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The club was formed in 2003 . The Spirit are owned by Nicholas Lopardo, a major contributor to the Susquehanna University Athletics Program. Lopardo acquired the team in 2002 when he purchased the then-Waterbury (Connecticut) Spirit. After the formation of the team was announced in August of 2002, Lopardo funded a massive, expensive renovation of Fraser Field. $2 million was put into improvements in seating, comfort, and technology of the field. In their first season, 2003, 90,000 people attended Spirit games, a record for pro baseball at Fraser Field. In the 2003 season, the Spirit won the first-half North Division championship and defeated the and Marcos Agramonte, 2B, by the San Diego Padres . Also in that year the team held a ceremony honoring legendary North Shore baseball player Tony Conigliaro and retiring his number 25. In and Cincinnati Reds , respectively. 2005 was the first year that the Spirit failed to make the playoffs, but nonetheless they had a good season, finishing with the 2nd best record in the league behind Quebec and drawing over 100,000 fans to Fraser Field for the second consecutive season. On September 3 , 2005, the last home game of the season, owner Nick Lopardo responded to rumors of the franchise's demise with an emphatic assurance that the Spirit would be back for their fourth season at Fraser Field. The Spirit also host local charity events and other local sporting ventures at Fraser Field. Lopardo sponsors the annual Agganis Classics, named after local sports legend Harry Agganis , high school baseball, football, soccer and softball games that raise money to provide scholarships for student athletes. Nick Lopardo also helped found the US Women's World Cup baseball team, and the North American Women's Baseball League , and hosted the league's first national championship tournament at Fraser Field in 2004. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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