Lansing Lugnuts

"Lugnuts" redirects here. For other uses, see Lugnut (disambiguation).

Lansing Lugnuts Founded in 1996 Lansing, Michigan
Team Logo Cap Insignia
Class-level
Single-A (1996-present)
Minor league affiliations
Midwest League (1996-present) Eastern Division
Major league affiliations
Toronto Blue Jays (2005-present) Chicago Cubs (1999-2004) Kansas City Royals (1996-1998)
Name
Lansing Lugnuts (1996-present)
Ballpark
Cooley Law School Stadium (1996-present)
Minor league titles
League titles	1997, 2003
Division titles	1996 2nd half, 1999 1st half, 2008 1st half, 2012 1st half
Owner(s)/Operated by: Take Me Out To The Ballgame, LLC
Manager: John Tamargo, Jr.
General Manager: Pat Day

The Lansing Lugnuts at Oldsmobile Park in 2009

The Lansing Lugnuts are a Class A minor league baseball team, affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays, that plays in the Midwest League.

The Midwest League came to Lansing, Michigan in 1996. The franchise began in Lafayette, Indiana, in 1955; after two seasons it moved to Waterloo, Iowa, where it stayed for 36 seasons. Before the 1994 season it moved to Springfield, Illinois, but only spent two seasons there before moving to Lansing. The franchise was an affiliate of the Kansas City Royals on two separate occasions in three different cities: as the Waterloo Royals [1] from 1969 through 1976, as the Sultans of Springfield [2] in 1995, and then, upon the team's move to Lansing, from 1996 through 1998. The Lugnuts were then an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs from 1999 through 2004 before joining the Jays' farm system for the 2005 season.

The team plays at Cooley Law School Stadium (previously known as Oldsmobile Park and named after the now-defunct General Motors division that was based there), which opened in 1996. The new name comes from a naming rights deal with Thomas M. Cooley Law School, based in Lansing and the largest law school in the United States. Cooley Law School Stadium seats over 11,000 fans and is one of the largest Class A Minor League baseball parks in the United States. The franchise national attendance record of 538,326 was set during its inaugural year. They won the Midwest League Championship in 1997 and 2003. The Lugnuts have their own "theme" which plays immediately after the national anthem for every home game.

Crosstown Showdown

From 2007-present the Lansing Lugnuts have participated in an exhibition with nearby Michigan State University which draws a large crowd of students to the event. The overall record and attendance for each game is as follows.

• April 3, 2007 - Lansing Lugnuts 4, Michigan State 3 (Attendance: 6,223)
• April 24, 2008 - Lansing Lugnuts 4, Michigan State 2 (Attendance: 12,862)
• April 16, 2009 - Michigan State 12, Lansing Lugnuts 2 (Attendance: 12,992)
• April 26, 2010 - Lansing Lugnuts 5, Michigan State 4 (Attendance: 6,778)
• April 5, 2011 - Michigan State 2, Lansing Lugnuts 1 (Attendance: 7,212)
• April 5, 2012 - Lansing Lugnuts 7, Michigan State 0 (Attendance: 12,997)

Media Coverage

All Lugnuts games are aired on WQTX 92.1. The play-by-play announcer is Jesse Goldberg-Strassler. Previous radio homes for Lugnuts games were WJIM-AM from 1996-2000, and WVFN-AM from 2001-2003.

Several games per season aired on WLNS-TV from 1996 through 2001. One game was aired on WILX-TV each season from 2002 to 2009.

Alumni

The following are players currently in Major League Baseball who played, at one time, for the Lugnuts. This partial list includes players making injury-comeback starts as well as those that developed in Lansing.

• Jeremy Affeldt
• Kevin Appier
• Carlos Beltrán
• Francis Beltrán
• Juan Brito
• Kiko Calero
• Lance Carter
• Ronny Cedeno
• Rocky Cherry
• Hee Seop Choi
• Juan Cruz
• Ryan Dempster
• Chad Durbin
• Carlos Febles
• Jeremy Giambi
• Ángel Guzmán
• Rich Hill
• Casey Janssen
• Jon Leicester
• Sergio Mitre
• Orber Moreno
• Corey Patterson
• Billy Petrick
• Felix Pie
• Renyel Pinto
• Mark Prior
• Clay Rapada
• Marc Rzepczynski
• José Santiago
• Travis Snider
• Andy Sisco
• Ryan Theriot
• Curtis Thigpen
• Matt Treanor
• Eugenio Vélez
• Todd Wellemeyer
• Carlos Zambrano

Current roster

2010 Lugnuts wearing their away jerseys

Lansing Lugnuts roster
Players				Coaches/Other
Pitchers 17 Brandon Berl 25 Kramer Champlin 16 Anthony DeSclafani 43 Aleson Escalante 30 Bryan Longpre 14 Blake McFarland  6 Ajay Meyer 11 Justin Nicolino 24 David Rollins 10 Aaron Sanchez 34 Noah Syndergaard 23 Tyler Ybarra		Catchers  7 Aaron Munoz  3 Carlos Perez 18 Chris Schaeffer Infielders  5 Jon Berti  9 Andy Burns  8 Andy Fermin 38 K.C. Hobson  2 Shane Opitz 27 Kevin Patterson 21 Gustavo Pierre -- Jorge Vega-Rosado Outfielders 15 Markus Brisker 13 Chris Hawkins  4 Kevin Pillar 22 Kenny Wilson		Manager -- John Tamargo Coaches -- Kenny Graham (hitting) 26 Vince Horsman (pitching) 7-day disabled list * On Toronto Blue Jays 40-man roster ∞ Reserve list § Suspended list ‡ Restricted list # Rehab assignment Roster updated June 20, 2012 Transactions → More MiLB rosters → Toronto Blue Jays minor league players

References

• Dinda, J. "Lansing, Michigan, in the Midwest League." 2003. <http://www.mwlguide.com/cities/lansing/index.html>.
• Roth, Bob. Our Lugnuts, Year One. 1996. ISBN 0-9655603-0-9
• Lansing Lugnuts Official Website
• MSU Spartans Website <http://www.msuspartans.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/040411aac.html#_>.

External links

• Lansing Lugnuts official web site
• Lugnuts page at the Lansing State Journal
• Lansing Lugnuts at Minor League Baseball site
• Broadcaster's Blog of Jesse Goldberg-Strassler
• MSU Spartans Michigan State Athletics website