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 operat ...

team based in Normal, Illinois, 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 Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Frontier 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 ...

. The CornBelters play in the Prospect League's Eastern Conference – Central Division along with the Danville Dans, Dubois County Bombers, Springfield Lucky Horseshoes, and Terre Haute Rex.

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 for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a design philosophy that stres ...

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

Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census showed the city had a population of 78,680, making it the List of municipalities in Illinois, 13th-most populous ci ...

), 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 where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

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 ''

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'' 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 to ...

(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 on October 7, 2009. Lanier managed the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

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 Normal, Illinois