Fort Wayne TinCaps

Fort Wayne TinCaps
Founded in 1993
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Team logoCap insignia
Class-level
Current Class-A[1] (1993–present)
Minor league affiliations
League Midwest League (1993–present)
Division Eastern Division
Major league affiliations
Current San Diego Padres (1999–present)
Previous Minnesota Twins (1993–1998)
Minor league titles
League titles (1) 2009
Division titles (1) 2009
Team data
Nickname
  • Fort Wayne TinCaps (2009–present)
  • Fort Wayne Wizards (1993–2008)
Colors               
Ballpark Parkview Field (2009–present)
Previous parks
 Memorial Stadium (1993–2008)
Owner(s)/
Operator(s)
 Hardball Capital
Manager Anthony Contreras
General Manager Mike Nutter

The Fort Wayne TinCaps are a Class A Minor League Baseball team based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, who are affiliated with the San Diego Padres, and play in the Midwest League. They won their first Midwest League Championship in 2009. They are the oldest franchise in the Midwest League.

History

The Midwest League came to Fort Wayne in 1993. The franchise is the oldest in the Midwest League and dates back to the league's beginning as the Illinois State League, starting in 1947 in Mattoon, Illinois as the Mattoon Indians. In 1958 the team moved to Keokuk, Iowa, where it spent five seasons as the Keokuk Cardinals; it was then based in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin (1963–1983) and Kenosha, Wisconsin (1984–1992) before moving to Fort Wayne. The team was a Minnesota Twins farm team before they affiliated with the Padres in 1999. When the team moved to Fort Wayne in 1993, it adopted a new name, the Wizards.

The name TinCaps was chosen following the 2008 season, alluding to John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed.[2] The Tin Cap refers to a fictionalized depiction of John Chapman wearing a cooking pot as a hat in the 1948 Walt Disney movie "Johnny Appleseed," though this depiction has been disputed by historians. Chapman spent his final years in Fort Wayne and is buried in the city.[3]

The team's home park was Memorial Stadium, which opened in 1993; a franchise attendance record of 318,506 was also set that year. As part of the Harrison Square revitalization project, Parkview Field became the official home of the TinCaps at the start of the 2009 season.[4] To coincide with the new ballpark, the team held a contest to determine a new name for the Wizards once that new ballpark opened, and "TinCaps" was the result.[5]

The mascot of the TinCaps is Johnny. Previously, for the Wizards, it was Dinger the Dragon and prior to that, the Wizards were represented by Wayne the Wizard.

The team won the Midwest League 2009 championship by sweeping the Burlington Bees, 3–0. The first two games were played at Parkview Field and the final, decisive game was played in Burlington, Iowa. The team and its staff were honored at Parkview Field in a special victory rally on September 18, 2009.[6] In addition to winning a franchise record-setting 94 games in their new home, fans shattered the previous attendance record for the season, with 378,529 coming through the turnstiles.[7]

The TinCaps also clinched playoff spots in each of the following two seasons.

Awards and honors

All-time team

On August 24, 2008, The Journal Gazette and the franchise selected the all-time Wizards team members.

Roster

Fort Wayne TinCaps roster
Players Coaches/Other

Pitchers

  • 26 Logan Allen
  • 34 Lake Bachar
  • 22 David Bednar
  •  4 Jean Cosme
  • 21 Taylor Cox
  •  8 Aaron Cressley
  • 28 Anderson Espinoza
  • 16 Eric Lauer
  • 24 Elvin Liriano
  • -- Seth Lucio
  • 11 Evan Miller
  • 33 Jacob Nix
  • -- Chris Paddack
  •  2 Cal Quantrill
  • 30 Blake Rogers
  •  9 Austin Smith
  •  3 Will Stillman
  •    Walker Weickel

Catchers

  • 23 Miguel Del Castillo
  •  6 Marcus Greene, Jr.

Infielders

  • 19 Carlos Belen
  • 12 Chris Baker
  •  5 Peter Van Gansen
  • 35 Brad Zunica
  •  7 Tyler Selesky

Outfielders

  •  1 Rod Boykin
  • 17 Alan Garcia
  • 21 Taylor Kohlwey
  • 22 Jhonathan Pena
  • 20 Kodie Tidwell
  • 13 Jose Carlos Urena

Manager

  • 10 Anthony Contreras

Coaches

  • 32 Burt Hooton (pitching)
  • 15 Vinny Lopez (hitting)
  • 27 Raul Padron (defensive)



7-day disabled list
* On San Diego Padres 40-man roster
# Rehab assignment
∞ Reserve list
‡ Restricted list
§ Suspended list
† Temporary inactive list
Roster updated September 5, 2016
Transactions
→ More MiLB rosters
→ San Diego Padres minor league players

Former TinCaps/Wizards in the majors

Nate Freiman

Torii Hunter, Jake Peavy, Bobby Scales, Joakim Soria, Dale Thayer, Nate Freiman, David Freese, Will Venable, Nick Hundley, Greg Burke, Matt Antonelli, Josh Geer, Josh Barfield, Éric Cyr, A. J. Pierzynski, Michael Cuddyer, Wade LeBlanc, Cliff Bartosh, Jack Cassel, Corey Koskie, Ben Johnson, Dennis Tankersley, JJ Trujillo, Dirk Hayhurst, Michael Thompson, LaTroy Hawkins, Scott Watkins, Matt Lawton, Dan Naulty, Brandon Gomes, Mat Latos, Allan Dykstra, Brad Brach, Matt Wisler, Mike Hazen.

See also

Sources

References

  1. ↑ http://www.milb.com/milb/info/classifications.jsp
  2. ↑ "Fort Wayne no longer the Wizards." Scout.com. 2 October 2008. Retrieved on 10 August 2009.
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ Leininger, Kevin, 2007's top local stories, Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, January 1, 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
  5. ↑ Fort Wayne Wizards to Hold Re-Naming Contest, HarrisonSquareFortWayne.com, June 15, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  6. ↑ http://www.tincaps.com/news/default/2/
  7. ↑ Watson, Dan, "TinCaps Rewrite Franchise Record Book", tincaps.com, September 9, 2009. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  8. ↑ Mayo, Jonathan (December 28, 2009). "TinCaps honored as Minors' top team: Padres' Class A affiliate posted .678 winning percentage". MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fort Wayne TinCaps.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.