The Hannibal Cavemen were a collegiate summer league

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team located in

Hannibal, Missouri Hannibal is a city along the Mississippi River in Marion and Ralls counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 17,312, making it the largest city in Marion County. The bulk of the city is in Mario ...

, in the United States. They were a member of the West Division of the summer collegiate

Prospect League The Prospect League is a collegiate summer baseball league comprising teams of college players from North America and beyond. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. So as to maintain their colleg ...

from 2009–2016. The franchise began playing again as the Hannibal Hoots, in 2018.

History

Built in 1938, Clemens Field had fallen into disrepair by the mid-2000s. Having last hosted professional baseball and the Hannibal Stags in 1955, the city debated whether Clemens Field was worth preserving. Soon afterwards, a group led by

Roland Hemond Roland A. Hemond (October 26, 1929 – December 12, 2021) was an American professional baseball executive who worked in Major League Baseball. He served as the scouting director of the California Angels, general manager of the Chicago White Sox ...

(advisor to

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The f ...

president

Derrick Hall Derrick Martin Hall (born February 17, 1969) is an American sports executive currently serving as the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Hall joined the Diamondbacks in May 2005 as Senior Vice President an ...

) stepped forward with a plan to renovate Clemens Field and make it home to a 2009 team in the

Central Illinois Collegiate League The Central Illinois Collegiate League (CICL) was a collegiate wooden bat summer baseball league. It was composed of five teams from Illinois and Indiana. The CICL was founded in 1963 as a charter member of National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...

(CICL). On June 10, 2008, ground was broken for Clemens Field's renovation. Almost two months later, on August 1, 2008, the Cavemen announced their name, which was a homage to the numerous caves in Hannibal which are popular with tourists. On November 11, 2008, the CICL announced it was merging into the new

, which the Cavemen joined as a member of the West Division, beginning in the 2009 season. On January 6, 2017, the Prospect League announced that the Hannibal franchise had elected to suspend operations for the 2017 season. The franchise began playing again as the Hannibal Hoots, starting with the 2018 season.

Overall Records by Year

References

External links

{{Missouri-baseball-team-stub Prospect League teams Marion County, Missouri Ralls County, Missouri Defunct baseball teams in Missouri Baseball teams disestablished in 2016 Baseball teams established in 2009