The Winston-Salem Dash are a Minor League Baseball team based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They compete at the High-A level in the South Atlantic League and have been affiliated with the Chicago White Sox since 1997. The franchise began play in the Carolina League in 1945 as the Winston-Salem Cardinals and later competed as the Twins, Red Birds, Red Sox, Spirits, and Warthogs before adopting the Dash name for the 2009 season.
The franchise has won 11 Carolina League championships, most recently in 2003. The club has played at Truist Stadium since 2010 and has been owned by Diamond Baseball Holdings since 2024.
History Earlier professional baseball in Winston-Salem
Professional baseball in Winston-Salem predates the current franchise. Earlier clubs commonly known as the Winston-Salem Twins played intermittently between 1905 and 1942, competing in the Virginia-North Carolina League in 1905, the Carolina Baseball Association from 1908 to 1917, and the Piedmont League from 1920 to 1933 and again from 1937 to 1942. Winston and Salem formally merged in 1913.
Cardinals, Twins, and Red Birds (1945–1960) The present franchise joined the newly established Carolina League as a charter member in 1945, playing as the Winston-Salem Cardinals, an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals won consecutive league championships in 1950 and 1951. The 1950 club finished 106–47 and was later recognized as one of the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time.
The club adopted the Winston-Salem Twins name in 1954 and spent the 1955 and 1956 seasons as a New York Yankees affiliate. After South Side Park was damaged by fire near the end of its use, the team moved to the newly built Ernie Shore Field for the 1956 season. The franchise returned to the St. Louis organization in 1957 and competed as the Winston-Salem Red Birds through 1960.
Red Sox era (1961–1984) The franchise became a Boston Red Sox affiliate in 1961 and adopted the Winston-Salem Red Sox name. The affiliation lasted for 24 seasons, through 1984. During the Red Sox era, Winston-Salem won Carolina League championships in 1964, 1970, 1973, 1976, and 1979.
After Dennis Bastien purchased the franchise in October 1983, the club adopted its own name and color scheme, becoming the Winston-Salem Spirits for the 1984 season. It remained affiliated with Boston that year and became a Chicago Cubs affiliate in 1985.
Spirits and Warthogs (1985–2008)
The Spirits won consecutive Carolina League championships in their first two seasons as a Cubs affiliate, 1985 and 1986. The Cubs affiliation continued through 1992. In 1993, the franchise became a Cincinnati Reds affiliate and won another league championship. The Reds affiliation lasted through 1996.
After the 1994 season, the name Warthogs was selected through a local newspaper's "Name the Team" contest and became the club's identity in 1995. The name was an apparent reference to the North Carolina Zoo's recent acquisition of warthogs. The Warthogs became a Chicago White Sox affiliate in 1997, beginning an affiliation that has continued since. Winston-Salem won the 2003 Carolina League championship as the Warthogs, the franchise's most recent league title.
Dash era (2009–present) In 2008, while planning its move to a new downtown ballpark, the club solicited suggestions for a new identity and received about 3,000 submissions. On December 4, 2008, it announced that it would adopt the Winston-Salem Dash name beginning with the 2009 season. The nickname refers to the punctuation in the city's name, although the mark between "Winston" and "Salem" is technically a hyphen. A separate name-the-mascot contest selected Bolt, a lightning-themed character, as the club's new mascot in March 2009.
Construction delays and an ownership restructuring postponed the downtown ballpark's planned 2009 opening, leaving the Dash at Wake Forest Baseball Park for the entire season. The Dash began play at the new BB&T Ballpark on April 13, 2010. Winston-Salem reached the Carolina League championship series in 2010 and 2012, losing both series three games to one.
Before the 2021 reorganization of Minor League Baseball, Winston-Salem had been the only franchise to compete in every Carolina League season since the circuit's establishment in 1945. As part of Major League Baseball's restructuring that year, the Dash were assigned to High-A East at the High-A classification. The circuit restored the historical South Atlantic League name in 2022. In 2023, the club acknowledged the distinction through its Winston-Salem Hyphens alternate identity, which it used for one home game.
Billy Prim had owned the franchise since 2003 and served as managing partner of its ownership group. In April 2024, Diamond Baseball Holdings (DBH) purchased the Dash, marking the franchise's first ownership change in more than two decades. DBH retained the club's existing employees, including president and general manager Brian DeAngelis, who remained in that position after the sale. The Dash continued to play at the city-owned Truist Stadium and remained the High-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.
Ballparks South Side Park (1945–1955) From 1945 through 1955, the franchise played at South Side Park, just east of the city's original South Side development. Originally known as Twin City Sportsman's Park, the venue had served local minor-league and amateur baseball since the early 1920s. The ballpark was damaged by fire near the end of its use. In 1955, Charles Babcock donated land for a replacement municipal ballpark, which the city named for former major-league pitcher and Forsyth County sheriff Ernie Shore.
Ernie Shore Field (1956–2009) The city leased Ernie Shore Baseball Park to the Winston-Salem Twins in April 1956; it opened that month and was dedicated on May 23. The ballpark's listed capacity increased from 4,028 in 1973 to 4,280 in 1995 and 6,280 by 1998.
The city approved the sale of Ernie Shore Field to Wake Forest University in September 2008. Wake Forest moved its baseball program into the venue before the 2009 season, when the park became known as Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Park. Because completion of the Dash's downtown stadium was delayed, the club played its entire 2009 home schedule at the former Ernie Shore Field. In February 2016, Wake Forest renamed the facility David F. Couch Ballpark, while retaining the Gene Hooks Field name for the playing surface.
Downtown stadium (2010–present)
Delays in construction financing, along with a restructuring of the club's ownership group, postponed the downtown stadium's planned 2009 opening. The city approved continued financing in June 2009, and financing was completed in September. In February 2010, BB&T signed a 15-year naming-rights agreement under which the venue was named BB&T Ballpark. BB&T Ballpark hosted its first Dash game on April 13, 2010, against the Potomac Nationals.
BB&T Ballpark was renamed Truist Stadium on June 18, 2020, as a continuation of the naming-rights partnership. The City of Winston-Salem is the stadium's sole owner and leases it to the team's ownership group under a 25-year agreement.
Season-by-season records The "League finish" column gives the club's position in the full league standings rather than its divisional position. In seasons that used split-season standings, postseason qualification was based on half-season results; in 1985, the Spirits won the South Division's first half despite finishing eighth in the full-season league standings. Season entries are cited to annual team roster and league standings pages where available; additional contemporary or official sources are used where those databases conflict or do not cover a field. Season Record League finish Manager Playoffs League/notes 1945 61–76 6th George Smith / George Ferrell Carolina League; known as the "Cardinals" 1946 68–72 5th Zip Payne 1947 85–57 2nd Zip Payne Lost in first round 1948 76–65 5th Zip Payne 1949 84–61 2nd Willie Duke / George Ferrell / Roland LeBlanc Lost in first round 1950 106–47 1st George Kissell League champions 1951 81–58 2nd Harold Olt League champions 1952 74–63 3rd Harold Olt / Jimmy Brown Lost in first round 1953 69–70 6th Jimmy Brown 1954 44–94 8th Ralph Hodgin / Herb Brett Known as "Twins" 1955 65–73 7th Ken Silvestri / Aaron Robinson 1956 59–91 8th George Hausmann / Lee "Pete" Peterson 1957 72–68 4th George Kissell Known as "Red Birds" 1958 69–68 5th Vern Benson 1959 67–62 4th Al Unser (baseball) Lost in first round 1960 61–76 5th Chase Riddle 1961 68–72 4th Elmer Yoter (33–37) / Matt Sczesny (35–35) — Known as "Red Sox" 1962 76–64 3rd Eddie Popowski / Mace Brown Lost in first round 1963 67–76 7th Matt Sczesny / Bill Slack 1964 82–57 1st Bill Slack League champions 1965 65–79 7th Bill Slack 1966 82–58 1st Bill Slack Lost in league finals 1967 69–68 6th (t) Bill Slack 1968 56–81 9th Bill Slack 1969 77–67 4th Matt Sczesny Lost in first round 1970 79–58 1st Bill Slack League champions 1971 67–67 4th Don Lock 1972 65–74 5th Rac Slider 1973 77–62 2nd Bill Slack League champions 1974 76–61 3rd Bill Slack 1975 81–62 2nd John Kennedy 1976 80–57 1st Tony Torchia League champions 1977 61–77 4th Tony Torchia 1978 55–77 6th Bill Slack 1979 85–55 1st Bill Slack League champions 1980 76–64 4th Buddy Hunter 1981 72–67 2nd Buddy Hunter 1982 45–93 7th Rac Slider 1983 74–66 3rd Bill Slack Lost in league finals 1984 58–82 8th Bill Slack Known as "Spirits" 1985 58–81 8th Cal Emery League champions 1986 82–56 2nd Jim Essian League champions 1987 72–68 3rd (t) Jay Loviglio Lost in first round 1988 73–67 5th Jay Loviglio 1989 64–71 6th Jay Loviglio 1990 86–54 2nd Brad Mills 1991 83–57 2nd Brad Mills 1992 66–73 7th Bill Hayes 1993 72–68 3rd (t) Mark Berry League champions 1994 67–70 4th Mark Berry Lost in league finals 1995 69–68 3rd Mark Berry Known as "Warthogs" 1996 74–65 3rd Phillip Wellman 1997 63–77 7th Mike Heath (38–53) / Mark Haley (25–24) 1998 79–60 2nd Chris Cron Lost in league finals 1999 63–75 7th Jerry Terrell 2000 68–71 4th Brian Dayett 2001 54–86 8th Wally Backman 2002 50–90 7th Razor Shines 2003 71–67 5th Razor Shines League champions 2004 74–66 4th Ken Dominguez / Nick Leyva Lost in first round 2005 77–64 3rd Chris Cron Lost in first round 2006 66–72 5th Rafael Santana 2007 64–74 5th Tim Blackwell 2008 71–68 4th Tim Blackwell Lost in semifinals 2009 73–65 3rd Joe McEwing Lost in first round Known as "Dash" 2010 81–58 1st Joe McEwing Lost in league finals 2011 69–71 4th Julio Vinas 2012 87–51 1st Tommy Thompson Lost in league finals 2013 71–69 4th Ryan Newman 2014 61–78 8th Tommy Thompson 2015 75–63 2nd Tim Esmay Lost in semifinals 2016 56–83 6th Joel Skinner 2017 56–84 10th Willie Harris 2018 84–54 1st Omar Vizquel Lost in first round 2019 72–61 3rd Justin Jirschele 2020 — — — — Season canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 43–76 12th Ryan Newman — High-A East 2022 58–74 10th Lorenzo Bundy — South Atlantic League 2023 60–66 10th Guillermo Quiroz — South Atlantic League 2024 60–72 10th Guillermo Quiroz — South Atlantic League 2025 56–74 10th Pat Leyland — South Atlantic League
Roster
Notable alumni The following Winston-Salem alumni have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame or have won a Cy Young Award.
Player Winston-Salem season Principal distinction Wade Boggs 1977 National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee (2005) Earl Weaver 1950 National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee as a manager (1996) Jim Lonborg 1964 1967 American League Cy Young Award Sparky Lyle 1965 1977 American League Cy Young Award Chris Sale 2010 2024 National League Cy Young Award
References
External links