The Hannibal Hoots 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 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

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 ...

. The team played two seasons in the league, but only one of those seasons saw them use Hannibal as its home; flooding along the Mississippi River caused Bear Creek, which flows into the river and runs alongside the Hoots' home stadium, to flood the stadium. As a result, the Hoots played their 2019 home schedule in nearby

Quincy, Illinois Quincy ( ), known as Illinois's "Gem City", is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Illinois, United States, located on the Mississippi River. The 2020 census counted a population of 39,463 in the city itself, down from 40,633 in 2010. ...

at the home stadium of the

Quincy Gems The Quincy Gems are a collegiate summer league baseball team located in Quincy, Illinois. The Gems were originally a part of the Central Illinois Collegiate League and joined the Prospect League with several other CICL teams prior to the 2009 s ...

. The Hoots formed in late 2017 and were an expansion franchise for the 2018 season. The Hoots and other collegiate summer leagues and teams exist to give top college players professional-like experience without affecting

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

eligibility. Hannibal's previous team in the Prospect League, the Hannibal Cavemen, suspended operations after the 2016 season, leaving the city without a team for the 2017 season. Rick DeStefane, a co-owner of the Cavemen, would become the sole owner of the Hoots. The two franchises are considered by the Prospect League to have been independent of one another. The Hoots were a member of the West Division of the Prospect League along with the Cape Catfish,

DuPage Pistol Shrimp The Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp are a collegiate summer league baseball team in the Prospect League. They play at Veterans Memorial Park in Peru, Illinois, United States. The Pistol Shrimp formed in Lisle, Illinois in late 2018 as an expans ...

Normal CornBelters The Normal CornBelters are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Normal, Illinois, which is part of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area. The franchise was formerly a professional team, and was a member of the independent Frontier Leagu ...

and

Springfield Sliders The Springfield Lucky Horseshoes are a collegiate summer league baseball team of the Prospect League. They play at Robin Roberts Stadium at Lanphier Park and are based in the city of Springfield, Illinois. The team was established in November ...

History

After the Hannibal Cavemen folded in 2016, the Prospect League awarded a franchise to Rick DeStefane, with the goal of returning to the field for the 2018 season. The franchise partnered with the Hannibal Courier-Post to hold a "Dub the Club" contest, which resulted in five "finalist" name choices for the team - Hoots, Hucks, Huckle-Bears, Lumber Barons, and Steamers. The team and newspaper announced the winning name, the Hoots, on November 8, 2017. On September 26, 2019, the

announced that the franchise would relocate to O'Fallon, Missouri, beginning with the 2020 season, with the

O'Fallon Hoots The O'Fallon Hoots are a collegiate summer league baseball team in the United States Prospect League. The team played the 2018 and 2019 seasons as the Hannibal Hoots, but only one of those seasons saw them use Hannibal, Missouri as their home; ...

playing their home games at CarShield Field.

Stadium

The Hoots played at

Clemens Field Clemens Field is a baseball stadium located at 403 Warren Barrett Drive, at the south end of downtown Hannibal, Missouri, United States. The stadium was named for author Samuel Clemens (who wrote under the name Mark Twain), a Hannibal resident. ...

. The original Clemens field was built in 1924, but was destroyed by a fire. The current stadium was rebuilt and opened in 1939. However, due to extensive flooding along the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

during the spring and summer of 2019, Clemens Field and surrounding property sustained damage that forced the team to play its home games in nearby

, home of Prospect League rival

. Clemens Field underwent a $3.3 million renovation project in 2008 and seats 2,500. The project received the Preserve Missouri Award. Clemens Field was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2008. (includes 15 photographs from 2008)

Seasons

References

External links

www.HannibalHoots.com
{{Missouri Sports Amateur baseball teams in Missouri Prospect League teams 2018 establishments in Missouri Baseball teams established in 2018 Baseball teams disestablished in 2019 Defunct baseball teams in Missouri