, 1879 to 1885, with five players later elected to the Hall of Fame[3](https://www.milb.com/news/buffalo-one-of-many-il-locales-with-major-league-history) |
| MLB games hosted | 49 Toronto Blue Jays home games in 2020 and 2021, the most at any non-MLB park[1](https://www.milb.com/buffalo/ballpark/sahlen-field) |
| Copa de la Diversión | Became the Luces de Buffalo in 2024[4](https://www.axios.com/2024/03/28/minor-league-baseball-us-hispanic-latinos) |
## Sahlen Field
The Bisons' home park, known over the years as Pilot Field, NorthAmeriCare Park, Dunn Tire Park, Coca-Cola Field, and now Sahlen Field, was designed by H.O.K Architects of Kansas City and built prior to the 1988 season.[1](https://www.milb.com/buffalo/ballpark/sahlen-field) It is described by the team as the first "classic retro" ballpark, constructed before Camden Yards in Baltimore and [Coors Field](https://www.edgepedia.org/coors-field) in Colorado, and its construction triggered a stadium boom at both the minor and major league levels.[1](https://www.milb.com/buffalo/ballpark/sahlen-field) Buffalo was in the running to be a Major League expansion city at the time, and if that had come to pass a third deck would have been added to the ballpark.[2](https://www.mlb.com/mets/news/featured/explore-sahlen-field-home-of-the-buffalo-bisons)
**A record-setting park.** The six highest single-season attendance figures in minor league baseball history were all recorded at Sahlen Field, which in 1988 staged the inaugural Triple-A All-Star Game.[1](https://www.milb.com/buffalo/ballpark/sahlen-field) Its capacity has been reduced over the years, with a Party Deck replacing a set of bleachers.[2](https://www.mlb.com/mets/news/featured/explore-sahlen-field-home-of-the-buffalo-bisons) The outfield dimensions are encircled in the outline of a bison.[5](https://www.intheballparks.com/international/coca-cola-field)
**Blue Jays residency.** When Canadian COVID-19 travel restrictions kept the [Toronto Blue Jays](https://www.edgepedia.org/toronto-blue-jays) out of [Rogers Centre](https://www.edgepedia.org/rogers-centre), Sahlen Field hosted 49 Blue Jays home games across the 2020 and 2021 seasons, putting it at the top of the list for non-MLB parks hosting Major League games.[1](https://www.milb.com/buffalo/ballpark/sahlen-field) To prepare the park for the Blue Jays' two-season stay, workers had to complete a fast-paced renovation: enlarging the home clubhouse, installing new batting cages and practice mounds, rebuilding and moving the bullpens, fitting new lights, and resodding the outfield.[2](https://www.mlb.com/mets/news/featured/explore-sahlen-field-home-of-the-buffalo-bisons) The Blue Jays began their 2021 stay in Buffalo on June 1 against the [Miami Marlins](https://www.edgepedia.org/miami-marlins), after starting the season at their spring-training TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida.[6](https://as.com/us/us/2021/05/06/mlb/1620263638_145281.html)
## Early history and the 1878 Bisons
Buffalo fielded its first professional nine in August 1877, an independent club with a 10-27 record that nonetheless included future names John Montgomery Ward, Larry Corcoran, and James Roseman.[7](https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-1878-buffalo-bisons-was-it-the-greatest-minor-league-team-of-the-games-early-years/) The International Association, organized in February 1877, is regarded as the game's first minor league.[7](https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-1878-buffalo-bisons-was-it-the-greatest-minor-league-team-of-the-games-early-years/)
The 1878 Bisons won the International Association championship, the New York State championship, and the intercity rivalry with Rochester, finishing 81-32 with three ties against all competition and beating [National League](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-league) clubs in 10 of 17 games.[7](https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-1878-buffalo-bisons-was-it-the-greatest-minor-league-team-of-the-games-early-years/) The team's engine was pitcher Jim Galvin, later a Hall of Famer, who pitched in 101 of the team's 116 games, won 72 and lost 25, and threw a minimum of 895 innings with the pitching distance at 45 feet.[7](https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-1878-buffalo-bisons-was-it-the-greatest-minor-league-team-of-the-games-early-years/) A baseball historian writing for the Society for American Baseball Research, Joseph Overfield, nominated the 1878 club as baseball's first great minor league team.[7](https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-1878-buffalo-bisons-was-it-the-greatest-minor-league-team-of-the-games-early-years/)
## Major League Buffalo
The Bisons joined the National League for the 1879 season and played "league" ball until the franchise was sold near the end of the 1885 season.[7](https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-1878-buffalo-bisons-was-it-the-greatest-minor-league-team-of-the-games-early-years/) The NL Bisons featured five players later elected to the Hall of Fame, including pitcher Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn (1880) and barehanded catcher James "Deacon" White (1881-85).[3](https://www.milb.com/news/buffalo-one-of-many-il-locales-with-major-league-history) Buffalo is the only city identified as part of the would-be Continental League that did not go on to land a Major League franchise.[8](https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Sahlen_Field)
## League history of the modern franchise
Over the years, Buffalo ballclubs moved among a succession of leagues: the International Association (1878, 1888-1890), the International League (1886-1887), the Eastern Association (1891), the Eastern League (1892-1898), the Western League (1899), the [American League](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-league) (1900), the Eastern League (1902-1911), the International League (1912-1970), the Eastern League (1979-1984), the American Association (1985-1997), the International League (1998-2019), Triple-A East (2021), and once more the International League beginning in 2022.[9](https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Buffalo_Bisons) The current Bisons franchise moved from Wichita, Kansas, during the 1984-1985 off-season, where it had played as the Wichita Aeros of the American Association.[9](https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Buffalo_Bisons) The 1904 and 1906 Buffalo clubs under George Stallings won pennants and Junior World Championships in the Eastern (International) League.[7](https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-1878-buffalo-bisons-was-it-the-greatest-minor-league-team-of-the-games-early-years/)
The Bisons were among the clubs most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and MLB's 2021 Minor League Reorganization; with Sahlen Field undergoing renovations for the Blue Jays, the team started its 2021 Triple-A season in [Trenton, New Jersey](https://www.edgepedia.org/trenton-new-jersey), at the park then known as Arm & Hammer Park.[9](https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Buffalo_Bisons)
## Identity and community
In 2024 the Bisons joined Minor League Baseball's Copa de la Diversión, a program in which teams adopt Hispanic identities for selected games, becoming the Luces de Buffalo (Lights of Buffalo).[4](https://www.axios.com/2024/03/28/minor-league-baseball-us-hispanic-latinos) The cap logo features electric bolts around the ancient Taíno symbol for sun or light, honoring the Indigenous roots of [Puerto Ricans](https://www.edgepedia.org/puerto-ricans) who have lived in western New York.[4](https://www.axios.com/2024/03/28/minor-league-baseball-us-hispanic-latinos) In the 2025 season, more than 700 different organizations benefited from Bisons Baseball community programs.[10](https://www.milb.com/news/buffalo-bisons-2025-community-impact) The team has also marked its own history in unusual ways, signing 100-year-old Roy Kinyon to a one-day contract starting and ending on July 4, 2022.[9](https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Buffalo_Bisons)
## References
1. [Sahlen Field, Bisons official site](https://www.milb.com/buffalo/ballpark/sahlen-field)
2. [Explore Sahlen Field, home of the Buffalo Bisons, MLB.com/Mets](https://www.mlb.com/mets/news/featured/explore-sahlen-field-home-of-the-buffalo-bisons)
3. [Buffalo one of many IL locales with Major League history, MiLB.com](https://www.milb.com/news/buffalo-one-of-many-il-locales-with-major-league-history)
4. [Minor League Baseball's Copa de la Diversión expands to largest ever, Axios](https://www.axios.com/2024/03/28/minor-league-baseball-us-hispanic-latinos)
5. [In The Ballparks: Sahlen Field](https://www.intheballparks.com/international/coca-cola-field)
6. [Blue Jays cambian de sede: jugarán en Buffalo a partir del 1 de junio, AS.com](https://as.com/us/us/2021/05/06/mlb/1620263638_145281.html)
7. [The 1878 Buffalo Bisons: Was It the Greatest Minor League Team of the Game's Early Years?, SABR](https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-1878-buffalo-bisons-was-it-the-greatest-minor-league-team-of-the-games-early-years/)
8. [Sahlen Field, BR Bullpen](https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Sahlen_Field)
9. [Buffalo Bisons, BR Bullpen](https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Buffalo_Bisons)
10. [Buffalo Bisons 2025 Community Impact, MiLB.com](https://www.milb.com/news/buffalo-bisons-2025-community-impact)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Other team and ball sports › Baseball and related bat sports › Professional baseball in the Americas › Minor league baseball*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license