Great Lakes Loons

From BR Bullpen

Location: Midland, MI
League: Midwest League 2007-
Affiliation: Los Angeles Dodgers 2007-
Ballpark: Dow Diamond

1 Team History
2 2008 On-Field Staff
3 2007 Inaugural Season
4 Year by Year Record
5 Related Links

[edit] Team History

The Great Lakes Loons are the class A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Midwest League. The club begins play in 2007. The Loons relocated from Battle Creek, MI where they had been known as the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays from 2005 to 2006, and were the class A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The team was originally slated to continue as the class A affiliate of Tampa Bay, but were traded to the Dodgers for the class A Columbus Catfish of Columbus, GA (South Atlantic League) in a pre season trade that involved the class A advanced Vero Beach Dodgers, now the Vero Beach Devil Rays (Florida State League), and the Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino, CA (California League). The 2007 team was managed by Lance Parrish in their first year, but due to poor performance Parrish did not hold the position in following seasons.

The Great Lakes Loons are collectively owned by the Michigan Baseball Foundation a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and developing baseball in Michigan.

All games are broadcast on WYLZ 100.9

[edit] 2008 On-Field Staff

Manager: Juan Bustabad
Pitching Coach: Danny Darwin
Hitting Coach: Garey Ingram
Athletic Trainer: Dan Christoffer
Mascot: Lou E. Loon

[edit] 2007 Inaugural Season

Inaugural Game: April 5, 2007 against the South Bend Silver Hawks at Stanley Coveleski Regional Stadium in South Bend, IN. Loons win 10-3
the Loons first home game at Dow Diamond was held on April 13, 2007. Loons lose 6-2

The inaugural Great Lakes Loons were marked by several famous names. Skippered by Lance Parrish, The 2007 were home to Preston Mattingly (son of Don Mattingly) and Scott Van Slyke (son of Andy Van Slyke).

At the end of the first half, the Loons were 10 games back on the Eastern Division leading Dayton Dragons. Although their 34-36 record left them tied for 4th place out of six teams in their division, their performance was far from the bottom of the league with six teams having worse records.

Following the All-Star break, the Loons slipped to the bottom of their division with a record of 23-46 (worst second half record in the league).

In the season's final game, the Loons fell 6-2 to the Fort Wayne Wizards at Dow Diamond.

The Great Lakes Loons ended the 2007 season with an overall record of 57-82, the second lowest in their division, and the third lowest overall. Following the completion of the season the Los Angeles Dodgers officially parted ways with Lance Parrish.