The Lansing Lugnuts are a
Minor League Baseball team of the
Midwest League
The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...
and the
High-A
High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...
affiliate of the
Oakland Athletics. They are located in
Lansing, Michigan, and play their home games at
Jackson Field.
The Midwest League came to Lansing after owners Tom Dickson and Sherrie Myers moved the team to work with the city for a public-private lease to build a new stadium. Mayor David Hollister, and the City Council worked to attract the owners and build the stadium for downtown economic development. The team began playing in downtown Lansing in 1996. The franchise began as the
Lafayette Red Sox
Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to:
People
* Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette
* House of La Fayette, a French noble family
** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757� ...
in
Lafayette, Indiana
Lafayette ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, whi ...
, in 1955; after two seasons it became the
Waterloo Hawks, moving to
Waterloo, Iowa
Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 67,314, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The city is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Falls ...
, where it stayed for 36 seasons. Before the 1994 season it moved to
Springfield, Illinois, but only spent two seasons there before moving to Lansing. The franchise was an affiliate of the
Kansas City Royals on two occasions in three cities: as the Waterloo Royals from 1969 through 1976, as the Sultans of Springfield in 1995, and then, upon the team's move to Lansing, from 1996 through 1998. The Lugnuts were then an affiliate of the
Chicago Cubs from 1999 through 2004 before joining the Jays' farm system for the 2005 season. In September 2014, the Jays extended their agreement with the Lugnuts through the 2016 season. In October 2016, their player development contract was extended through the 2018 season.
Since 2021, they have been be the High-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics.
The Lugnuts' ballpark, Jackson Field, opened in 1996. The stadium seats over 10,000 fans and is one of the most handicapped accessible stadiums in the country. The franchise attendance record of 538,326 was set during its inaugural year. They won the
Midwest League
The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...
Championship in 1997 and 2003. The Lugnuts have their own original song which plays immediately after the national anthem for every home game accompanied by their mascot, Big Lug.
Crosstown Showdown
Since 2007, the Lansing Lugnuts have participated in an annual exhibition game with nearby
Michigan State University which draws a large crowd of students to the event. The overall record and attendance for each game is as follows:
Playoffs
Media coverage
Jesse Goldberg-Strassler broadcasts Lugnuts home and away games on
WVFN-AM. WVFN previously aired Lugnuts games from 2001 to 2003.
Lugnuts games also aired on
WJIM-AM from 1996 to 2000 and
WQTX-FM from 2004 to 2016. Several games per season aired on
WLNS-TV
WLNS-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Lansing, Michigan, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to dual ABC/ CW+ affiliate WLAJ (channel 53) under a shared services agree ...
from 1996 through 2001. From 2002 to 2009, one game aired each season on
WILX-TV
WILX-TV (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Onondaga, Michigan, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Lansing area. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on American Road (near I-96) in Lansing, and ...
.
Alumni
The following are players in
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), ...
who played, at one time, for the Lugnuts. This partial list includes players making injury-comeback starts as well as those that developed in Lansing.
Kansas City Royals
*
Jeremy Affeldt
Jeremy David Affeldt (; born June 6, 1979) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He threw and batted left-handed and played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals, Colorado Rockies, Cincinnati Reds and San Franc ...
*
Kevin Appier
Robert Kevin Appier (; born December 6, 1967) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher for the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, New York Mets, and Anaheim Angels. Appi ...
*
Carlos Beltrán
Carlos Iván Beltrán (; born April 24, 1977) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder from 1998 to 2017 for the Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros, New York Mets, San Fran ...
*
Juan Brito
*
Lance Carter
*
Tim Collins
*
Chad Durbin
Chad Griffin Durbin (born December 3, 1977), is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Indians, and Detroit Tigers of the American League (AL), and the Ari ...
*
Carlos Febles
Carlos Manuel Febles (, ; born May 24, 1976) is a Dominican professional baseball coach, and former second baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1998 to 2003 with the Kansas City Royals. He threw and batted right-handed and was l ...
*
Jeremy Giambi
Jeremy Dean Giambi (; September 30, 1974 – February 9, 2022) was an American outfielder and first baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for four teams from 1998 to 2003, primarily the Oakland Athletics, where he was a teammate of h ...
*
Mark Quinn
*
José Santiago
*
Andy Sisco
*
Orber Moreno
Chicago Cubs
*
Francis Beltrán
*
Ronny Cedeño
Ronny Alexander Salazar Cedeño (born February 2, 1983), is a Venezuelan former professional baseball shortstop, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Mets, Houston As ...
*
Rocky Cherry
*
Robinson Chirinos
Robinson David Chirinos González (; born June 5, 1984) is a Venezuelan professional baseball catcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, New York ...
*
Hee-seop Choi
Hee-seop Choi (; Hangul: 최희섭; Hanja: 崔熙燮; ; born March 16, 1979) is a South Korean former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Florida Marlins, and Los Angeles Dodgers ...
*
Juan Cruz
*
Ryan Dempster
Ryan Scott Dempster (born May 3, 1977), is a Canadian former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Florida Marlins, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, and Boston Red Sox. Dempster batted and t ...
*
Jake Fox
Jacob Quirin Fox (born July 20, 1982) is an American former professional baseball utility player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics and Baltimore Orioles, and in the KBO League for the Hanwha Eagles. ...
*
Adam Greenberg
*
Ángel Guzmán
*
Rich Hill
*
Jon Leicester
*
Carlos Mármol
*
Sean Marshall
*
Juan Mateo
*
Adalberto Méndez
*
Sergio Mitre
Sergio Armando Mitre (born February 16, 1981) is a Mexican-American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Florida Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, and New York Yankees. In 2022, he was ...
*
Orber Moreno
*
Corey Patterson
*
Billy Petrick
*
Félix Pie
*
Andy Pratt
*
Mark Prior
Mark William Prior (born September 7, 1980) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and current coach. A onetime top prospect of the Chicago Cubs, he pitched for the team from 2002 to 2006 in a career that was marred by injuries. In ...
*
Clay Rapada
*
Ryan Theriot
*
Jermaine Van Buren
*
Todd Wellemeyer
*
Randy Wells
*
Carlos Zambrano
Toronto Blue Jays
*
Anthony Alford
*
Henderson Álvarez
*
Danny Barnes
*
Chad Beck
*
Jon Berti
*
Bo Bichette
*
Cavan Biggio
*
Ryan Borucki
*
Joel Carreño
*
Miguel Castro
Miguel Ángel Castro (born December 24, 1994) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Toronto Blue Jays, Colorado Rockies, Baltimore Oriol ...
*
Taylor Cole
*
David Cooper
*
Evan Crawford
*
Jonathan Davis
Jonathan Howsmon Davis (born January 18, 1971), also known as JD or JDevil, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman of nu metal band Korn, who are considered a pioneering act of the nu ...
*
Matt Dermody
*
Danny Farquhar
Daniel Andres Farquhar ( ; born February 17, 1987) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played for the Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago White Sox before retiring on July 31, 2019.
Amateur career ...
*
José Fernández
*
Graham Godfrey
*
Ryan Goins
*
Yan Gomes
*
Kendall Graveman
Kendall Chase Graveman (born December 21, 1990) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners a ...
*
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Vladimir Guerrero Ramos Jr. (born March 16, 1999) is a Canadian-Dominican professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He is the son of former MLB player and Hall of Famer ...
*
Adeiny Hechavarria
*
Drew Hutchison
*
Casey Janssen
*
Danny Jansen
*
Brett Lawrie
Brett Russell Lawrie (born January 18, 1990) is a Canadian former professional baseball third baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics, and Chicago White Sox.
Amateur career
While playing hi ...
*
Jesse Litsch
*
Aaron Loup
*
Trystan Magnuson
Trystan Stuart Gwyn Magnuson (born June 6, 1985) is a Canadian former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics.
Career
He was originally drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays with the 56th pick ...
*
Darin Mastroianni
*
Tim Mayza
*
Deck McGuire
William Deck McGuire (born June 23, 1989) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played college baseball for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Year in 2009. He pl ...
*
Brad Mills
*
Daniel Norris
Daniel David Norris (born April 25, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Cleveland Guardians organization. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers ...
*
Roberto Osuna
*
Tyler Pastornicky
*
Luis Perez
*
Kevin Pillar
*
Dalton Pompey
*
Carlos Ramírez
*
Sean Reid-Foley
Sean Ian Reid-Foley (born August 30, 1995) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the New York Mets organization. He was selected in the second round of the 2014 Major League Baseball draft by the Toronto Blue Jays and made his debut wi ...
*
Jordan Romano
*
Marc Rzepczynski
*
Aaron Sanchez
*
Anthony Sanders
*
Justin Shafer
*
Dwight Smith Jr.
*
Travis Snider
*
Marcus Stroman
Marcus Earl Stroman (born May 1, 1991) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets. Stroman is listed at , making him o ...
*
Noah Syndergaard
*
Rowdy Tellez
Ryan John "Rowdy" Tellez ( ; born March 16, 1995) is an American professional baseball first baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Toronto Blue Jays.
In 2013, Tellez was both a '' ...
*
Ryan Tepera
Dennis Ryan Tepera (born November 3, 1987) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago Cubs, and Chicago White Sox. He attended Br ...
*
Curtis Thigpen
Curtis Barnard Thigpen (born April 19, 1983) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played parts of two seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Amateur career
Thigpen spent his college career at the Un ...
*
Richard Ureña
Miami Marlins
*
Anthony DeSclafani
Anthony James DeSclafani (born April 18, 1990), nicknamed Disco and T-Bone, is an American professional baseball pitcher for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Miami Marlins and Cincinnati Reds. ...
*
Jake Fishman
*
Adam Greenberg
*
Jake Marisnick
Jacob Shawn Marisnick (born March 30, 1991) is an American professional baseball outfielder in the Chicago White Sox organization. He has previously played in MLB for the Chicago Cubs, Miami Marlins, Houston Astros, New York Mets, San Diego Padr ...
*
Justin Nicolino
*
Renyel Pinto
Renyel Eligio Pinto Cumache'' (born July 8, 1982) is a Venezuelan professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He played for the Florida Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball ...
*
Matt Treanor
Matthew Aaron Treanor (born March 3, 1976) is an American former professional baseball catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Florida Marlins, Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, and Los Angeles Dodgers.
High s ...
St. Louis Cardinals
*
Kiko Calero
San Francisco Giants
*
Eugenio Vélez
Eugenio Vélez Vancomper (born May 16, 1982) is a Dominican former professional baseball utility player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers from 2007 to 2011.
Career
Toronto Blue Jay ...
Roster
References
;Notes
;Sources
* Dinda, J. "Lansing, Michigan, in the Midwest League." 2003.
.
* Roth, Bob. ''Our Lugnuts, Year One''. 1996.
* Lansing Lugnuts Official Website
External links
Official website
Lugnuts page
at the Lansing State Journal
The ''Lansing State Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Lansing, Michigan, owned by Gannett.
Overview
The ''Lansing State Journal'' is the sole daily newspaper published in Greater Lansing. The newspaper had an average Monday through ...
Broadcaster's Blog
of Jesse Goldberg-Strassler
{{Lansing-East Lansing
Baseball teams established in 1996
Midwest League teams
Sports in Lansing, Michigan
Professional baseball teams in Michigan
Chicago Cubs minor league affiliates
Kansas City Royals minor league affiliates
Oakland Athletics minor league affiliates
Toronto Blue Jays minor league affiliates
1996 establishments in Michigan
High-A Central teams