By Woodrow Carroll
The Joliet Slammers defeated the visiting Florence Y’Alls, 4-3, in a Frontier League minor league baseball game Sunday, Aug. 7 in a game delayed two hours by bad weather. In many instances the game would have been postponed to the following day and made up as part of a doubleheader. However, the Joliet-Florence game was the finale of a three-game series and Joliet was set to play on the road the next day.
Monday is usually an off day for Frontier League teams, however, Monday the Slammers found themselves in a game in Schaumburg. Joliet won, 1-0.
It was the only scheduled Monday game for Joliet this season. Ergo, it was best to get the game in if at all possible, and, they did.
The home game against Florence was late starting, and, the Slammers were late starters, however, all’s well that ends well!
Trailing 2-0 after five innings, Joliet, 36-36, scored a single run in each of the final four innings to pull out the victory.
The Frontier League is an interesting study!
Founded in 1993 as an unaffiliated league, in which teams in the Frontier League have no formal ties with Major League Baseball, the League has not been the picture of franchise stability.
The first Frontier League champion was the Zanesville (Ohio) Greys in 1993. The most recent franchise to win the Frontier League championship still active in the League are the Gateway Grizzlies, ensconced in Sauget, Ill..
Sauget is across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. The Grizzlies were 2003 Frontier League champions.
Sauget is a story. The Village of Sauget, population 233, was formed in 1926 and called Monsanto. Words such as PCBs and superfund are used in reference to Sauget and seldom in a positive way.
Minor league baseball in Joliet as we know it arrived in 2002 with the Joliet JackHammers. The JackHammers were in the Northern League and played at Silver Cross Field. The Slammers play where the JackHammers did with the site called DULY (DuPage Medical Group) Field.
There is another Greys operating in the League and, it is not a pretty picture!
The Empire State Greys are a strictly traveling team formed to give the two divisions balanced numbers, with eight teams each in two divisions. Bereft of talent and strictly on the road, the Greys have made their mark, in reverse!
After a defeat last Sunday, the Greys’ record was 5-67. To put things in perspective, the Slammers played host to the Greys for three games July 22-24. Joliet won by scores of 16-0, 13-0, and 16-2, 45-2 over the course of the three games.
Did Joliet go on a run after the series with the Greys? Hardly! In 11 games following the Greys’ series, Joliet’s record was just 5-6.
The Southern Illinois Miners’ story: Based in downstate Marion, the Miners were a Frontier League member from 2007 to 2021. During that time, the Miners played well above .500 overall and drew attendance well by League standards.
After last season, Miners’ ownership shut the franchise down. The shifting nature of League membership and League logistics centered around travel and scheduling.
The Marion picture brings up certain questions. What becomes of a ballpark such as the one the Miners played? A few high school baseball games, perhaps. A college that can make use of the Miners’ park.
Minor league baseball has not been a surefire money-maker with franchises constantly on the move, or being folded. Ownership of a team may provide emotional rewards. Financial rewards are another story.