The Michigan Battle Cats were a Minor League Baseball team which began playing in the Midwest League in 1995 and called C.O. Brown Stadium in Battle Creek , Michigan , home. The franchise had previously been located in Madison , Wisconsin , in 1994 where they were called the Madison Hatters . Prior to that the team was located in Springfield , Illinois , and was known as the Springfield Cardinals . Upon moving to Battle Creek the team initially sought the name Battle Creek Golden Kazoos to help create a regional tie-in with the city of Kalamazoo , Michigan, but legal disputes led to the adoption of the Battle Cats moniker. The team became known as the Battle Creek Yankees beginning with their affiliation with the New York Yankees in 2003, and again changed names and affiliations in 2005 and became the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays . In 2007, citing declining attendance, the team moved to Midland , Michigan and became the Great Lakes Loons .
29-909: The Michigan Battle Cats of the Midwest League became the Battle Creek Yankees for the 2003 season. In 2005, their affiliation with the New York Yankees ended. They became an affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays known as the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays . The team played their home games in C.O. Brown Stadium in Battle Creek, Michigan . In 2003, the Michigan Battle Cats dropped their affiliation with
58-886: A 2.49 earned run average, and D. J. Houlton went 14–5 with a 3.14 earned run average. The team was sold again and after the season they switched their affiliation to the New York Yankees and renamed the franchise as the Battle Creek Yankees . Beloit Snappers The Beloit Sky Carp are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins . They are located in Beloit, Wisconsin , and play their home games at ABC Supply Stadium . They previously played at Harry C. Pohlman Field from its opening in 1982 until moving into their current ballpark in August 2021. Originally known as
87-537: A 2.64 earned run average. The pitcher who would perhaps go on to the most success at the major league level, Manny Acosta , went 0–8 with a 6.64 earned run average and was released by the Yankees. In 2004, the Battle Creek Yankees finished third in the first half with a 33–36 record. For the second half, they improved their record to 38–32, but they still finished in fourth place, two games behind, in
116-557: A 3.44 earned run average and 138 strikeouts. The team's attendance, 171,794, was eighth in the 14-team league and a marked improvement over the Madison Hatters' attendance of 69,060 the year before. The 1996 season was less successful, as the Battle Cats finished in fourth place in the five-team division in both the first and second halves, with a 31–38 in the first half and 29–40 in the second half. The only player from
145-417: A site near Janesville , which could have included renaming the team to reflect a broader Rock County audience. However, no new stadium was built and improvements, including redoing the entire field and repairing the concrete concourse, were made to the existing site. After the 2012 season, the city of Beloit appropriated $ 100,000 in order to completely redo the outfield. The outfield was raised and leveled with
174-434: A tight divisional race. They did not qualify for the playoffs. Outfielder Melky Cabrera hit .333 with no home runs in 42 games. Third baseman Eric Duncan hit .260 with 12 home runs. Catcher Omir Santos hit .240 with 2 home runs. Pitcher Tyler Clippard went 10–10 with a 3.44 earned run average and 145 strikeouts. In September 2004, Battle Creek announced that it had signed a two-year player development contract with
203-790: The Beloit Brewers from 1982 to 1994 and the Beloit Snappers from 1995 to 2021, the team played in the Class A Midwest League from 1982 to 2020. In conjunction with Major League Baseball 's reorganization of Minor League Baseball in 2021, Beloit was shifted to the High-A Central, though this was renamed the Midwest League in 2022. The team rebranded as the Sky Carp prior to the 2022 season. The Beloit Brewers joined
232-509: The Beloit Snappers in three straight games to become the Midwest League champions. Catcher John Buck hit .282 with 10 home runs. Left fielder Jason Lane hit .299 with 23 home runs and his 104 runs batted in tied for the league lead. Pitcher Carlos Hernández went 6–6 with a 3.82 earned run average and 115 strikeouts. On May 28, Hernández pitched a no-hitter, beating the West Michigan Whitecaps 2–0. The next season
261-466: The Houston Astros and became an affiliate of the New York Yankees . Along with the change in affiliation came a change in name, as they became known as the Battle Creek Yankees. Their first half season began inauspiciously as they finished 33–35, placing fifth in the six-team Eastern Division. For the season's second half, they improved to a 40–29 record, but still finished in second place in
290-523: The Midwest League as an expansion franchise in 1982. The club was a Milwaukee Brewers farm team from its inception through 2004. Beloit switched to the Minnesota Twins ' farm system for the 2005 season. The organization adopted the Snappers nickname in 1995 after using its parent team's nickname for its first 13 seasons. The Snappers' name derived from the snapping turtle , because Beloit
319-528: The St. Louis Cardinals , but St. Louis switched its Midwest League affiliate to Peoria ). The league also reorganized its 14 franchises from two divisions to three and adopted a three-round post-season playoff including first- and second-half winners from each division plus wildcards. Michigan played in the Eastern Division. The league's records recognize both the winner of the post-season playoffs and
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#1732786782443348-609: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays . The Devil Rays were new to the Midwest League; the Battle Creek franchise was replacing Charleston RiverDogs of the South Atlantic League as Tampa Bay's low-A affiliate. With the announcement, it was obvious that the team's name would need to change, and later they became the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays . Michigan Battle Cats By September 1994, the city of Battle Creek had committed to stadium improvements in order to bring
377-413: The 1996 team who went on to a long major league career was their weak-hitting shortstop, Rafael Betancourt (who hit just .167); he would later find success as a relief pitcher. In 1997 the Battle Cats went 38–31 in the first half, but that was only good for second place, 11 games behind West Michigan. In the second half they dropped to fourth place with a 32–36 record. They nevertheless qualified for
406-518: The Battle Cats finished the first half in second place in the division with a 38–30 record, two games behind. They won the division in the second half, 44–25. In the playoffs they lost in the first round to the South Bend Silver Hawks , two games to none. Shortstop Chris Burke hit .300 with 3 home runs. Pitcher Chad Qualls tied for the league lead in victories, going 15–6 with a 3.72 earned run average and 125 strikeouts. Despite
435-427: The Battle Cats went 36–36 and finished in fourth place in the Eastern Division. In the second half, though, they improved to 43–25 and won the division. For the overall season they finished tied for second place in the standings for the entire league, four games behind the West Michigan Whitecaps. In the playoffs the Battle Cats lost to West Michigan in the first round, two games to one. Manager Billy Gardner, Jr. won
464-569: The Madison Hatters franchise to their city. C.O. Brown Stadium had been constructed in 1989 for amateur baseball, and it was substantially improved prior to obtaining the Midwest League franchise. After temporarily being known as the Battle Creek Golden Kazoos, the team adopted the name of Michigan Battle Cats. The team agreed to become an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox (the Madison Hatters had been affiliated with
493-560: The division, 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 games behind the South Bend Silver Hawks . Despite not winning either half, they qualified for the three-round playoffs as a wildcard team. In the first round they beat the Fort Wayne Wizards two games to none. In the second round, however, they fell to the Lansing Lugnuts . First baseman Jason Drobiak hit .293 and led the league with 30 home runs. Pitcher José García went 9–8 with
522-481: The first half, the Battle Cats' 34–34 record placed them in fourth place in their division, but in the second half they won the division with a 48–22 record. (Their overall season record of 82–56 was second in the league.) In the playoffs, they beat the Fort Wayne Wizards in the first round, two games to one, and the Dayton Dragons in the second round, two games to none. In the championship round they swept
551-567: The infield and a new sprinkler system was installed. In September 2018, the team entered into the process of being sold to a new group of investors who planned to build a new ballpark in downtown Beloit. The sale was cancelled in May 2020 amid uncertainty surrounding the Professional Baseball Agreement between Minor and Major League Baseball set to expire after the 2020 season. The group, led by Quint Studer , retained
580-651: The league's Manager of the Year award. Shea Hillenbrand moved to catcher and hit .349 with 19 home runs, leading the league with a .546 slugging percentage. In 1999, the Michigan Battle Cats switched their affiliation from the Boston Red Sox to the Houston Astros . Previously, the Quad City River Bandits had been the Astros' Midwest League affiliate. The Battle Cats finished the first half of
609-480: The on-field success, attendance continued to drop, as it had almost every seasonsince the franchise had moved to Battle Creek, and only 66,088 fans attended. For the second straight summer the team was sold. In 2002, the Battle Cats won the Eastern Division's first half with a 42–28 record. They finished the second half tied for third with a 37–33 record. In the playoffs, they lost in the first round to Lansing, two games to one. Pitcher Mike Burns went 14–9 with
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#1732786782443638-412: The playoffs as a wildcard team, but they lost in the first round to the Lansing Lugnuts two games to one. Second baseman Jim Chamblee hit .300 with 22 home runs and 73 runs batted in and led the league with 112 runs scored. First baseman Shea Hillenbrand hit .290 with 3 home runs. Pitcher Chris Reitsma went 4–1 with a 2.90 earned run average and 41 strikeouts. In the first half of the 1998 season,
667-462: The right to operate the Snappers in 2020 and continued to move forward with plans to build a new stadium. On June 15, 2020, construction began on the new ABC Supply Stadium . The Snappers started the 2021 season at Pohlman Field, and played their first game at ABC Supply Stadium on August 3. Prior to the 2021 season, the Snappers were organized into the High-A Central . Plans to rebrand
696-418: The season in second place with a 35–34 record, but went 41–28 in the second half to win the division. In the first round of the playoffs they lost two games to none to Lansing. First baseman Aaron McNeal hit .310, led the league in hits (with 166), home runs (with 38), and runs batted in (with 131), and captured the league's Most Valuable Player award. Second baseman Aaron Miles hit .317 with 10 home runs and
725-505: The second round they defeated the West Michigan Whitecaps two games to one. In the championship round, however, they were swept in three games by the Beloit Snappers . Battle Cats manager DeMarlo Hale was named the league's Manager of the Year. Shortstop Donnie Sadler hit .283 with 9 home runs, led the league in runs scored with 103, and was named to the post-season all-star team. Pitcher Carl Pavano went 6–6 with
754-553: The team for the 2021 season, with a new name selected through a "name the team contest" and a new mascot, were postponed until 2022. In November 2021, the team rebranded as the Beloit Sky Carp, taking their new moniker from a nickname for geese . In 2022, the High-A Central became known as the Midwest League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization. The 2003 team included two sons of former major league players. Prince Fielder ,
783-406: The team with the highest overall season record as champions. In 1995, their first season, the Battle Cats won the first half division championship with a 36–32 record, while their second half record of 39–31 left them one game behind the Fort Wayne Wizards . Their overall season record of 75–63 was fourth in the league. In the first round of playoffs they beat Fort Wayne two games to none, and in
812-636: Was formerly known as Turtle Village, and there is still a Turtle Creek and a town of Turtle . All of these are named for a turtle-shaped Indian mound on the campus of Beloit College . After the Brewers and Snappers ended their affiliation, efforts were started to build a new stadium similar to the facilities used by the Rockford RiverHawks or the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers . One possible scenario involved construction on
841-542: Was named, along with McNeal, to the post-season all-star team. Pitcher Roy Oswalt went 13–4 with a 4.46 earned run average and 143 strikeouts, and Tim Redding went 8–6 with a 4.97 earned run average and 141 strikeouts. In 2000, the Midwest League reorganized into two divisions; Michigan played in the six-team Eastern Division, while the Western Division comprised the other eight teams. The playoffs continued to last three rounds and to include eight teams. In
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