The Grays
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the baseball team. For the musical group, see The Grays (musical group).
| The Grays | |
 |
|
| Founded | 2005, resumed play in 2007 |
| Ballpark | not applicable |
| Based in | Traveling team |
| Team Colors | Black, gray, yellow |
| League | Can-Am League |
| Team Trainer | To be announced |
| General manager | To be announced |
| Owner | League-owned |
The Grays are a professional independent baseball team operating as part of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball league which started play in 2005. The team will return to action in 2007.
The team is currently managed by Dan Shwam, who joins the Grays after a stint with the United Baseball League's Laredo Broncos. Shwam has prior experience in the Can-Am League's predecessors, the Northeast League and Northern League East, managing the Mohawk Valley Land Sharks, Newburgh Night Hawks, Elmira Pioneers, and Catskill Cougars. Shwam led the Pios to the 1997 Northeast League championship, and won a second championship in the Central Baseball League in 2003 with the Jackson Senators.
The team will have both home and away games, but the home games will be in the opposing team's park, with the opposing team batting first.
[edit] History
The Grays came into existence in April 2005, when the Can-Am League terminated the membership of the Bangor Lumberjacks, who had said they did not have the resources to operate for the season. The team's roster at the time became the roster for the Grays (unlike the year before when the Aces, who replaced the Allentown Ambassadors, were not able to keep their team intact), and Chris Carminucci was hired as their manager.
Playing in a 96 game split season, the Grays were competitive in the first half, finishing with an even 23-23 record and placing 7 games behind the front running Quebec Capitales. However, the bottom fell out in the second half, and the Grays finished with a 10-36 second half record, 19 games out of first place.
After the season, the team's roster for the most part was absorbed by the Sussex Skyhawks, who took the place of the Elmira Pioneers in the league.
With the addition of the Atlantic City Surf to the Can-Am League for 2007, the league needed a tenth team to even things out. The Grays were reinstated to the league, and will once again serve as the league's traveling team.
