Southern Illinois Miners

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Southern Illinois Miners
175x100px 175x100px
Team logo Cap insignia
League Frontier League (West)
Location Marion, Illinois
Ballpark Rent One Park
Year founded 2007
League championships 1 (2012)
Division championships 2 (2010, 2014)
Former name(s) Southern Illinois Miners (2007-present)
Colors Black, Silver, White, Gold
                   
Ownership Jayne Simmons
Manager Mike Pinto
General Manager Tim Arseneau
Media WHET 97.7 FM, Marion Daily Republican, The Southern Illinoisan
Website southernillinoisminers.com

The Southern Illinois Miners are a professional baseball team based in Marion, Illinois. The Miners are a member of the East Division of the independent Frontier League. Since 2007, the Miners have played their home games at Rent One Park.

The "Miners" name refers to the Southern Illinois region's history of coal mining.[1]

History

The city of Marion has not hosted any professional baseball team since the departure of the Marion Indians after the 1948 season. The Indians played for only two seasons in the class D Illinois State League.[2]

John Simmons, an Illinois lawyer, proposed the Marion ballpark originally for an affiliated professional minor league baseball team, but that request was rejected by the Midwest League. However, Simmons remained interested in bringing professional baseball to Marion, so he petitioned several independent leagues for membership. In August 2006, Marion was officially announced as an expansion franchise of the Frontier League, to begin play in 2007. The region's close proximity near existing teams made Southern Illinois a natural fit for the Frontier League.[3]

The team set a new Frontier League attendance record in 2007 by hosting 259,392 fans (the prior record was 217,500 set by the Gateway Grizzlies in 2004). The Miners also became the first team in Frontier League history to average over 5,000 fans per game for a season (5,086). Southern Illinois Miners fans also contributed heavily to supporting their lead mascot Big John to become the record-setting overall winner of the Best Logo in Minor League Baseball, awarded April 2, 2008 by CNBC following their largest online poll ever.[4]

The Miners games are broadcast on five Withers radio stations as part of the Southern Illinois Miners Radio Network. The flagship station is 97.7 WHET-FM in Marion. The Miners radio broadcaster and media relations director is Jason Guerette. The Miners won their first Frontier League Championship in 2012.

2010 season

The 2010 Season was historic season for the Southern Illinois Miners as they set a Frontier League record with a 20-game winning streak and tied for the second most wins in a single season at 64. That season, they also claimed their first ever West Division title and made their second playoff appearance.[5]

Current roster

Southern Illinois Miners roster
Active (24-man) roster Coaches/Other

Pitchers

  • 21 Hunter Ackerman
  • 40 Matt Bywater
  • 28 Brandon Cowan
  • 39 Eric Green
  • 33 Adam Lopez
  • 36 Spencer Medick 10px
  • 32 Pete Perez
  • 16 Miguel Ramirez
  • 24 Will Rankin
  • 25 Shane Street
  • 43 John Tangherlini
  • 34 Rick Teasley



 

Catchers

  • 22 Toby DeMello
  • 29 Brendan Slattery

Infielders

  • 12 Chris Burke 10px
  • 17 Ryan DiMascio
  • 14 Steve Marino
  •  5 Frank Martinez
  • 36 Jerrud Sabourin 10px
  • 15 Niko Vasquez

Outfielders

  •  6 Sako Chapjian
  • 11 Michael Earley
  • 18 Wendell Fairley
  •  7 Aaron Gates
  • 27 Jon Minucci
  • 23 Marquis Riley
 

Manager

  •  3 Mike Pinto

Coaches

  • -- Chris Colwell (assistant)
  • 37 John Lakin (assistant)
  • -- Steve McInerney (trainer)
  • 44 Pat O'Sullivan (hitting)
  • 20 Ralph Santana (assistant)
  • 30 Preston Vancil (pitching)

10px Disabled list
‡ Inactive list
§ Suspended list

Roster updated May 15, 2015
Transactions

Notable Miners

References

External links