The Richmond Roosters were a professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

team based in

Richmond, Indiana Richmond () is a city in eastern Wayne County, Indiana, United States. Bordering the state of Ohio, it is the county seat of Wayne County. In the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 35,720. It is the principal c ...

from 1995 to 2005. The Roosters played in the independent

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 ...

, which at that time had no affiliation 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 Roosters began play in the third season of the Frontier League when the

Kentucky Rifles The Kentucky Rifles were a professional minor league baseball team located in southeastern Kentucky, United States, playing in the independent Frontier League from 1993 to 1994. The team split their home games between Central Park in Paintsville an ...

franchise folded and Richmond was granted an expansion team. The team played at

Don McBride Stadium Don McBride Stadium is a baseball park built in 1936 at the corner of Northwest 13th Street and Peacock Road in Richmond, Indiana, funded by the Works Progress Administration. The stadium was built to replace Exhibition Park which was destroyed ...

in Richmond. The franchise was sold after the 2005 season, moved to

Traverse City, Michigan Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, Michigan, Grand Traverse County, although it partly extends into Leelanau County, Michigan, Leelanau County. The city's population was 15, ...

and became the Traverse City Beach Bums, who played at Wuerfel Park in the Traverse City suburb of Blair Township from 2006 to 2018. In 2018, the franchise was then sold to the owners of the

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

West Michigan Whitecaps The West Michigan Whitecaps are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Comstock Park, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids, and play their home games at LMCU Ballpar ...

who folded the Frontier League affiliation and launched a new team in the

Northwoods League The Northwoods League is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league. All players in the league must have National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. The league is amateur, and players are not ...

, the

Traverse City Pit Spitters The Traverse City Pit Spitters are a baseball team in the Northwoods League, a Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer baseball league, and began play in the 2019 season. Based out of Traverse City, Michigan, the Pit Spitters play their hom ...

. The team is represented in the Frontier League Hall of Fame by Richmond player-manager Fran Riordan, Richmond part-owner Duke Ward, along with Roosters first-basemen Morgan Burkhart, pitcher Matt Schweitzer, outfielder Pete Pirman, and pitcher Bobby Chandler.

Richmond Roosters

The Richmond Roosters returned professional baseball to Richmond, Indiana in 1995, with the last professional team being the class D Richmond Tigers of the Ohio-Indiana League, a

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

affiliate, which folded in 1951. The team played at historic McBride Stadium, which opened in 1936. The Roosters were led in the 1995 season by Morgan Burkhart, who would become the second Frontier League player to make a

team when he joined the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

in 2000. Brian Tollberg of the

Chillicothe Paints The Chillicothe Paints are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Chillicothe, Ohio, in the United States. The team is a member of the summer collegiate Prospect League. The Paints previously played in the professional independent Frontier L ...

was the first league alumnus to make the majors, beating Burkhart by a week in the 2000 season. Burkhart won three league Frontier League MVP awards (1995-1997) and the league MVP award is now named after him. On June 8, 1997, Roosters pitcher Christian Hess threw the first no-hitter in Frontier League history, defeating the Kalamazoo Kodiaks 9–0 in

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

. Richmond won back-to-back Frontier League championships in 2001 and 2002, led by player-manager Fran Riordan. In 2001, the Roosters upset the league-best Paints 2–0 in the best-of-three championship series to capture their first Frontier League title. The team was led by pitcher Steve Carver (10-3, 3.91 ERA), closer Mike Ziroli (1-1, 2.58 ERA, 16 saves), 1B Riordan (.299 BA, 14 HR, 74 RBI) and C-1B Steve Mitrovich (.304 BA, 12 HR, 65 RBI). The team repeated as Frontier League champions in 2002, again upsetting the league-best

Washington Wild Things The Washington Wild Things are a professional baseball team based in Washington, Pennsylvania The team competes in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the Midwest Division and is owned by Stu and Francine Williams. They play their home games ...

3–1 in a best of five series for the title. The Roosters were led in 2002 by pitchers Enriques Baca (10-4, 2.87 ERA) and Matt Schweitzer (8-2, 4.29 ERA), Fran Riordan (.314 BA, 11 HR, 81 RBI), and league MVP OF Phil Willingham (.360 BA, 15 HR, 86 RBI, 36 SB). Growth in the Frontier League challenged the small Richmond franchise and the ownership group elected to sell the franchise at the conclusion of the 2005 season. The last home game for the Roosters was a 9–3 loss to the

Evansville Otters The Evansville Otters are a professional baseball team based in Evansville, Indiana. They compete in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the Midwest Division. Since their establishment in 1995, the Otters have played at historic Bosse Field ...

on September 2, 2005, and the team finished the season on the road with the last Richmond game being a 9-8 road loss to the

Florence Freedom The Florence Y'alls are a professional baseball team based in Florence, Kentucky. The Y'alls compete in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the Midwest Division. The franchise is one of the oldest current running teams of the league. Founde ...

on September 5, 2005.

Traverse City Beach Bums

In 2005, the Richmond Roosters were purchased and the franchise moved to

for the 2006 Frontier League season, playing at Wuerfel Park. The Beach Bums added to the franchise championship history in 2015, advancing from a play-in game to take the title in a best of five series sweep, defeating the

River City Rascals The River City Rascals were a professional baseball team based in O'Fallon, Missouri, in the United States. The Rascals were a member of the West Division of the Frontier League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. From the 1999 ...

3–0. Declining attendance led to the team being sold at the conclusion of the 2018 season to owners of the West Michigan Whitecaps, the franchise left the Frontier League to join the summer collegiate baseball Northwoods League, and the team's name was changed to the Traverse City Pit Spitters. The stadium was renamed to

Turtle Creek Stadium Turtle Creek Stadium (formerly Pit Spitters Park and Wuerfel Park) is a 4,660-seat multi-use entertainment facility in Blair Township, Michigan, in the United States. It hosted its first regular season baseball game on May 24, 2006 as the tenant ...

after the sale. The franchise's final Frontier League professional game was a 9–2 home loss to the

Windy City ThunderBolts The Windy City ThunderBolts are a professional baseball team based in Crestwood, Illinois. The ThunderBolts compete in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the Midwest Division. The team is owned by Franchise Sports LLC, playing its home games ...

on August 31, 2018, before 3,142 spectators.

Season-by-season records

References

{{reflist

External links

Frontier League

Richmond Roosters Statistics
Former Frontier League teams Defunct baseball teams in Indiana Defunct independent baseball league teams Baseball teams established in 1995 Defunct Frontier League teams Baseball teams disestablished in 2018 Sports in Richmond, Indiana