The Sailors won the regular season by nine games in 1951.

They then lost the league championship series to the Niagara Falls Citizens, four games to two.

In 1990, after the Baltimore Orioles ended their affiliation with the team (then known as the Erie Orioles), they reclaimed the Sailors name and operated as an unaffiliated minor league team for two years before becoming the Florida Marlins' first farm team in 1992 and a Texas Rangers affiliate in 1993.

Because of the deteriorating condition of Ainsworth Field, the team moved after the 1993 season to Fishkill, New York and then became the Hudson Valley Renegades.

In 1995, the Erie SeaWolves moved to town, displacing the Sailors, forcing the franchise to move to Johnstown, Pennsylvania as the Johnstown Steal/Johnnies and then to Florence, Kentucky as the Florence Y'alls.