The North Shore Navigators are a wooden-bat,

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

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest List of municipalities in Massachusetts, municipality in Massachusetts, United States, and the largest city in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line ...

, playing in the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). The team plays home games at Fraser Field in Lynn. The team is owned by Old School Sports Group, LLC. The Navigators are the successor to the Giants of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a charter team in

Middletown, Connecticut Middletown is a city in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles (25.749504 km) south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. Middletown is the largest city in the L ...

that moved to

Holyoke, Massachusetts Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, that lies between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,247. Loca ...

. The franchise relocated to Lynn for the 2008 season. They switched to the

Futures Collegiate Baseball League The Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL) is a collegiate summer baseball league that began play in 2011. Entering the 2025 season, the league has two active franchises in Massachusetts, two in Connecticut, and one each in New Hampshire and ...

(FCBL) for the 2012 season and returned to the NECBL for the 2021 season.

Team history

NECBL charter franchise

The Navigators began as the Middletown Giants, one of five charter franchises of the NECBL, playing at Palmer Field in

. They finished the NECBL's inaugural 1994 regular season with the second-best record in the league, though the team did not qualify for the championship series. After a last-place showing in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, the Giants qualified for postseason play in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, but lost to the now-defunct Central Mass. Collegians. In

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, the Giants tied for third place with a 19-21 record, qualifying the team for postseason play for the second straight year. After sweeping the Rhode Island Reds in a best-of-three series, the Giants went on to defeat the Torrington Twisters for the Championship. Middletown's game-one victory (8-7 in 13 innings) was one of the longest playoff games in NECBL history. After being shut-out 4-0 at home, the Giants defeated Torrington 8-5 in a decisive Game 3.

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

again saw the Giants finish in third place. After sweeping the

Danbury Westerners The Danbury Westerners are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Danbury, Connecticut. The team, a member of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, plays their home games at Rogers Park. The team played its inaugural season in 1995 ...

in the postseason, Middletown defeated Torrington three games to one in a best-of-five rematch of the

series, marking the franchise's second straight league championship. In

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, the Giants finished at 27-15, a half a game behind the first place Keene Swampbats. They defeated the Rhode Island Reds two games to one, and defeated the Danbury Westerners three games to one for their third consecutive championship, the first and only time an NECBL team has won the championship three consecutive seasons.

Post-championship years

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, the Giants finished the regular season in fourth place at 22-30 and lost the semi-finals to Keene. In

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, the Giants again finished in fourth place at 16-24 in the new American Division as the NECBL expanded to 10 teams. The Giants averaged of only 107 fans per game in 2001. In

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, the NECBL moved the Giants to the Southern Division, in a short-lived three division alignment. The Giants were runner-up to the

Newport Gulls The Newport Gulls are a wooden-bat, collegiate summer baseball team based in Newport, Rhode Island. The Newport Gulls Baseball Club is a member of the Coastal Division of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Since 2001, the Gulls have pla ...

. The team lost two straight games to Danbury in the first round of the playoffs. In

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, the Giants averaged only half as many fans at home games as at away games. In the playoffs, they were swept by the Torrington Twisters in the first round. Both these games were at Torrington, so the final Giants game at Palmer Field took place on July 21, 2003, where the Giants lost, 4-2, to the Newport Gulls, in front of 326 fans. Middletown Giants players who went on to

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 ...

include Rajai Davis, Chad Paronto, Mike Smith, Doug Clark, and Earl Snyder.

The Move to Holyoke

The Giants left Connecticut for Holyoke, MA in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, where they played their games at MacKenzie Stadium. The team saw success there in terms of attendance, averaging 548 fans a game, with a season total of 11,514. With a 17-25 record, though, the Giants failed to make the playoffs. In

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, the team fared better in the standings, at 23-19, and while attendance dropped off somewhat, the team saw its first playoff berth in Holyoke. 1,100 fans came out for Game 1 of the first round against the Vermont Mountaineers, though the Giants fell, 9-0, and went on to lost Game 2 in Vermont. Despite a losing season in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, the Giants again saw a playoff berth, though they were once again swept by the Mountaineers in the first round.

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

saw one of the most successful seasons for the Giants in nearly a decade, as they finished at 26-16, amidst a battle for first place in the NECBL North. The first round of the playoffs had Holyoke paired up with the Lowell All-Americans, and in the longest three game series in NECBL history, the Giants came out on top. After winning Game 1 in 11 innings on a walk-off walk, the Lowell All-Americans won Game 2 on a walk-off single, in the bottom of the 15th inning. The series returned to Holyoke for Game 3, where, in 10 innings, a walk-off sacrifice fly sent the Giants to the Northern Division Championship Series. Having finished the regular season in first place, the Giants had home field advantage for Game 1 against the Vermont Mountaineers, though lost 7-3. Game 2 seemed like it would be yet another extra inning contest for the Giants, but a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th by Vermont ended Holyoke's season.

North Shore Navigators

By December 2007, word had spread that the Giants would move to Lynn and play at Fraser Field under the name North Shore Navigators. Owner Phil Rosenfield announced the move in ''The Republican.'' Fraser Field had been home to the North Shore Spirit of the

Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball The Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, commonly known as the Can-Am League, was a professional baseball league with teams in Eastern Canada and Northeastern United States. Founded in 2005 in Dayton, Ohio, the league was for ...

, which ceased operation at the end of 2007 after five years. Rosenfield expressed regrets for leaving Holyoke and praised his staff. However, the

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other words Arts and media * ''Concord'' (video game), a defunct 2024 first-person sh ...

Quarry Dogs immediately took the Giants' place in Holyoke as the Holyoke Blue Sox (now known as the

Valley Blue Sox The Valley Blue Sox are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The team, a member of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, plays its home games at Mackenzie Stadium.

). The move to Lynn was the first move by the NECBL into

Greater Boston Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston, the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England, and its surrounding areas, home to 4,941,632. The most s ...

area, having previously come no closer than Lowell. It also marked the abandonment of the original name of the last of the five charter NECBL teams. The Navigators finished their first season in Lynn in second place in the NECBL Northern Division, at 26-16, two games behind eventual 2008 champion

Sanford Mainers The Sanford Mainers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Sanford, Maine. The team, a member of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, plays their home games at Goodall Park. In late 2001, New England Collegiate Baseball League app ...

. The Navigators' 2.52 team ERA and .973 team fielding percentage were the best in the league. In the postseason, the Navigators were upset by the Keene Swampbats, who swept North Shore 11-7 in Lynn, then 1-0 in Keene. Home games were televised in several communities by LYNNCAM TV. In

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, the Navigators finished third in the East Division at 20-21. In a first-round matchup with the second-seeded

, the Navigators split the first two games. In the decisive third game, the Navigators lost, 5-3. In

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, the Navigators finished second in the East Division at 25-17. They beat the Sanford Mainers, two games to one, to advance the East Finals against defending champion

. They dropped the first game in Newport, but they came back with a home victory to force a deciding third game, which North Shore pulled out on the road. The Navigators moved on to face the

in the Championship Series. Both teams won a game at their home fields to set up a winner-take-all third game at Fraser Field in Lynn. The Navigators won a back-and-forth contest 5-4 to secure the team's 4th NECBL crown, the first as the Navigators.

League switches

Before the 2012 season, Tim Haley sold the Navigators to Pat Salvi's Salvi Sports New England, LLC, and the Navigators switched from the NECBL to the

, as part of the FCBL's expansion from 4 to 9 teams. The team was sold to the January family of

Swampscott Swampscott () is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located up the coast from Boston in an area known as the North Shore. The population was 15,111 as of the 2020 United States census. A former summer resort on Massachusetts ...

before the 2020 season, which was mostly played without fans or income because of the city and state's response 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 ...

. The Navigators returned to the NECBL for the 2021 season.

Postseason appearances

NECBL

* From 1995 - 2000, the top four NECBL teams played each other in a league semi-final.
** In 2021, every team entered the playoffs; those in 3rd through 7th place played a one-game "play-in", which North Shore won at Montpelier. A rain-shortened Game 2 against a decimated Upper Valley team was eventually ruled final and the Navigators were declared Division Champions.

FCBL

: * Added in the 2013 season.

References

External links

* Official website of th
North Shore NavigatorsOfficial Blog
of the North Shore Navigators {{Massachusetts Sports 1994 establishments in Connecticut Amateur baseball teams in Massachusetts Baseball teams established in 1994 Futures Collegiate Baseball League teams Middletown Giants New England Collegiate Baseball League teams Sports in Lynn, Massachusetts Sports clubs and teams in Essex County, Massachusetts