Lansing Lugnuts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lansing Lugnuts | ||
|
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| League | Midwest League | |
| Division | Eastern Division | |
| Year founded | 1996 | |
| Major League affiliation | Toronto Blue Jays | |
| Home ballpark | Oldsmobile Park | |
| Previous home ballparks | ||
| City | Lansing, Michigan | |
| Current uniform colors | red and black | |
| Previous uniform colors | ||
| Logo design | ||
| Division titles | ||
| League titles | 1997, 2003 | |
| Manager | Gary Cathcart | |
| Owner | Take Me Out To The Ballgame, L.L.C. | |
The Lansing Lugnuts are a Class A minor league baseball team, affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays, that plays in the Midwest League. The Lugnuts replaced the Charleston Alley Cats as a Blue Jays affiliate following the 2004 season.
The Midwest League came to Lansing, Michigan in 1996. The franchise began in Lafayette, Indiana, in 1955; after two seasons it moved to Waterloo, Iowa, where it stayed for 36 seasons. Before the 1994 season it moved to Springfield, Illinois, but only spent two seasons there before moving to Lansing. The franchise was an affiliate of the Kansas City Royals on two separate occasions in three different cities: as the Waterloo Royals from 1969 through 1976, as the Springfield Sultans in 1995, and then, upon the team's move to Lansing, from 1996 through 1998. The Lugnuts were then an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs from 1999 through 2004 before joining the Jays' farm system for the 2005 season.
The team plays at Oldsmobile Park (named after the now-defunct General Motors division that was based there), which opened in 1996. Oldsmobile Park seats over 11,000 fans and is one of the largest Class A Minor League baseball parks in the United States. The franchise national attendance record of 538,326 was set during its inaugural year. They won the Midwest League Championship in 1997 and 2003.
[edit] Alumni
The following are players currently in Major League Baseball who played, at one time, for the Lugnuts. This partial list includes players making injury-comeback starts as well as those that developed in Lansing.
- Jeremy Affeldt
- Carlos Beltran
- Francis Beltran
- Juan Brito
- Kiko Calero
- Lance Carter
- Ronny Cedeno
- Jose Cepeda
- Hee Seop Choi
- Juan Cruz
- Ryan Dempster
- Chad Durbin
- Carlos Febles
- Jeremy Giambi
- Casey Janssen
- Jon Leicester
- Ober Moreno
- Corey Patterson
- Mark Prior
- Jose Santiago
- Andy Sisco
- Matt Treanor
- Todd Wellemeyer
- Carlos Zambrano
For a complete list of Alumni, go to the Lansing Lugnuts web site, click on History, then on Hall of Fame. They don't always update this regularly.
[edit] Sources
- Dinda, J. (2003), "Lansing, Michigan, in the Midwest League," http://www.mwlguide.com/cities/lansing/index.html
- Lansing Lugnuts Official Website
[edit] External links
- Lansing Lugnuts official web site
- Lugnuts page at the Lansing State Journal
- Lansing Lugnuts at Minor League Baseball site
| Toronto Blue Jays Franchise | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| AAA | AA | A | Rookie |
| Syracuse Chiefs | New Hampshire Fisher Cats |
Dunedin Blue Jays Lansing Lugnuts Auburn Doubledays |
Pulaski Blue Jays VSL Blue Jays |
| Midwest League | ||
| Eastern Division | Western Division | |
|---|---|---|
| Dayton Dragons | Fort Wayne Wizards | Great Lakes Loons | Lansing Lugnuts | South Bend Silver Hawks | West Michigan Whitecaps | Beloit Snappers | Burlington Bees | Cedar Rapids Kernels | Clinton LumberKings | Kane County Cougars | Peoria Chiefs | Swing of the Quad Cities | Wisconsin Timber Rattlers | |
