Triple-A baseball and the International League first came to Ottawa in 1951, when the former Jersey City Giants (1937–50) relocated to Canada's capital because of poor attendance.

But after the 1951 campaign, the parent Giants decided to field only one top-level minor-league team in 1952—the Millers—and they abandoned Ottawa.

The Philadelphia Athletics of the American League, who had no Triple-A affiliate in 1951, replaced the Giants and the Ottawa team was renamed.

The 1952 season saw Ottawa's attendance (over 153,000 fans) increase by 31 percent over the 1951 Giants',[1] but the A's finished in seventh place in the eight-team IL.

The Ottawa A's then relocated in 1955 to Columbus, Ohio, which had just lost its longtime American Association franchise to Omaha.