Biloxi Shuckers
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The Biloxi Shuckers are a
Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...
team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the
Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...
. They are located in
Biloxi, Mississippi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It lies on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi, bordering the city of Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport to its west. The adjacent cities ar ...
, and are named in reference to the city's
oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...
industry and
seafood Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...
heritage. The Shuckers play their home games at
Keesler Federal Park Keesler Federal Park, formerly known as MGM Park, is a baseball park in Biloxi, Mississippi. The home of the Double-A (baseball), Double-A Biloxi Shuckers of the Southern League (1964–present), Southern League, it opened on June 6, 2015, and ca ...
, which opened in 2015. The team was established in 2015 after the Southern League's Huntsville Stars relocated to Biloxi following the 2014 season. With
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Shuckers were placed in the Double-A South, which became the Southern League in 2022. Biloxi has played in three Southern League championship series but has not won a league title.


History


Before Biloxi

Before the arrival of the Shuckers, the only other
professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...
team from
Biloxi, Mississippi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It lies on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi, bordering the city of Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport to its west. The adjacent cities ar ...
, was the Gulfport-Biloxi Sand Crabs, who played in the Class C
Cotton States League The Cotton States League''Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball: The Official Record of Minor League Baseball'' – Lloyd Johnson, Steve McDonald, Miles Wolff (editors). Publisher: Baseball America, 1997. Format: Paperback, 672pp. Language: Engli ...
in 1907. The Shuckers came to the city 108 years later by way of
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, and
Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...
. In 1978, the
Nashville Sounds The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the ci ...
began play as an
expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...
of the Double-A Southern League. In 1984, Sounds president
Larry Schmittou Larry Schmittou (born July 19, 1940) is an American entrepreneur and former baseball executive and Coach (baseball), coach. He owns L&S Family Entertainment LLC, which operates a chain of bowling centers in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. ...
and other members of the team's ownership group purchased the Evansville Triplets of the Triple-A American Association with plans to move the team from
Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 118,414 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is Indiana's List of cities in Indiana, third-most populous city after India ...
, to Nashville for the 1985 season. The Southern League wanted Schmittou to surrender his franchise to the league, but he had plans to relocate the Double-A team instead. After a move to Evansville was denied, the City of Huntsville agreed to build a new ballpark, Joe W. Davis Stadium, which lured the franchise to town where it began play as the Huntsville Stars in 1985. Twenty-nine years later, following several failed attempts to replace Huntsville's aging ballpark, the Stars were sold to Biloxi Baseball, under the leadership of majority owner Ken Young, in January 2014. Previous owner Miles Prentice and other shareholders retained a minority stake in the team. The franchise remained in Huntsville until the end of the 2014 season while a new ballpark could be constructed in Biloxi.


Milwaukee Brewers (2015–present)

The relocated Biloxi team continued to compete in the Double-A Southern League as an affiliate of the
Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
(MLB) team, continuing the relationship between Milwaukee and Huntsville that had been in place since 1999. The club's new moniker was selected by fans in a name-the-team contest. Among the finalists were "Shrimpers", "Black Jacks", "Beacon", "Mullets", and "Schooners". The chosen name, "Biloxi Shuckers", celebrates the city's heritage as a center for the
oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...
and
seafood Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...
industries. Their primary logo utilizes a color palette of gulf blue, sand, coral, and black and features an open oyster with a pair of eyes along with the team name. Due to construction delays at Biloxi's 6,000-seat MGM Park in Biloxi, the Shuckers played the first 54 games of their inaugural 2015 season on the road. These included several games originally planned to be held in Biloxi for which the Shuckers were designated the "home" team in their opponents' ballparks. Fifteen games were played at Joe W. Davis Stadium in Huntsville, but under the Shuckers name, not that of the old Stars. The Shuckers played their first game on April 9, 2015, against the
Pensacola Blue Wahoos The Pensacola Blue Wahoos are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League (1964–present), Southern League and the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are based in Pensacola, Florida, and play their home ga ...
at
Admiral Fetterman Field Blue Wahoos Stadium, located in the Community Maritime Park, is a multi-use park in Pensacola, Florida, that includes a stadium, commercial buildings, a waterfront public park and amphitheater. The mixed use stadium holds 5,038 people and can be ...
in
Pensacola, Florida Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated city, city in Escambia County, Florida, Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...
, which they won, 4–0. Orlando Arcia led the scoring with three
runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...
, while the Shuckers' pitching staff held their opponents to three hits and struck out nine batters. The team's MGM Park home opener was played on June 6 versus the Mobile BayBears, a 4–3 victory. Going into extra innings, Nick Shaw singled home Brent Suter from second base in the bottom of the fourteenth inning to secure the win. The inaugural home opener was attended by 5,065 people. The Southern League uses a split-season schedule wherein the division winners from each half qualify for the postseason championship playoffs. Biloxi won the First Half South Division title, earning them a berth in the postseason. In the best-of-five division series, they defeated second-half winners Pensacola, 3–0, to win the South Division title and advance to the championship finals. There, they lost to the
Chattanooga Lookouts The Chattanooga Lookouts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and are named for nearby Lookout Mountain. The team plays its home g ...
, 3–2, in a series that went the full five games. Overall, the Shuckers finished their first season with a league-best 78–59 record. Jorge López won the Southern League Most Outstanding Pitcher Award with a league-leading 1.10 
WHIP A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...
and a .205  opponents' batting average while tying for the lead with 12  wins.
Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...
Carlos Subero was selected as the Southern League Manager of the Year. On April 2, 2016, the Shuckers hosted an exhibition game against the Milwaukee Brewers, a 7–4 loss attended by 5,152 people. Brewers appearing in the game included
Ryan Braun Ryan Joseph Braun (born November 17, 1983) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played his entire career for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2007 to 2020. Braun also played right fielder, right ...
,
Domingo Santana Domingo Alberto Santana (born August 5, 1992) is a Dominican professional baseball outfielder for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros, M ...
, Jonathan Villar, Martín Maldonado, and Chase Anderson. This was the first time a major league team played in Biloxi since the 1938
Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...
held
spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...
at Biloxi Stadium. Under manager Mike Guerrero, the 2016 Shuckers finished with a 72–67 record but did not win either half of the season. Shuckers pitchers threw the first
no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit (baseball), hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in ...
in franchise history on August 14, 2017. Hiram Burgos (2 IP), Forrest Snow (3 IP), Nick Ramirez (1 IP), and Jorge López (1 IP) combined for the effort in the second game of a seven-inning doubleheader against the
Tennessee Smokies The Knoxville Smokies are a Minor League Baseball team based in Knoxville, Tennessee. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. The team was based in Kodak, Tennessee, a Knoxville suburb, fr ...
at MGM Park, a 1–0 win. The team missed the postseason with a 71–66 campaign. Biloxi won both the First and Second Half South Division titles in 2018 on the way to a league-best 81–59 record. They beat Pensacola, 3–1, to win the South Division title before being defeated in the finals by the Jackson Generals, 3–1. Though the team was denied their first league championship, they swept the major Southern League awards that season, winning all three. Southern League Most Valuable Player Corey Ray led the league in
home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...
s (27),
stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...
s (35), and doubles (32) at the time of his selection. Zack Brown won the Most Outstanding Pitcher Award after leading the circuit with a 2.48 
earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...
. Third-year manager Mike Guerrero rounded out the honors, winning Manager of the Year. The Shuckers hosted the Southern League All-Star Game at MGM Park on June 18, 2019. The North Division All-Stars defeated the South Division All-Stars, 7–3, with 4,209 people on hand. Luis Robert of the
Birmingham Barons The Birmingham Barons are a Minor League Baseball team based in Birmingham, Alabama. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox and plays at Regions Field in downtown Birmingham. The Baron ...
was selected as the game's Most Valuable Player. Jeffrey Baez of the Jackson Generals won the previous day's Home Run Derby. Like the previous season, Guerrero led the 2019 Shuckers to win both halves of the season with an overall record of 82–57, second overall in the league. They bested Pensacola, 3–2, for the South Division title, but they were again defeated by Jackson in the finals, 3–2. Trey Supak, who led the Southern League with 11 wins, a 0.87 WHIP, and a .192 opponents' batting average at the time of his July 26 promotion to the Triple-A
San Antonio Missions The San Antonio Missions are a Minor League Baseball team based in San Antonio, Texas. The Missions compete in the Texas League as the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. The team plays its home games at Nelson W. W ...
, was selected as the league's Most Outstanding Pitcher. The start of the 2020 season was postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
before being cancelled on June 30. Following the 2020 season, Major League Baseball assumed control of Minor League Baseball in a move to increase player salaries, modernize facility standards, and reduce travel. As a result, the Southern League disbanded and the Shuckers were placed in the Double-A South. Biloxi's 2021 opener in the new league, scheduled for May 4 on the road versus the Birmingham Barons at
Regions Field Regions Field is a minor league baseball park in the Southside community of Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. It is the home field for the Birmingham Barons of the Southern League, and it replaced Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in the Birmingham suburb ...
, was postponed due to inclement weather. The game was made up the next evening as part of a doubleheader, both games of which the Shuckers lost, 6–1 and 2–1. On May 15, pitchers Ethan Small (5 IP), Zach Vennaro (1 IP), Nathan Kirby (2 IP), and Matt Hardy (1 IP) tossed a combined no-hitter against the
Mississippi Braves The Mississippi Braves, or M-Braves as they were referred to locally, were a Minor League Baseball team based in Pearl, Mississippi, a suburb of Jackson, from 2005 to 2024. They were the Double-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves and competed in ...
in a 1–0 win at MGM Park. They ended the season in fourth place in the Southern Division at 45–69. In 2022, the Double-A South became known as the Southern League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization. The Shuckers finished the first half of the season in second place, two-and-a-half games behind the division winner. They placed further back in the second half, and posted an overall record of 67–68.
Catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...
Jakson Reetz was chosen for the Southern League MVP Award. In February 2023, Ken Young, the managing partner of Biloxi Baseball, sold the franchise to Shuckers Baseball, which is owned and operated by John Tracy. The team did not win either half of the 2023 season and had a composite record of 74–63. Carlos Rodríguez was selected for the 2023 SL Pitcher of the Year Award. The Shuckers' MGM Park became known as Keesler Federal Park in 2024 in a corprorate naming rights agreement with Keesler Federal Credit Union. Biloxi posted a 66–69 season record. They finished the second half in second-place behind the first-half champion Montgomery Biscuits, earning them playoff berth. The Shuckers lost the Southern Division title to Montgomery, 2–1. As of the completion of the 2024 season, the team has played 1,213 regular-season games and compiled a win–loss record of 636–577. They have a postseason record of 15–14. Combining all 1,242 regular-season and postseason games, Biloxi has an all-time record of 651–591.


Season-by-season records


Radio and television

All home and road games are broadcast on WGCM AM 1240 (100.9 FM) and across the Biloxi Shuckers Radio Network. Live audio broadcasts are also available online through the team's website and the MiLB First Pitch and
TuneIn TuneIn is a global audio streaming service providing news, radio, sports, music, and podcasts to over 75 million monthly active users. TuneIn is operated by the privately held company TuneIn Inc. based in San Francisco, California. The comp ...
radio apps. All home and road games can be viewed through the MiLB.TV subscription feature of the official website of Minor League Baseball, with audio provided by a radio simulcast. Javik Blake has been the primary play-by-play broadcaster since 2023.


Mascot

The Shuckers'
mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...
is an
anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...
seagull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...
named Schooner. He is gray with a white neck and has blue feathers around his eyes and a yellow beak and legs. Schooner wears the same blue jerseys as the team with the number one and blue and white sneakers. He made his debut on April 2, 2016, during an exhibition game against the Milwaukee Brewers prior to the Shuckers' first full season at MGM Park.


Roster


Achievements


Awards

Six players, two managers, and one executives have won Southern League awards in recognition for their performance with the Shuckers.


Postseason All-Stars

Fifteen players have been named to the Southern League Postseason All-Star Team. Nate Griep is the only Shucker to be selected twice.


References

;Specific ;General * *


External links

*
Statistics from ''Baseball-Reference''
{{Mississippi Sports 2015 establishments in Mississippi Baseball teams established in 2015 Double-A South teams Milwaukee Brewers minor league affiliates Professional baseball teams in Mississippi Southern League (1964–present) teams Sports in Biloxi, Mississippi