The Evansville Otters are a

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

team based in

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

. They compete in the West Division of the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Frontier League The Frontier League is a professional independent baseball league with teams in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Formed in 1993, it is the oldest currently running independent league in the United States. The le ...

. Since their establishment in 1995, the Otters have played at historic

Bosse Field Bosse Field is a baseball stadium located in Evansville, Indiana. Opened in 1915, it was the first municipally owned sports stadium in the United States and is the third-oldest ballpark still in regular use for professional baseball, surpassed o ...

, which originally opened in 1915. The Otters are the oldest current team in the Frontier League and have won two championships (2006 and 2016).

History

When the Otters began play in 1995, they returned baseball to Evansville for the first time in a decade. The city had been without a team since the

Evansville Triplets The Evansville Triplets were a Minor League Baseball team of the Triple-A American Association (AA) from 1970 to 1984. They were located in Evansville, Indiana, and played their home games at Bosse Field. The Triplets served as a farm club for t ...

relocated following the 1984 season. The Otters have been a success on the field and off since their first season of play in Evansville. On the field the Otters have reached the playoffs in 9 seasons, including six

Championship series with FLCS wins in 2006 and 2016. Off the field, the Otters set numerous league attendance records in their early seasons. The Otters drew 90,000 fans in their first season, more than the entire Frontier League had in its inaugural season two years earlier. The Otters have averaged over 2,500 fans per game since they started playing at

in Evansville, most recently setting a 2013 league best with 3,200 fans per game. The first Evansville Otters game was played on June 15, 1995. The Otters were awarded the Frontier League Organization of the Year Award in 1997, and the Commissioner's Award of Excellence in 2004. They earned their 689th win, a league record, on August 18, 2011. The team hosted the largest crowd ever at Bosse Field on July 24, 2013, with 8,253 fans in attendance. The Otters welcomed their 2,000,000th fan to the ballpark on August 18, 2013. The Otters have promoted over 50 of their players to

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

franchises including two players in 2013 (1B/DH Andrew Clark,

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

and RHP Bryce Morrow,

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

). Three Otters have gone on to careers at the major league level including

George Sherrill George Friederich Sherrill (born April 19, 1977) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. Sherrill pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Atlanta Braves from ...

, a 2008 MLB All-Star,

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

pitcher

Andrew Werner Andrew Steven Werner (born February 25, 1987) is an American college baseball coach former professional baseball pitcher. He is the pitching coach at Bradley University. He played college baseball at Illinois Central College in 2006 and 2007 befor ...

, and pitcher Brandyn Sittinger

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 ...

. The success of the Otters in Evansville led to the move of more Frontier League teams to larger cities, many of which have built new ballparks, leading to the increased stability and success of the league in recent years. On May 27, 2014, the Otters became the first team in the Frontier League to reach 800 wins.

Season-by-season records

Current roster

Notable alumni

(1999–2000) *

(2009–2010) *

Brett Marshall Brett Edward Marshall (born March 22, 1990) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees. Career Marshall attended Sterling High School in Baytown, Texas, where he p ...

(2015) *

Ty Hensley Michael Tyler Hensley (born July 30, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. Hensley was a first round selection of the New York Yankees in the 2012 Major League Baseball draft. Early life and amateur ca ...

(2018) * Brandyn Sittinger (2019)

References

External links