Great Lakes Loons

The wordmark "Loons" in red outlined in black. Centered above the wordmark is a loon in red with green shadowing and a silver beak. The words "Great Lakes" are between the wordmark and the loon in silver letters.

Division titles

League titles

Manager

Lance Parrish

Owner

The Great Lakes Loons, based in Midland, Michigan, is a Class A minor league baseball team, affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The team plays in the Midwest League and their home park is Dow Diamond, which will open in April 2007.

1 History
2 Alumni
3 Sources
4 External link

[edit] History

The Midwest League came to Battle Creek, in 1995 after a franchise previously based in Springfield, Illinois (1982-93) and Madison, Wisconsin (1994) moved. The team was first known as the Battle Creek Golden Kazoos. Due to a trademark dispute and general fan dissatisfaction with the name (which is a nickname for the nearby city of Kalamazoo), the name was changed to the Michigan Battle Cats on March 9, 1995.

The team was affiliated with the Boston Red Sox (1995-98) and Houston Astros (1999-2002). The team changed its name to the Battle Creek Yankees after becoming an affiliate of the New York Yankees in 2003. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays took over affiliation of the team in September 2004, changing the team name to Southwest Michigan Devil Rays. In September 2006, the team announced its affiliation with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In January of 2006, it was confirmed that the Devil Rays would be sold to the non-profit Michigan Baseball Foundation and relocated to Midland, Michigan. The team has been renamed the Great Lakes Loons. The main reason the team is relocating is because of the lack of interest in the Battle Creek community. Even reduced tickets and a night when the fans actually were paid a dollar to come to that night's game failed to pique the interest of local residents.

Naming rights for the Loons' stadium were purchased by Dow Chemical, which is headquartered in Midland. The company named the stadium "Dow Diamond." The name is a play on the company's logo, a red diamond.

In November 2006, The Loons named former Detroit Tiger Lance Parrish as the team's first manager since the move to Michigan's Tri-City Area. The first game is on April 13th. The tickets are sold out!

[edit] Alumni

Notable alumni of the Midwest League, Battle Creek franchise include Rafael Betancourt, Justin Duchscherer, Shea Hillenbrand, Matt Kinney, Jason Lane, Aaron Miles, Melky Cabrera, Roy Oswalt, Carl Pavano, Tim Redding, Chris Reitsma, Donnie Sadler, Johan Santana and Wilton Veras.

[edit] Sources

Dinda, J. (2003), "Battle Creek, Michigan, in the Midwest League" [1]

[edit] External link

Great Lakes Loons

Los Angeles Dodgers Franchise
AAA	AA	A	Rookie
Las Vegas 51s	Jacksonville Suns	Inland Empire 66ers Great Lakes Loons	Ogden Raptors Gulf Coast Dodgers VSL Dodgers

Eastern Division		Western Division
Midwest League
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