Long Island Ducks

The Long Island Ducks is an American professional baseball team based in Central Islip, New York. They are a member of the Liberty Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. Since the 2000 season, the Ducks have played their home games at Bethpage Ballpark - formerly known as EAB Park, Citibank Park, and Suffolk County Sports Park.

The "Ducks" name refers to Long Island's duck-farming heritage, which is further represented by the Big Duck ferrocement. The Big Duck is in Suffolk County, in which Central Islip is also located.^[1]

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 Ducks reached the 3 million mark in attendance in September 2006.

Bud Harrelson, a 1971 Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner, is a part-owner of the Ducks. He was the first manager of the team following a stint as the New York Mets manager.

History

Residents of Long Island anticipated the arrival of professional baseball for many years, until the Ducks' inaugural 2000 season. The New York Mets and the New York Yankees own the territorial rights to keep an affiliated team, Major or Minor League, from moving within 75 miles of their respective ballparks. The last attempt by any team to move to Long Island was made by the Albany-Colonie Yankees. The Albany-Colonie team hoped to reestablish themselves in Suffolk County, home to the Ducks, but the Mets prevented the move. The Yankees later moved to Norwich, Connecticut, becoming the Connecticut Defenders (now the Richmond Flying Squirrels).^[2] Baseball fans on Long Island enthusiastically support the Ducks and have led the Atlantic League's attendance since its beginning. In 2007, team owner Frank Boulton expressed his contentment with the Ducks to Baseball America saying, "The Long Island Ducks are the best thing I've ever done in baseball."^[3] Despite their success at the gate, the Ducks did not field a championship team until the 2004 season, when they defeated the Camden Riversharks in a three-game sweep to capture the Atlantic League Championship Series.

In 2005, a controversial former MLB player 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 on 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 August 14, 2007, the Ducks appeared in national headlines in the United States after former Major League player José Offerman assaulted opposing players of the Bridgeport Bluefish. In his second at-bat with Bluefish pitcher, Matt Beech, Offerman was hit by a pitch. He retaliated by hitting Beech's hands with a bat, as well as striking catcher John Nathans in the head. Nathans was taken out of the stadium on a stretcher, and Offerman was arrested and taken into custody.^[4]

On Monday November 10, the Ducks announced that Gary Carter would be the new manager for the 2009 season.

Go Green

The Long Island Ducks have implemented an environmental conservation program called "Go Green." The program includes the placement of solar panels on the roof of Bethpage Ballpark to power the luxury suite level, the placing of "Ricky Recycle" receptacles throughout the ballpark for each home game so fans can recycle their bottles and cans, the enrollment in an electricity reduction program called Operation Save New York, and the participation in Nike, Inc.'s "Reuse a Shoe" program, in which sneakers are collected at Bethpage Ballpark to be recycled and used for materials to create new playing surfaces and sports equipment.^[5]

Logos and uniforms

The official colors of the Long Island Ducks are black, green, orange, and white. The primary logo features the "Ducks" wordmark in orange with black outline. The wordmark begins with a stylized, cartoon duck head in the form of a capital, cursive "D." The secondary logo is the webbed foot of a duck in orange with black outline.

The Ducks wear caps produced by The Game Headwear and uniforms by Rawlings. The home caps are black throughout with the cap logo centered on the front. The cap logo is the stylized, cartoon duck head. The away caps are green with the duck head cap logo. The batting helmets are green with the webbed-foot logo.

The home jersey is white with black pinstripes with the "Ducks" wordmark centered across the front. The numbering on the jersey is primarily in green with white outline and black drop shadow. The away jerseys are grey with the "Long Island" cursive wordmark centered across in green with white and orange outline. The numbering is in green with white outline and orange drop shadow. The alternate is a sleeveless, green jersey with the "Ducks" word mark centered across the chest. The numbers are in orange with white drop shadow.

Season-by-season records

• 1 Atlantic League Championship (2004)

Ferry Cup

The Long Island Ducks contend with the Bridgeport Bluefish over the Ferry Cup, which is sponsored by the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company. The two teams border on Long Island Sound, and many fans of both teams regularly cross it to support them. The current Bluefish/Ducks rivalry record is 85-83, in favor of Bridgeport.^[7]

Radio

All of the Long Island Ducks weekend games are broadcast on My Country 96.1 fm starting in 2011, with the rest of the games broadcast over the Ducks official website. Chris King, David Weiss, and Michael Polak serve as the team's official broadcasters.

Live on Internet TV

The Long Island Ducks' games are broadcast live on iBN Sports.

Mascot

The Long Island Ducks' official mascot is an anthropomorphic duck named QuackerJack. He wears the Ducks' full home uniform with green and white sneakers. He debuted on March 18, 2000 at Citibank Park.^[8] His name alludes to a popular baseball game food produced by the Cracker Jack brand, and the quacking sound of a duck.

Retired numbers

References

External links

Official websites

• Long Island Ducks
• Atlantic League of Professional Baseball
• Official Long Island Ducks Twitter Page
• Official Long Island Ducks Facebook Page
• Official Long Island Ducks Foursquare Page
• Official Long Island Ducks YouTube Page

Blogs

• Atlantic League Baseball
• Atlantic League Independent