The Joliet JackHammers were a professional baseball team based in

Joliet, Illinois Joliet ( ) is a city in Will County, Illinois, Will and Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County, Illinois, Will County. It had a population of ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The JackHammers were a member of the Northern League, which is not affiliated 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 ...

. From 2002 to 2010, the JackHammers played their home games at Silver Cross Field.

History

Their first season was the 2002 season and the Jackhammers had been preceded in Joliet by the minor league Joliet Convicts, who began play in 1890. The Jackhammers first playoff appearance came in their first season. The 2008 Jackhammers were managed by one time Arizona Diamondback managerial candidate Wally Backman. The primary radio announcer was Jon Versteeg. The Jackhammers, in response to extremely low attendance in 2009, had a total makeover to start the 2010 season. Everything, from the roster and management, all the way down to the uniforms, was re-done. Their offseason advertising campaign was also very aggressive, and included everything from newspaper ads to billboards. The Jackhammers made the playoffs for the first time in 8 years, making the season a success performance-wise. They still lagged in attendance, averaging about 3,500 fans a game, 4th in the league. :Founded: 2002 :Playoff appearances: 2002, 2010 :Divisional titles won: 2002 :League Championships won: None The team was sold in December 2010 after months of negotiations to Steel City Baseball LLC. Steel City bought all assets to the team seeing as they owed $220,000 to the city. With the sale, none of the unpaid bills will be paid off. Steel City changed the team's name for the 2011 season, and the team joined the

Frontier League The Frontier League (FL; French: ''Ligue Frontière'', LF) is a professional baseball league in North America composed of 18 teams – 15 in the United States and 3 in Canada. The FL is one of the eight independent baseball leagues in North Ame ...

. On January 12, 2011 GM John Dittrich announced for the 2011 season the new team would be called the Joliet Slammers. The team will continue to use Silver Cross Field as their home venue.

Year-by-year record

Final roster

References

yearly league standings & awards
nlfan.com
article on the sale
chicagoist.com

External links

Joliet JackHammers
official site
nlfan.com Joliet JackHammers' Guide
{{Illinois Sports 2002 establishments in Illinois 2010 disestablishments in Illinois Defunct baseball teams in Illinois Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010) teams Professional baseball teams in Illinois Baseball teams established in 2002 Baseball teams disestablished in 2010 Sports clubs and teams in Joliet, Illinois Defunct independent baseball league teams