The Normal CornBelters are a

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operate ...

team based in

Normal, Illinois Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 52,736. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and Illinois' seventh mos ...

, which is part of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area. The franchise was formerly a professional team, and was a member of the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

Frontier League The Frontier League is a professional independent baseball league with teams in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Formed in 1993, it is the oldest currently running independent league in the United States. The le ...

, which is not affiliated with

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

. The CornBelters currently play in the Prospect League's Eastern Conference in the Wabash River Division along with the Danville Dans, Terre Haute Rex, and Springfield Lucky Horseshoes.

Stadium

On March 30, 2009, ground was broken for a $12 million

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

adjacent to Heartland Community College on Raab Road. The CornBelters will share the facility with Heartland's baseball, softball, and soccer programs. The facility was completed in time for the CornBelters' inaugural 2010 season.Nielsen, Adam.
Celebrating a major milestone at Heartland
, ''Just About Normal'' (blog by local reporter), March 31, 2009, accessed October 31, 2009. On October 20, 2009, it was announced that the stadium would be known as

The Corn Crib The Corn Crib is a multi-purpose stadium located in Normal, Illinois. It is primarily used for baseball and is the home of the Normal CornBelters, a collegiate summer baseball team. The ballpark has a capacity of 7,000 and opened in May 2010. ...

.Reinhardt, Randy.
Baseball stadium gets a name: The Corn Crib
, ''

The Pantagraph ''The Pantagraph'' is a daily newspaper that serves Bloomington–Normal, Illinois, along with 60 communities and eight counties in the Central Illinois area. Its headquarters are in Bloomington and it is owned by Lee Enterprises. The name i ...

'' (

Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city and the county seat of McLean County, Illinois, McLean County, Illinois, United States. It is adjacent to the town of Normal, Illinois, Normal, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomingto ...

), October 20, 2009, accessed October 31, 2009. The name was the result of a

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

partnership with the Illinois Corn Marketing Board (ICMB). The naming rights agreement lasts for two years with an "automatic renewal". Both team and ICMB officials declined to disclose the financial terms of the partnership.

History

Name-the-team contest

The CornBelters were named after a fan vote to determine the name. A publicity stunt occurred after the four finalists were unveiled: *Normal Nutz; an homage to the Beer Nuts brand based in nearby Bloomington (NOTE: The entries were originally "Nuts", but the ownership modified it to avoid conflict with the California League's Modesto Nuts) *Normal NightHawks; a popular alliterative nickname. *Normal CornBelters; a reference to Illinois' location in the Corn Belt. "Belt" is also a slang term meaning to hit the ball hard. *Normal Coal Bears; submitted by fans of political satirist and ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show focu ...

'' host

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program '' The Colbert Report'' from 2005 t ...

(pronounced ʰɔlˈbɛɹ just like "coal bear"). In addition to the reference, Illinois (especially the west side of Bloomington-Normal) also has a strong heritage in coal mining. In addition, two other choices were later added: *Normal Fellers; an homage to Jesse W. Fell, the founder of Illinois State University (ergo, the founder of the city of Normal), as well as the term "Feller" referring to "regular guy". *Normal CamelBacks; an homage to Camelback Bridge, built to allow steam locomotives to pass underneath and currently arching over Constitution Trail. It is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

2010 season

Hal Lanier was announced as the team's first

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

on October 7, 2009. Lanier managed the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

to a division title in 1986 and is a former Major League player and coach as well. Over 21 seasons as a major, minor and independent league manager, Lanier has compiled a record of 1,338–1,033.Reinhardt, Randy.
CornBelters tab former Cardinals coach as first manager
, ''The Pantagraph'' (Bloomington, Illinois), October 7, 2009, accessed October 31, 2009. The Normal CornBelters' inaugural season schedule was released on October 16, 2009.Pawlowski, Stephanie.
Normal CornBelters release schedule
, '' WJBC'', October 16, 2009, accessed October 31, 2009. The CornBelters' season opened at the Evansville Otters on May 21, 2010. The home opener, the first in team history, was played at 7 p.m. on June 1, 2010, against the Windy City ThunderBolts. The team had 51 home games in 2010 and their season ended on September 5, 2010.Reinhardt, Randy.
CornBelters' first home game June 1
, ''The Pantagraph'', October 16, 2009, accessed October 31, 2009. The team finished with a 44–52 record. Two CornBelters were named 2010 All-Stars and played in the All-Star Game: RHP Tyler Lavigne and 3B Daniel Cox.

Seasons

Roster

References

External links

Normal CornBelters
{{Illinois Sports 2009 establishments in Illinois Former Frontier League teams Professional baseball teams in Illinois Sports clubs and teams in Bloomington–Normal Baseball teams established in 2009 Defunct Frontier League teams Defunct independent baseball league teams