The Atlantic City Surf were a professional minor league baseball team based in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Surf was most recently a member of the

Can-Am League The Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, commonly known as the Can-Am League, was a professional, independent baseball league with teams in the Northeast United States and Eastern Canada, founded in 2005 as a reorganization ...

, which is not affiliated with

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), ...

. The Surf played its home games at Surf Stadium, which was formerly known as "The Sandcastle" and "Bernie Robbins Stadium" From 1998 to 2006, the Surf played in the South Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. While in the Atlantic League, the Surf won the first-ever Atlantic League championship in 1998 while also hosting the inaugural Atlantic League All-Star game. On March 30, 2009, the Atlantic City Surf organization ceased operations, leaving the Can-Am League with six teams. Players from the team were made available in an April 3, 2009 dispersal draft. On May 17, 2018, Atlantic City's City Council authorized

Frank Boulton Frank Boulton is a 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 wh ...

, the former owner of the Atlantic City Surf (Independent Professional, Can-Am League/Atlantic League) to find an ownership group willing to bring minor league baseball back to Surf Stadium. The team was to compete in the 2019 season — however success quickly became "unlikely" and there currently are no indications that professional baseball will return to Atlantic City.

Earlier Atlantic City baseball teams

Atlantic City historically has never enjoyed much success as a venue for professional sports teams and baseball has been no exception. The city hosted a few short-lived, unnamed teams in various leagues in the 19th century, then provided a home for the defunct

Lancaster Red Roses The Lancaster Red Roses baseball team, originally known as the Maroons, changed its name at the start of the 1906 season during a bitter match with the York, Pennsylvania-based White Roses. Some sources indicate that the rival teams were named fo ...

of the

Tri-State League The Tri-State League was the name of six different circuits in American minor league baseball. History The first league of that name played for four years (1887–1890) and consisted of teams in Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia. The second leagu ...

in 1912. The franchise played one more season in Atlantic City in 1913 before disbanding.

Bacharach Giants

In 1916, the

Bacharach Giants The Bacharach Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Founding The club was founded when two African-American politicians moved the Duval Giants of Jacksonville, Florida, to Atlantic City in 1916 an ...

moved to Atlantic City. Originally known as the Duval Giants of

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, its name was changed to the Bacharach Giants in honor of the city's mayor, Harry Bacharach. The team was independent from 1916 to 1922, then became a member of the

Eastern Colored League The Mutual Association of Eastern Colored Clubs, more commonly known as the Eastern Colored League (ECL), was one of the several Negro leagues, which operated during the time organized baseball was segregated. League history Founding The ECL ...

from 1923 until the league's folding during the 1928 season, winning the league in 1926 and 1927 under the leadership of Dick Lundy. Other notable players for the Giants included Oliver Marcelle,

Smokey Joe Williams Joseph Williams (April 6, 1886 – February 25, 1951), nicknamed "Cyclone Joe" and "Smokey Joe", was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro league baseball. He is considered one of the greatest pitchers of all-time and was elected to the Natio ...

, "Pop" Lloyd, and Arthur "Rats" Henderson. The team became affiliated with the

American Negro League The American Negro League (ANL) was one of several Negro leagues established during the period in the United States in which organized baseball was segregated. The ANL operated on the East Coast of the United States in 1929. History The Easte ...

in 1929, and continued in the Negro National League in 1932, when it folded as a professional team.

Atlantic City Surf

In 1998, 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 ...

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball placed a team in Atlantic City called the Surf. Opening their new ballpark called The Sandcastle on May 20, the Surf was defeated by the

Somerset Patriots The Somerset Patriots are an American Minor League Baseball team based in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey, that is the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They compete in the Eastern League, known as the Double-A Northeast in 2021, and w ...

by a score of 8-5. Playing host to the first Atlantic League All-Star game on July 15, the Surf defeated the League All-Stars 6-4 and would later win the league's first Championship Series over the

Bridgeport Bluefish The Bridgeport Bluefish were an American minor league baseball team based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The team was a member of the Liberty Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which was not affiliated with Major League Baseba ...

, three games to one. The Surf made it to the post-season four times in five years (2002 and 2004–06) but were eliminated in the first round each time. In 2007, the Surf moved from the Atlantic League to the Can-Am League. In 2007 the Surf made the playoffs in their inaugural season in the Can-Am. The team managed by Chris Carminucci finished with the 2nd best overall record of 51-41. In the playoffs lost to the

North Shore Spirit The North Shore Spirit was a minor-league baseball team based in Lynn, Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. The Spirit played in the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball (the "Can-Am League," also known as the Northeast League), an ...

3 games to 1 in the opening round. The Surf received many awards in 2007. Carminucci received manager of the year. Starting pitcher Brian Rodaway received Pitcher of the Year Award after finishing a league-best 15-3. Relief pitcher Matt Pike received the Reliever of the Year award for his league leading 24 saves. In 2008 the Surf hired

Cecil Fielder Cecil Grant Fielder (; born September 21, 1963) is an American former professional baseball player in Major League Baseball (MLB). Fielder was a power hitter in the 1980s and 1990s. He attended college at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV ...

as the team manager. The Surf continued their success finishing 51-43 (4th overall record) and once again in the playoffs, this time losing to the

Quebec Capitales Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

3 games to 1 in the opening round. On March 30, 2009, the Can-Am League announced the Surf would not be operating in the 2009 season due to the collapse of the proposed sale of the team and lack of ownership to continue for the 2009 season. The Surf joined fellow league member

Ottawa Voyageurs The Ottawa Voyageurs, previously the Ottawa Rapidz, were a professional baseball team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada under the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball or Can-Am League. As a Can-Am team, the team played one seas ...

in ceasing operations for the 2009 season.

Season-by-season records

Post season

Atlantic League Post-Season Results: *1998: Defeated

, 3 games to 1, for League Championship *2002: Lost to

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American minor league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. T ...

, 2 games to 1, in opening round *2004: Lost to Camden Riversharks, 2 games to 0, in opening round *2005: Lost to

, 2 games to 1, in opening round *2006: Lost to

Lancaster Barnstormers The Lancaster Barnstormers (colloquially known as the Stormers) are an United States, American professional baseball team based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They are a member of the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a ...

, 2 games to 0, in opening round Can-Am League Post-Season Results: *2007: Lost to

, 3 games to 1, in opening round *2008: Lost to

, 3 games to 1, in opening round

Team information

Uniform A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, ...

colors: White with navy pinstripes for home games and navy for away games. The home jersey has an interlocking "AC" centered on the left and number on the back. The away jersey has the wordmark "Surf" in teal with white and purple outline. Navy blue hats with the interlocking letters "AC" in white with teal outline.

Mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

: "Splash". Radio broadcasts:

Play-by-Play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

announcer: Matt Martucci, broadcast by

WLFR WLFR (91.7 FM) is a college radio station broadcasting a Variety format. The station is owned by Stockton University, licensed to the Pomona section of Galloway Township, New Jersey, United States, and serves the Atlantic City area. The call ...

.
TV Broadcast of Atlantic City Surf Game June 1999

References

External links

Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball
{{NewJerseysports Sports in Atlantic City, New Jersey Defunct Atlantic League of Professional Baseball teams Defunct minor league baseball teams Defunct baseball teams in New Jersey Professional baseball teams in New Jersey Baseball teams established in 1998 1998 establishments in New Jersey Baseball teams disestablished in 2009 2009 disestablishments in New Jersey Defunct independent baseball league teams