The Memphis Redbirds are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League and the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, they are located in Memphis and play their home games at AutoZone Park, which opened in 2000 and seats 10,000. The team played at Tim McCarver Stadium in 1998 and 1999, they were established as a PCL expansion team in 1998. A total of seven managers have led its more than 500 players; as of the completion of the 2019 season, the Redbirds have played in 3,140 regular season games and compiled a win–loss record of 1,583–1,557. They won the Pacific Coast League championship in 2000, 2009, 2017, 2018; the Redbirds won the Triple-A National Championship Game in 2018. The first professional baseball team in Memphis was the Memphis Reds of the League Alliance in 1877, they were followed by the Grays, Giants, Fever Germs, Egyptians, Chickasaws and Chicks. In 1997, Memphis was home to the Double-A Chicks of the Southern League; the Memphis Redbirds were created as an expansion team of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in 1998.
This resulted in the Chicks relocating to nearby Jackson, where they became known the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx. The Redbirds were owned as a non-profit community entity called the Memphis Redbirds Baseball Foundation which operated the Redbirds until 2009 when management was turned over to Global Spectrum, a Comcast-owned company. While a new ballpark, AutoZone Park, was constructed for the team, they played their first two seasons at the city's Tim McCarver Stadium; the Redbirds became the top minor league affiliate of the major league St. Louis Cardinals. Memphis' team name, color scheme, uniforms were all based on those of the St. Louis team. In their inaugural season, the club was managed by Gaylen Pitts; the Redbirds played their first game on the road at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Nebraska. In game one of the doubleheader, the Omaha Royals defeated the Redbirds, 3–2; the team finished their first season of play with a 74–70 record, three games out of first place, leaving them second out of four teams in their division.
They finished the 1999 season in third place with a 74–64 record. In 2000, Memphis moved into the newly constructed AutoZone Park. In the park's first regular season game, held on April 14, the Redbirds defeated the Iowa Cubs, 14–3. Memphis went on to clinch the Pacific Coast League's American Conference East Division championship by ending the season in first place, 131⁄2 games ahead of the second-place Oklahoma RedHawks. In the American Conference Championship, the Redbirds defeated the Albuquerque Isotopes, 3–2 in the best-of-five series, advanced to the league championship. Memphis defeated the Salt Lake Buzz, 3–1, to win the PCL championship; the Redbirds went on to face the Indianapolis Indians, league champions of the Triple-A International League, in the best-of-five Triple-A World Series. Memphis lost, three games to one; the team finished each of the next three seasons in fourth place—2001, 2002, 2003. The 2002 campaign was a tight race within the American Conference East Division, as the fourth-place Redbirds were a mere three games behind first-place Oklahoma.
Tom Spencer became manager of the Redbirds in 2013. He was replaced midseason by Danny Sheaffer. Memphis hosted the Triple-A All-Star Game at AutoZone Park in 2003. Players Jason Bowers, Matt Duff, Jason Ryan represented Memphis, as they were elected to the PCL All-Star Team. Pitcher Dan Haren was selected for the 2004 PCL All-Star Team and was chosen as the PCL Star of the Game—the most valuable player representing the league. Memphis ended the 2004 season in second place, eight games behind first-place Oklahoma, with a 73–71 record; the team finished third in 2005, 3 1⁄2 games behind the eventual league champion. From 2006 to 2007, Memphis finished further out of first place with records of 58–86 in 2006 and 56–88 in 2007; the 2008 season began a reversal of the team's fortunes. Though winding up in second place in 2008, the team, under second-year manager Chris Maloney, managed a second-place finish with their 75–67 record. In 2009, the Redbirds' first-place finish earned them the American Conference North Division title and a return to the postseason for the first time in nine seasons.
In the American Conference championship, Memphis faced the Albuquerque Isotopes, sweeping them in three-straight games. They continued to defeat the Sacramento River Cats, 3–0, in the championship series to win their second PCL championship, they competed against the International League's Durham Bulls in the Bricktown Showdown for the Triple-A National Championship, but were defeated in the single game, 5–4. Having finished the 2010 season in a tie for first place with the Iowa Cubs, Memphis was awarded the American Conference North title by virtue of having won the regular season series against Iowa. Memphis started the postseason by defeating the Oklahoma City RedHawks, 3–0, to win the American Conference championship; the Tacoma Rainiers swept the Redbirds, defeating them for the PCL crown in three-straight games. The 2011, the club narrowly missed the postseason. In 2012, manager Chris Maloney, the longest-tenured skipper in team history, was hired as St. Louis' first base coach, he was replaced by Ron Warner.
He led the Redbirds to finish in 27 games out of first. The team fared better in 2013, ending up in second place, just one game behind the eventual league champion Omaha Storm Chasers. In 2013, Forbes ranked the Redbirds as the eighth-most valuable minor league franchise; the team's net worth was estimat
Heath McCormick is a Canadian-American curler from Sarnia, Ontario. McCormick began curling in 1992 as a junior in Ontario, he competed in the Ontario Junior Curling Championships five times, won in 1996 playing third for Patrick Ferris. That rink represented Ontario at the 1996 Canadian Junior Curling Championships where they lost in a tie-breaker game to Nova Scotia's Rob Sifton, he competed in the Ontario's men's provincial championships six times and finished as runner-up in 2003. He was part of the winning team in the 2004 Ontario mixed championship, he lost in the final of the 2004 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship to Shannon Kleibrink of Alberta. In 2010, McCormick returned to the United States after he was recruited by Bill Stopera, Martin Sather, Dean Gemmell to replace Matt Hames, retiring, as skip. With his new team, McCormick competed in the 2011 United States Men's Curling Championship, finishing fourth after a playoff loss to Todd Birr, he returned the next year to play in the nationals and went through the round robin undefeated securing his first nationals title with a win over defending champion Pete Fenson.
McCormick and his team played at the 2013 United States Men's Curling Championship, qualified for the playoffs, defeating Fenson and Mike Farbelow in the tiebreaker round. They lost to eventual champion Brady Clark in the 3 vs. 4 page playoff game. Upon their semifinal win at the 2012 United States Men's Curling Championship, McCormick and his team were qualified to participate at the 2014 United States Olympic Curling Trials. McCormick grew up in Ontario, he studied at the University of Western Ontario. He works as an insurance broker with McCormick Insurance Brokers Ltd. Despite sharing a last name, Heath is not related to United States female curler Debbie McCormick Heath McCormick on the World Curling Federation database Heath McCormick on the World Curling Tour database Heath McCormick on the CurlingZone database Team USA Profile
The Second Ballot Act 1908 was an electoral system in place from 1908 to 1913 in New Zealand. It applied to elections to the House of Representatives, it was used in the 1908 and 1911 general elections, a number of by-elections. It was introduced by the Liberal Government under Joseph Ward, who feared that the emergence of the Independent Political Labour League would split the vote on the political left and thus be beneficial to the conservative opposition, who in 1909 formed the Reform Party. Ward expected that this electoral mechanism would result in all second ballots to be between Liberal and conservative candidates. In the Wellington East electorate, two Liberal candidates received similar votes and both were eliminated in the first ballot; this left the Labour candidate, David McLaren, face a conservative candidate and with many liberal voters transferring their allegiance to McLaren, he became the only candidate of the IPLL, elected to the House of Representatives. The Second Ballot Act applied to general electorates only, not to the four Maori constituencies.
The following by-elections were held using the Second Ballot Act