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1988 – 1997
The arrival: The South Bend White Sox took the field in the Midwest League in 1988, and won the league championship in their second season, 1989 — the city's first baseball title since the Blue Sox' playoff championship of 1952.
The second title: Alan Levin assumed ownership of the club in 1990. In 1993 South Bend won its second Midwest League championship.
The name that outlasted the affiliation: In 1994, still a White Sox affiliate, the club dropped the parent club's name and became the Silver Hawks — told in the next entry. The affiliation itself wound down at the decade's end: the club's own history dates the White Sox contract's expiry to after the 1996 season, with the Arizona Diamondbacks affiliation announced from that point; the franchise register carries the White Sox through 1997 and the Diamondbacks from 1998. The one-season difference stands as the sources give it.
Sources:
- MiLB, "A Historical Look at the South Bend Cubs" — the 1989 championship, Levin's 1990 ownership, the 1993 title, the 1994 name change, the post-1996 affiliation change.
- South Bend Cubs franchise record — league titles 1989 and 1993; the affiliation spans as registered.