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Batavia Muckdogs Founded in 1939 Batavia, New York
Team logo Cap insignia
Class-level
Current	Short-Season A
Previous	Class-D
Minor league affiliations
League	New York–Penn League (1939–1953, 1957–1959, 1961–present)
Division	Pinckney Division
Major league affiliations
Current	Miami Marlins (2013–present)
Previous	St. Louis Cardinals (2007–2012) Philadelphia Phillies (1988–2006, 1967) Co-op (1987, 1975, 1966) Cleveland Indians (1976–1986, 1957–1959, 1942–1951) New York Mets (1972–1974) Detroit Tigers (1968–1971) Pittsburgh Pirates (1961–1965, 1952–1953)
Minor league titles
League titles .mw-parser-output .nobold{font-weight:normal} (4)	1945 1946 1963 2008
Division titles (5)	1977 1995 1998 2008 2010
Team data
Nickname	Batavia Muckdogs (1998–present)
Previous names	Batavia Clippers (1939–1953, 1988–1997) Batavia Trojans (1966–1987) Batavia Pirates (1961–1965) Batavia Indians (1957–1959)
Ballpark	Dwyer Stadium
Owner(s)/ Operator(s)	Genesee County Baseball Club, Inc. / New York–Penn League
Manager	Mike Jacobs
General Manager	Brendan Kelly

The Batavia Muckdogs are a Minor League Baseball team, the Short-Season Class-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins, based in Batavia, a city in Genesee County, New York, United States. Their home field is Dwyer Stadium in the city of Batavia. With a city population of less than 16,000, Batavia is one of the smallest cities to host a professional baseball team in the United States in the 21st century. The Muckdogs franchise was surrendered to the league prior to the 2018 season. The team will operate as a ward of the league until a new owner can be found.^[1]

History

Joe Hornung was player/manager for the Batavia Giants in 1897.

Prior to the current Batavia franchise, professional baseball in the city dates back to 1897 when Batavia played in the New York State League. The Batavia Giants, sometimes referred to as the Reds because of their crimsons uniforms,^[2] were the first classified team in the city making their debut - after some rainouts - on May 14, 1897 against the Auburn franchise at a stadium built on Swan Street; future major leaguer Jack Burns batted third and played shortstop. After a rough start to the season, where the team lost their first 9 games, the team released eight players and fired manager Martin Earley. J.J. Benner took over the club as team captain and acting manager, however play did not improve and he was replaced by former major leaguer Joe Hornung who was named player / manager on May 24, he made his debut in the lineup on June 14 at 40 years old, going hitless. After 20 games the team sat at 4-16 and had money troubles where local fans would not pay the 10 cent admission, Hornung left the team on July 9. It was announced on July 24th that the team would move to Geneva, by July 25 the team had left Batavia and become the Geneva Alhambras. That season the Class-C New York State League also consisted of teams in Canandaigua, Cortland, Lyons, Palmyra, and Auburn.

As was popular across the country, Batavia hosted many semi-pro leagues prior too, and after, the Giants left town. This included the Western New York League along with teams in nearby LeRoy, Perry and Warsaw. The Batavia Bees were the popular semi-pro team prior to professional baseball coming back to Batavia in 1939, and they continued play even after the Clippers arrived.

The history of the New York–Penn League originated in Batavia as the league, then known as the Pennsylvania–Ontario–New York League (PONY League), was formed in a local hotel that has since been demolished. Original league cities included Batavia, Bradford, Hamilton, Jamestown, Niagara Falls, and Olean.

The Muckdogs were founded in 1939 as the Batavia Clippers, however the team was not in operation during the 1954–56 and 1960 seasons after dropping out of the league for financial reasons.^[2] During the 1957 through 1959 seasons the team was known as the Batavia Indians, upon their final return to the league in 1961 the team was known as the Batavia Pirates until changing their name to the Batavia Trojans in 1966 until 1987.

From 1988 through the 1997 season the team brought back the historic Batavia Clippers name before changing to the Muckdogs in 1998 based on a fan poll that chose the nickname and logo. Batavia celebrated their 75th anniversary during the 2014 seasons as the only founding member of the league still in existence.

Logo and mascot

The Muckdogs logo adopted in 1998 is a dog on a crushed fence in the shape of an "M" surrounded by muck with baseballs on either side. The team also has an alternate logo of a B with a dog.

The Muckdogs currently have one mascot, Dewey, however had three mascots who would make appearances throughout the season at Dwyer Stadium in recent years. The team's original mascot Maxwell T. Chomper, Homer and Slider.

Season-by-season record

Affiliation

As the Muckdogs, Batavia was affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1998, having been already affiliated with the Phillies since 1988, through the 2006 season. Beginning with the 2007 season, the Phillies chose to move their Short-Season A affiliate closer to Philadelphia with the Williamsport Crosscutters. Meanwhile, the Muckdogs signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. Prior to the Cardinals and Phillies affiliation Batavia was also affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1952–53; 1961–65), Detroit Tigers (1968–71), New York Mets (1972–74), and Cleveland Indians (1942–51; 1957–59; 1976–86). The team also fielded a co-op team in 1966 featuring players from 12 different organizations, most notably Cito Gaston of the Atlanta Braves. In 1975, the team fielded another co-op team with players from 8 organizations including Don McCormack from the Philadelphia Phillies. 1987 was the final co-op team in Batavia.

After the 2012 season, the St. Louis Cardinals announced they would move their affiliation to the State College Spikes, who they had been affiliated with before coming to Batavia. On September 28, 2012, the Muckdogs announced they had signed a two-year player development contract with the Miami Marlins who were affiliated with the Jamestown Jammers from 2002–2011.^[3] Jamestown signed an affiliation agreement with the Pittsburgh Pirates who had left State College.^[4]

Operations/ownership

From 2008 to 2017 the Rochester Red Wings Triple-A team of the International League was responsible for operating the club. The team had previously been operated by the Genesee County Baseball Club who remained majority owner though the Red Wings gained a share of ownership with each season they operated the franchise with a cap of 50%.^[5]

The team has been up for sale since 2010 due to financial losses. In 2016, a sale to an ownership group that intended to relocate the franchise to Waldorf, Maryland, beginning in the 2017 season collapsed when the new owners were unable to secure permission from the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals, as well as the Eastern League and Carolina League.^[6] The Orioles' Class-AA affiliate, the Eastern League's Bowie Baysox, are located in nearby Bowie, Maryland; the Nationals' Class-A affiliate, the Potomac Nationals, are based in nearby Woodbridge, Virginia. A Muckdogs move to Maryland would have impacted those teams' territorial rights.

Surrender of franchise

The Muckdogs ownership group surrendered their franchise to the NYPL on December 19, 2017, after the NYPL declined the Red Wings offer to continue to operate the ball club and the remaining owners could not meet the financial requirements to keep the team solvent.^[7] Under the terms of the surrender, if the NYPL sells the franchise, the Red Wings and Genesee County Baseball Club each will receive 45% of the proceeds, with the league keeping a 10% fee for themselves. GCBC will retain the rights to the Batavia Muckdogs name, should the league opt to relocate the franchise to a city other than Batavia.^[8] The NYPL did not guarantee the franchise will play in 2018 if a buyer couldn't be found.^[7] GCBC spoke of the possibility of bringing collegiate summer baseball to Batavia in the event the NYPL left.^[8]

In January 2018, the New York–Penn League agreed to keep the Muckdogs in Batavia for the 2018 season after agreeing with the City of Batavia on a lease for Dwyer Field.^[9] In 2019, the Muckdogs signed a two-year renewal of its affiliation with the Marlins, which the city insisted upon as a condition of keeping the team in Batavia; any new ownership group would still be free to move the team.^[10]

Rumors of the Muckdogs' demise had driven attendance down to less than 800 spectators per game.^[10] The decline of the Muckdogs' viability parallels the near-contemporary loss of the Jamestown Jammers three years prior; in both cases, attendance declines prompted the local Class AAA baseball teams that had been providing support to abandon their low-end teams in Western New York in hope of finding better facilities and markets elsewhere.^[8]

Record

Through the 2017 season, Batavia has played 75 seasons of professional baseball in its current location amassing 3,197 wins and 3,532 losses (.475).

The team's 3,000th win came in form of a 5–3 decision on June 23, 2012, against the Jamestown Jammers at Russell Diethrick Park in Jamestown, New York. Jamestown was the only other city of the league's original six remaining in the circuit, although it does not host the same franchise. Relief pitcher Jose Almarante earned the win.

Managerial history

Mike Jacobs was named the Muckdogs manager for the 2017 season.
Jack Tighe holds the All-Time record for wins in Batavia with a record of 298 wins and 239 losses in four seasons.
Dann Bilardello is tied for the modern era regular (short-season) record with 126 wins and 99 losses in three seasons, Ángel Espada tied the record in the last game of the 2016 season after four seasons, however Bilardello has one playoff victory as well giving him 127 wins overall.

Gene Baker was the first African-American manager in affiliated baseball during the 1961 season with the Batavia Pirates.^[11]

Gene Baker was named Batavia manager June 19, 1961.

All-time managerial records

Most MLB players on a short-season team

The 1986 Batavia Trojans featured a short-season team record of eight future Major Leaguers on the roster — Jim Bruske, Tommy Hinzo, Tom Lampkin, Troy Neel, Bruce Egloff, Jeff Shaw, Joe Skalski, and Kevin Wickander—while affiliated with the Cleveland Indians.^[12]

No-hitters

Batavia has been no-hit 15 times and thrown 5 no-hitters, however they are one of only two teams in league history who went on to win a game they had been no hit in when they defeated Newark 2–0 on August 3, 1973, for a record of 5–13 overall. Batavia was also part of the first ever league dual no-hitter where on August 25, 1952 Jim Mitchell of the Batavia Clippers and Frank Etchberger of the Bradford Phillies each no-hit the others team in opposite ends of a double header. The Clippers no-hit effort was not without controversy as it was a change by the official scorer that gave Mitchell his no-no. The Bradford paper reported the ball hit the glove of an outfielder and rolled to the wall where Bradford's Tommy Keane was originally given a double, it was then changed to an error after the game. On June 24, 2015 three Batavia pitchers (Gabriel Castellanos, Brett Lilek, Steven Farnworth) combined for the teams first perfect game in history against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.^[13][14]

List of no-hitters

• * Denotes Perfect Game

Playoff history

In the team's storied history they have made a total of 19 playoff appearances.

Overview

Batavia has won four league championships including 2008 as the Muckdogs, 1963 season as the Batavia Pirates and the 1945 & 1946 seasons as the Batavia Clippers.^[15][16] Batavia has won five division championships since the league adapted divisional play starting in the 1977 season, these titles include the Pinckney Division in 1995, 2008, and 2010, the Stedler in 1998, and the Western Division in 1977. The team also made playoff appearances as the Wild Card in 1999 and 2000 where they lost in the semi-finals, as well as 1997 when they advanced to the league championship where they were defeated by the Pittsfield Mets.^[17]

Playoff appearances

Jack Tighe lead Batavia to their first two championships in 1945 & 1946.

• Denotes regular season league finish before divisional play.

1945 league and playoff champions

During the PONY League seasons from 1939–1956 there was a league champion and playoff champion format; the 1945 season saw Batavia finish with a record of 84 wins and 40 losses to clinch the league championship by nine games over the Jamestown Falcons. The Clippers defeated the Bradford Blue Wings three games to one in the first round of the playoffs before defeating the Lockport White Sox four games to three in the playoff championship. Batavia had a league best 1.40 ERA during the season.^[18]

1946 league and playoff champions

The 1946 season saw Batavia and Jamestown finish tied with a record of 84 wins and 41 losses to claim a share of the league championship. Jamestown defeated Batavia in a one-game playoff by a score of 6–2. Batavia then defeated the Olean Oilers in the playoffs four games to three before defeating Jamestown four games to two in the championship. Batavia's Dick Kokos lead the league during the 1946 season in runs with 118, hits with 166, RBIs with 114, and tied for home runs with 21.^[18]

1963 playoff champions

The 1963 Batavia Pirates were an unlikely Championship team that entered the playoffs with 42 wins and 67 losses during the regular season. Facing the Jamestown Tigers in the best of three series the Pirates opened with a home loss by the score of 4–3 before heading to Jamestown to defeat the Tigers by a score of 2–1. During game two pitchers Bob Lee and Bob Baird shut down Jamestown as Fred Michalski hit a home run early and Norm Housley drove in a run in the seventh that gave Batavia all the runs the pitching due would need, the Tigers scored their loan run in the bottom of the seventh. In the series finale the Pirates won handily by the score of 7–3 before a home crowd of 1,305 at MacArthur Stadium. Byron Brown, who led the league with 32 home runs in the regular season, hit a two run home run in the first inning and then drove in two more with a single in the fourth. Lefty Ron Fiorella was the winning pitcher for the Pirates while Jim Hassett also hit a home run during the deciding game. Leading the Pirates for the playoffs was José Martínez with 8 hits as Fiorella picked up two wins.^[19]

1977 West Division Champions

In 1957 the PONY League adapted the name the New–York Pennsylvania League and continued to do a league champion and playoff champion until 1974 when it was changed to a first half and second half champion until the 1976 season. During the 1977 season the league did a first half and second half champion within two divisions instead of a league format, Batavia won the Western Division in both halves.^[20] The following season, 1978, the league changed to solely one season division format.^[21]

1995 Pinckney Division Champions

Batavia won the Stedler Division with a record of 41 wins and 34 losses under manager Al LeBoeuf before losing in the semifinals to eventual champion the Watertown Indians. Team leaders included Walt Dawkins with a .315 average; Steve Carver with 41 RBIs, 7 home runs and 13 doubles which tied with Jon Cornelius; future major leaguer Marlon Anderson with 92 hits and 52 runs; Gary Yeager with 9 wins; Brian Ford with a 1.18 ERA and 10 saves. The team also featured future major leaguer Anthony Shumaker.

1997 Wild Card

Batavia clinched the Wild Card playoff spot in 1997 finishing with a record of 47 wins and 27 losses under manager Greg Legg. The Clippers defeated the Erie Seawolves in the semifinals before falling to the Pittsfield Mets in the league championship. Team leaders included Gary Burham with a .325 average, 22 doubles, and 94 hits; future major leaguer Andy Dominique with 14 home runs; Jason Johnson with 20 stolen bases and 5 triples; Rusty McNamara with 54 RBIs; Derek Adair with 7 wins; Clay Eason with a 0.92 ERA; and Brett Black with 15 saves. The team also included future major leaguers Randy Wolf, Thomas Jacquez, and Johnny Estrada.

1998 Stedler Division Champions

Batavia finished with a record of 43 wins and 33 losses winning the Stedler Division under manager Frank Klebe before losing to the Auburn Doubledays in the semifinals. 1998 was one of the only times in league history there would be co-champions as the weather made fields unplayable, Auburn and the Oneonta Yankees were named co-champions. Team leaders for Batavia included future major leaguer Jason Michaels with 11 home runs; Shayne Carnes with a .329 average and 78 hits; Carlos Duncan with 23 doubles and 55 runs; Nick Punto with 19 stolen bases; Geoff Geary with 9 wins and 1.60 ERA; Cary Hiles with 10 saves. The team also featured future major leaguer Carlos Silva.

1999 Wild Card

Batavia finished with a record of 42 wins and 34 losses one game behind division champion the Mahoning Valley Scrappers under manager Greg Legg. Batavia lost to the Scrappers in the semi-finals. Team leaders include future major league outfielder Marlon Byrd with 13 home runs, 50 RBIs, 72 hits; Shomari Beverly with 13 doubles; Tom Batson with a .298 average; Brad Pautz with 8 wins; Ryan Brookman with a 0.46 ERA; Justin Fry with 6 saves. The team also featured major leaguers Frank Brooks, Ryan Madson, and Jorge Padilla.

2000 Wild Card

Batavia finished with a record of 39 wins and 37 losses during the 2000 season under manager Frank Klebe earning a playoff spot as a Wild Card eventually losing to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers in the semi-finals for the second year in a row. Future major leaguer Travis Chapman lead the team in hitting with a .316 average, other team leaders included Dario Delgado with 40 RBIs and 7 home runs; Scott Youngbauer with 16 doubles; Jason Barnette with 67 hits; Anthony Hensley with 43 stolen bases; Dan Adams with a 2.17 ERA; Trevor Bullock with six wins. The team featured future Phillies All-Star Chase Utley as well as Miguel Asencio and Eude Brito.

2008 NY–Penn League Champions

Under manager Mark DeJohn during the 2008 season the team finished the regular season with 46 wins and 28 losses to clinch the Pinckney Division title. Batavia swept the Florida Marlins affiliate the Jamestown Jammers to claim the 2008 NY–Penn League championship on September 14, 2008 by a score of 9–3,^[22] after defeating the Boston Red Sox affiliate the Lowell Spinners two games to one in the semi-finals. Team leaders included Jermaine Curtis & Colt Sedbrook with a .305 average; Chris Swauger with 7 home runs; Shane Peterson with 20 doubles and 67 hits; Jose Garcia with 48 runs; Ramón Delgado with 6 wins; Thomas Eager with a 1.76 ERA; and Adam Reifer 22 saves

2010 Pinckney Division Champions

The Muckdogs won the 2010 Pinckney Division Championship under manager Dann Bilardello with a record of 45 wins and 29 losses, clinching against the Jamestown Jammers on September 1 at Russell Diethrick Park in Jamestown, New York.^[23] Batavia lost in the semi-finals to eventual league champion the Tri-City ValleyCats two games to one. Team leaders include Rainel Rosario with a .321 average; Jonathan Rodriguez with 12 home runs; Victor Sanchez with 19 doubles; Nick Longmire with 76 hits, 7 triples, and 53 runs; Andrew Moss with 8 wins; Jose Rada with a 1.12 ERA and ten saves.

Attendance

Largest crowd

The largest crowd to attend a professional game in Batavia is 3,000 on opening day 1939. Batavia had one of its largest crowds on July 29, 2011 against the Staten Island Yankees. The packed house saw local Rochester native Cito Culver score 2 runs for the Yankees and also bat another run in. The official attendance for the game was 2,445.

Year by Year

As teams move to larger markets, and western New York area residency dwindling, the Muckdogs find themselves ranking last in attendance,^[24] though in 2008 a new policy was put forth by the Red Wings management to only report through the gate fans and not add on like several teams do to pad attendance records.

Roster

Phillies All-Star Chase Utley made his pro debut in Batavia during the 2000 season.

Notable Major League alumni

Ricky Williams

NFL tailback Ricky Williams played for the team during the 1998 season for thirteen games before returning to Texas to prepare for the upcoming NCAA football season where he was a strong candidate for the Heisman Award, which he would receive.

Local ties

Fourteen Genesee County Baseball Players have played for their local Batavia team.^[25]

• 1939 – OF Gordon "Bus" Merrill from Elba, P Frank "Pike" Trigilio from Oakfield, and 1B James "Jim" Carragher from LeRoy


• 1940 – P William "Bill" Kell from Darien and OF Laverne "Pete" Petherbridge from Byron


• 1943–1944 – P Theodore "Ted" Platek from Pavilion


• 1946–1947 – P John "Johnny" Freeman from S.Byron


• 1948 – INF Jerry Maley from Batavia


• 1950 – C Robert "Bob" Radley from Batavia


• 1951 – P Ray "Jamo" Jamalkowski from Batavia


• 1952 & 1957 – P Richard "Dick" Raymond from Batavia


• 1957 – P Frank Dudley from Batavia


• 1958 – P Larry Richenburg from Elba


• 1989 – OF Mickey Hyde from E. Bethany

In popular culture

At the end of the 2001 movie, Summer Catch, Freddie Prinze, Jr.'s character, Ryan Dunne is signed by the Phillies and assigned to the Muckdogs to start his professional career. In the scene Dunne is given a Muckdogs hat by scout Hugh Alexander, played by John C. McGinley, as he explains Batavia is a small city outside of Buffalo. After getting the hat Dunne's friends grab it from his hands and yells the team name.

References

External links

• Batavia Muckdogs webpage


• Batavia Muckdogs facebook


• Photographs of Dwyer Stadium, home of the Batavia Muckdogs – Rochester Area Ballparks
  


• "Safe at Home", article about the Muckdogs by Batavia native Bill Kauffman in The American Conservative