The New Haven County Cutters were an independent

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 t ...

team based in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

. From 2004 through 2007, it played in the

Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball 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 of ...

(the "Can-Am League," formerly known as the Northeast League in 2004), an independent league that 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 (A ...

or with the Minor League Baseball organization.

Franchise history

Massachusetts Mad Dogs

Originally based in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

, the Massachusetts Mad Dogs were named during an event that included students from Lynn and nearby Nahant, Massachusetts. The Mad Dogs were members of three different independent baseball leagues. They began to play in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

as an expansion team in the North Atlantic League with former major league star George Scott as manager, and he would manage the team for all four years that the Mad Dogs played in the region. They dominated the NAL, going 56-21 and winning the pennant by 13 games, but fell 2-0 in the best-of-3 playoffs to the Catskill Cougars. The Mad Dogs drew the most fans in the league with 52,384. When the NAL folded after the 1996 season, the Mad Dogs jumped to the Northeast League and went 45-37, tying for the second half northern lead (23-17) with the Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs. Massachusetts lost in the playoffs 2 games to 1 to Albany. The first year in the Northeast League drew 72,681 fans, second to Albany's 72,985. The Mad Dogs fell to 39-45 in 1998 and they were next to last in attendance, drawing only 47,123 fans. In 1999, the Northeast League merged into the

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

to form the Northern League East Division. The club was 41-45 in a tight division. They finished one game out in the first half; they tied for the last place in the second half but were just 4 games back. Attendance fell to last in the Northern League's Eastern Division with 38,528. Following the 1999 season, the team suspended operations citing major issues with the team's home in Lynn, Fraser Field.

Berkshire Black Bears

After a three year hiatus, the franchise was resurrected, this time in

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

as the

Berkshire Black Bears The Berkshire Black Bears were a minor league baseball team in the independent Northeast League. The Berkshire Black Bears were one of many historical teams to have played in Wahconah Park, starting with the Pittsfield Electrics (1913–14) a ...

, playing at historic

Wahconah Park Wahconah Park is a city-owned baseball park located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and nestled in a working-class neighborhood. One of the last remaining ballparks in the United States with a wooden grandstand, it was constructed in 1919 and seats 4 ...

. Despite the change of location, the losing continued and the team drew minimal support from the area. Following the 2003 season, the team moved again, this time to

. Owner Jonathan Fleisig attributed the move to criticism of the team from the Pittsfield civic leaders.

New Haven County Cutters

During their four seasons in New Haven, the Cutters had varying degrees of success. Their first season saw them leading the Northeast League South Division for most of the first half of their season, but the team severely faltered down the stretch of the first half and ended up losing the division to the eventual league champion

New Jersey Jackals The New Jersey Jackals are an American professional baseball team based in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. The team was founded in 1998 by Floyd Hall and is owned by Al Dorso, a businessman who also owns the Sussex County Miners, Sk ...

in a one-game playoff at Yale Field. The bad streak continued, and the Cutters fell to the last place in the division in the second half and cost first-year manager

Jarvis Brown Jarvis Ardel Brown (born March 26, 1967) is an American Major League Baseball outfielder who played for the Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves, and Baltimore Orioles. He won the World Series with the Twins. Career Brown was born in ...

, a former

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

prospect, his job. In 2005, led by first-year manager

Mike Church Mike Church (born 1962) is an American radio and internet talk show host, and singer/songwriter. ''The Mike Church Show'' was the first-ever produced talk show on Sirius Satellite Radio (now Sirius XM Radio). Prior to its cancellation in October ...

, The Cutters' fortunes started out badly in the first half with an 18-28 record. However, in the second half, they had a complete reversal of fortune and won their first half-season division championship, with a 28-18 record, and qualified for the Can-Am League playoffs. However, the Cutters' luck ran out in the first round of the playoffs, as they were eliminated 3 games to 1 by the eventual league champion Worcester Tornadoes. In 2006, the Cutters kept pace with league-leading North Shore Spirit with the second-best overall record in the league. The Cutters once again were defeated in the first round 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 of ...

playoffs by the

Brockton Rox The Brockton Rox are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Brockton, Massachusetts, United States. Formerly a professional baseball franchise, the Rox were a member of the independent Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball, fr ...

three games to one. On October 30, 2007, Cutters' President David Boyle, Chairman Jonathan Fleisig, and Vice Chairman Rick Handelman announced that the team would "not be playing baseball at Yale Field in 2008." The Cutters were joined by the North Shore Spirit in no longer being part of the Can-Am League in the 2008 season. On November 9–10, 2007, the Cutters held a sale at Yale Field to sell-off any remaining Cutters merchandise to those interested in getting their piece of New Haven baseball history.

Notable alumni

Gavin Fingleson Gavin Fingleson (born 5 August 1976) is a South African born- Australian switch-hitting former professional baseball player. Primarily a second baseman, he has also played designated hitter, third base, shortstop, and first base. Early life Fi ...

, Olympic baseball

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, et ...

winner

References