The team was created as a Northern League expansion franchise in 1996 along with the now-defunct Madison Black Wolf. Chris Coste is probably the most well-known former RedHawks player and was a member of the 2008 World Series-winning Philadelphia Phillies. The RedHawks and the St. Paul Saints were among most stable and successful independent baseball teams until the Saints became part of affiliated baseball and became a Triple-A franchise in 2021.
They are reported to have had the first broadcast by minor league professional baseball on the internet.[citation needed]
In fifteen seasons in the Northern League, the RedHawks set the modern Northern League best single-season record for winning percentage with a 64–21 (.753) mark in 1998, set the record for most wins in a season with 68 in 2005, made it to the playoffs in 14 of 15 seasons, won five Northern League titles, and were named Baseball America's Independent Team of the Decade for the 1990s.
The 1998 team recorded a combined record of 70 wins and 22 losses during the regular season and playoffs (.761).
On October 13, 2010, the RedHawks left the Northern League, along with the Gary SouthShore RailCats, Kansas City T-Bones, and the Winnipeg Goldeyes to join the American Association for the 2011 season.[3] The four remaining Northern League teams all folded or left the league. Accordingly, the Northern League ceased operations and folded in October 2010. As a result, the RedHawks have the distinction of being the last league champion. They have won the 2012 and 2013 American Association North Division championship.[4]
On August 13, 2017, the Redhawks relieved Doug Simunic of his duties as field manager. Simunic had served in the position for all 22 years of the team's existence. He was replaced by pitching coach Michael Schlact, who after finishing the season on an interim basis was named the permanent manager on September 7, 2017. Michael Schlact managed one season with the RedHawks, before stepping down in February 2019 to take a coaching position within the Milwaukee Brewers minor league system. On March 20, 2019, Jim Bennett was named as the franchise's third manager. The team went on to a 63–37 record and lost in the North Division championship series to St. Paul 3–2 in the best-of-five series. Bennett was named the American Association's Manager of the Year.
In 2020, the RedHawks were one of six teams selected to compete in the condensed 60-game season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5]Newman Outdoor Field served as one of the hubs where games were played; the team shared their home field with the Winnipeg Goldeyes. Prior to the start of the season on July 3, the team announced that Jim Bennett would not return as manager and named hitting coach Chris Coste interim manager.[6]
After a sub-.500 finish in 2020, the RedHawks went 61–38 and reached the American Association Finals for the first time since joining the league in 2011, losing 3–0 to the Kansas City Monarchs. The next season, though, the RedHawks went 64–36, their best mark in a decade, avenged their loss to Kansas City, then went on to defeat the Milwaukee Milkmen 3–2 on a walk-off single from Leobaldo Pina in the tenth inning of the deciding fifth game to win their first American Association championship and sixth overall league title.[7]
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