The Schaumburg Boomers (originally the Schaumburg Boomers Baseball Club) are a professional baseball team based in

Schaumburg, Illinois Schaumburg ( ) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, Cook and DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 78,723, making Schaumburg the most populou ...

. The Boomers compete in 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 ...

(FL) as a member of the Midwest Division. The Boomers have won four Frontier League championships since their founding in 2012. They are one of the three Frontier League teams located in the

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities. ...

, along with the Joliet Slammers and Windy City ThunderBolts. Since the 2012 season, the team has played its home games at the Wintrust Field, which they share with the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

's Dominican Stars. The "Boomers" nickname comes from a common nickname for males of the greater prairie chicken species, a bird which was once abundant in the Midwest but is now a

vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

. That bird's nickname comes from the dance these males do in order to attract females for mating purposes. The Boomers carry on the mascot's tradition by performing a reenactment of the prairie chicken's dance in between innings during games.

History

Originally, the team was set to play in the

American Association of Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor ...

under the ownership of their rival Joliet Slammers principal owner Alan Oremus; however, Oremus sold the team to Gary SouthShore RailCats owner Pat Salvi, who moved the team to the Frontier League because of his loyalty to the RailCats and lack of interest in setting up a conflict should the two teams play against each other. Under Oremus's ownership, the team had held a name-the-team contest, with the winning selection of "Mallers". After the ownership change, however, the Boomers name, logo, and colors were unveiled on October 18, 2011. The first signed roster player was infielder Andrew Cohn of Emory University. Shortstop Gerard Hall recorded the first hit in Boomers history in a 4–0 shutout against the Lake Erie Crushers in Avon, Ohio, in the franchise's first-ever regular season game. Outfielder Jereme Milons had the first extra-base hit in team history with a double to centerfield in the same game. The Boomers won their home debut with a 5–2 victory over the Florence Freedom in front of 6,067 fans at Boomers Stadium. Outfielder Nate Baumann hit the first home run at Boomers Stadium with a two-run blast to left in the five-run sixth inning. The Boomers finished the first half of their inaugural season as the Frontier League West Division Leaders with a record of 29–19. The team had a total of 10 representatives appear in the 2012 Frontier League All-Star Game in Normal. Manager Jamie Bennett managed the West Division squad and was joined by his coaching staff, Mike Kashirsky, Paul Kubon, C.J. Thieleke, and team trainer Scott Waehler. Schaumburg's Frank Pfister was selected as the West Division's starting third baseman, and was joined by outfielders Sean Mahley and Chad Mozingo and pitchers Cameron Roth and Patrick Mincey. The Schaumburg Boomers won the 2013 Frontier League championship in September 2013, becoming the first team in league history to finish the playoffs undefeated (in this case 6–0 as they won two best-of-five series). They defeated the Lake Erie Crushers in the championship final. The Boomers again won the 2014 Frontier League championship, winning back-to-back titles. They beat the Southern Illinois Miners 2 games to 1 in the divisional round, and beat the River City Rascals 3 games to 1 to win the title. The Boomers also won the 2017 Frontier League championship by defeating the Evansville Otters in the first round 3 games to 1, and beat the Florence Freedom, also 3 games to 1, in the championship round to win the title. The Boomers won their fourth title by winning the 2021 Frontier League championship as they beat the Florence Y'alls in the first round 3 games to 1, and defeating the Washington Wild Things 3 games to 2 in the championship round.

Season-by-season records

Radio

Games are broadcast on WRMN (1410 AM,

Elgin, Illinois Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook County, Illinois, Cook and Kane County, Illinois, Kane counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is located northwest of Chicago along the Fox River (Illinois River tributary), Fox River. As of the 2020 United Stat ...

) by Boomers broadcaster Tim Calderwood.

Mascot

The mascot of the Schaumburg Boomers is Coop the boomer. Coop is portrayed by a human dressed in a prairie chicken costume.

Current roster

Notable alumni

* Justin Erasmus (2014) * Jake Cousins (2019) * Willy García (2021) * Braxton Davidson (2021–2022)

References

External links

* {{Illinois Sports 2011 establishments in Illinois Baseball teams in Illinois Frontier League teams Professional baseball teams in Illinois Schaumburg, Illinois Baseball teams established in 2011