| North Shore Spirit |
Article Index for North Shore |
Website Links For North Shore |
Information AboutNorth Shore Spirit |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT NORTH SHORE SPIRIT | |
| minor league baseball teams | |
| sports in massachusetts | |
| massachusetts baseball teams | |
The North Shore Spirit are a minor-league Baseball team based in Lynn, Massachusetts . Since the 2005 season, they have played in the Canadian-American Association Of Professional Baseball (the "Can-Am League"), an Independent League that is not affiliated with Major League Baseball or with the Minor League Baseball organization. The Spirit are owned by Nicholas Lopardo, a major contributor to the Susquehanna University Athletics Program. TEAM HISTORY 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, including the installation of FieldTurf in the infield. 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 2004 the Spirit played host to 120,000 fans, breaking the record they had set the year before, and ranking 3rd in league attendance behind the Brockton Rox and Quebec Capitales . They once again won the first-half North Division Championship, in record fashion, shattering the league record for first half winning percentage with 35 wins in the 46 game half. The Spirit also once again defeated the Quebec Capitales in the first round of the playoffs, 3 games to 2, but lost in the championship series again, this time to the New Jersey Jackals . The Spirit won the first two games of the series at Yogi Berra Stadium , but dropped the three games at Fraser Field (two after blowing late inning leads and losting in extra innings). In 2004 the Spirit honored another local baseball legend, 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. Can-Am League and North Shore Spirit history was made in April of 2006 as ex-Spirit player Ken Ray made his Major League Baseball debut for the Atlanta Braves , striking out Barry Bonds as part of a 1-2-3 inning against the San Francisco Giants . Since then, Ray has become a mainstay in the Atlanta bullpen. He remains the only CanAm league alum to be playing in the Majors. On July 12, 2006, the Spirit won their third first-half championship in franchise history, qualifying for the 2006 CanAm League Playoffs . They went on to have the most successful regular season in Can-Am League history. In the 2006 playoffs, the Spirit were defeated in the first round by the Quebec Capitales, 3-2, splitting the first two games at Fraser Field and then losing two out of three in Quebec City. Rumors were rampant in late 2006 that the Spirit would leave Lynn, but in November the team confirmed that it would return for a fifth season at Fraser Field, set to begin on May 25 , 2007 . In September, 2007, Nick Lopardo announced that after the 2007 Can-Am playoffs, the Spirit will cease operations due to low attendance. {Link without Title} OTHER INFORMATION 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 . In 2006 and 2007, the opening round of the Baseball Beanpot - a college baseball tournament featuring Boston College , Northeastern University , The University Of Massachusetts , and Harvard University , was hosted by the North Shore Spirit at Fraser Field. Spirit games are broadcast on WWZN 1510-AM in Boston by veteran play-by-play announcer John Leahy. On May 29, 2007, WWZN was sold and the new format is to be foreign language programming. It is unknown at this time if WWZN's new owner plans to continue broadcasting the games. North Shore's team colors are Red, White and Blue. Their mascot, Slugger, is a blue Bald Eagle . 2007 NORTH SHORE SPIRIT ROSTER As of August 27, 2007 RETIRED NUMBERS
EXTERNAL LINKS |
|
|