Long Island Ducks
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- This article is about the baseball team. For the basketball team, see Long Island Ducks (basketball).
| Long Island Ducks | |
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| Founded | 2000 |
| Ballpark | Citibank Park |
| Based in | Central Islip, New York |
| Team Colors | black, orange, green |
| League | Atlantic League of Professional Baseball |
| Local Media | Long Island Press Newsday |
| Team Manager | Dave LaPoint |
| Pitching Coach | Dick Such |
| Third Base Coach | Bud Harrelson |
| Bench Coach | Don McCormack |
| Athletic Trainer | Dorothy Pitchford |
| Interim General Manager | Michael Pfaff |
| Owner | Frank Boulton |
| Championships | 2004 |
The Long Island Ducks are an Atlantic League team based in Central Islip, New York. Since the 2000 season, they have played in the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which is not affilitated with Major League Baseball.
The Ducks currently own the independent league baseball single-season attendance record of 443,142 fans. They reached this total in the summer of 2001, surpassing the previous record of 436,361 fans which the team had also set in 2000. The Long Island Ducks recorded their 2 millionth fan since the stadium opened in 2000. The Ducks reached the 3 Million Mark in Attendance in September, 2006.
Bud Harrelson was key in founding the team. He started out as the Ducks first manager and currently owns part of the team.
The team plays in Citibank Park, formerly known as EAB Park.
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[edit] History
The Long Island Ducks inaugural season in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball was 2000, even though the Long Island area had waited for professional baseball for many years. The New York Mets and the New York Yankees have the territorial rights to keep an affiliated team, Major or Minor League, from coming within 75 miles of their respective ballparks. The last attempt to come within the territory was made by Albany Colonie Yankees when they tried to move to Suffolk County, home to the Ducks, but the Mets prevented the move. The Albany team later moved across the Long Island Sound, to Norwich, Connecticut and became the Navigators, who are now known as the Connecticut Defenders. [1] Baseball fans in Long Island have been very excited about the Ducks and have led the Atlantic League's attendance since their beginning. Despite their success at the gate, the Long Island Ducks have not had success on the field until the 2004 season.
After a successful first half in 2006, the Ducks won the Northern Division first half and participated in the Atlantic League playoffs for the third season in a row.
[edit] The 2004 Season
On July 12, 2004, the Ducks had a chance to earn a spot in the Atlantic League playoffs for the first time in the team's history. The team was ahead of the Bridgeport Bluefish by one game in the first half standings of the Atlantic League's North Division. The Ducks needed to defeat the Bluefish in Bridgeport on the final day of the first half of the season to clinch a playoff spot. Unfortunately for Long Island the game was called off due to rain with the scored tied at 3-3 in the 9th inning. The game had to be made up on August 9th, to determine the first half championship. The game resumed with the Ducks defeating Bridgeport 5-4, scoring a run in the 9th inning to clinch the first half title and the team's first-ever playoff appearance. 5,500 fans witnessed the Ducks' victory, about 1,000 of whom were Ducks fans who had made the trip to Bridgeport on the Long Island Ferry.
The Ducks then faced the Nashua Pride who won the North Division title for the second half of the 2004 Season in the North Division playoffs. The Ducks lost 3-2 in the first game of the best of two out of the three game series in Nashua. The Ducks headed on back to Long Island, where former New York Mets starting pitcher Bill Pulispher threw 6⅓ innings, and beat Nashua 3-2 to tie the series at 1-1. In the third and decisive game, a pitcher's duel between Nashua's Denny Harriger and Long Island's Lance Davis, the Ducks ended up scoring the game's only run in the 1st inning. Doug Jenning's single defeated the Pride 1-0 to win the North Division championship. It was on to the Atlantic League Championship Series where they faced the Camden Riversharks.
In the first game of the Championship against Camden, the Ducks took a 10-6 lead into the top of the ninth inning. Camden's Chris Widger hit a grand slam to tie the game at 10 and sent the game into extra innings. Long Island's Justin Davies hit a game-winning single to win game one by a score of 11-10. Davies would end up being the hero again in game two with the score tied at 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth. Davies hit an RBI single to win the game 5-4 and come up in the clutch for the second straight night. The Ducks lead the series two games to zero, and the series moved to Camden. In game three, Long Island sent out Bill Pulsipher to the mound to try and clinch the Ducks first-ever League Championship, despite giving up three runs in 1st inning. Pulsipher settled down as the Ducks scored two runs in the 5th inning and tied the game in 7th inning. They took the lead in that inning with a hit, as the bases were loaded, by shortstop Kevin Baez. Ducks' closer, Bill Simas, got the final six outs in two innings to give Long Island the 2004 Atlantic League Championship, in a three-game sweep.
[edit] John Rocker
In 2005, John Rocker signed with the Ducks in an attempt to revive his career. He asked New Yorkers to "bury the hatchet," claiming his willingness to play in Long Island proved he had matured since his controversial comments. Rocker was poorly received by the fans and ended up pitching with an 0-2 record and an ERA of 6.50.
On June 27th 2005 Rocker announced in a statement that "After pitching for two months with the Long Island Ducks, the consistency required to pitch at the Major League level, and the consistency I demand from myself, are not where they should be. As a result, I have elected to take a step back and reevaluate the options available to me. I would like to thank the Long Island Ducks organization for the opportunity they've given me to help me reestablish myself as a Major League pitcher."
[edit] Quick facts
- Current uniform colors: White with black pinstripes for home games and grey for away games. The home jersey has the word "Ducks" in script across the front and name and number on the back. Black hats with the a footprint of a duck in orange with white accents.
- Current logo design: The word "Ducks" in script in orange with black and green outline, and the stylized head of a duck inside the letter "d". The words "Long Island" are centered above the script in orange letters outlined in black.
- Current mascot: Quackerjack "QJ" (2000-present).
- Current Broadcasters: Radio: Chris King of the New York Islanders and David Weiss, morning show host for WLIE
- Current Radio Station: Business Talk 540-AM (WLIE)
[edit] 2006 Long Island Ducks:
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Pitchers
Catchers
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Infielders
Outfielders
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[edit] Retired Numbers
42, Jackie Robinson, retired throughout baseball.
[edit] References
- ^ History of Long Island baseball. digitalballparks.com. Retrieved on July 1, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Long Island Ducks
- Atlantic League of Professional Baseball
- Atlantic League blog
- Atlantic League Independent
- Suffolk County, New York
| Atlantic League of Professional Baseball |
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| North Division: Bridgeport Bluefish • Long Island Ducks • Newark Bears • Road Warriors South Division: Camden Riversharks • Lancaster Barnstormers • Somerset Patriots • York Revolution Future Teams: Southern Maryland Blue Crabs |
