River City Rascals

The River City Rascals were a professional baseball team based in O'Fallon, Missouri, in the United States. The Rascals were a member of the West Division of the Frontier League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. From the 1999 season to 2019, the Rascals played their home games at CarShield Field.

History

Zanesville Greys

The franchise began in 1993 as one of the original six teams of the independent Frontier League with teams from Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The Greys played in Zanesville, Ohio, at Gant Municipal Stadium, a historic 4,000-seat multipurpose stadium built in 1940. The Greys were the first professional baseball team to play in Zanesville since 1950 and the Zanesville Indians.

The Greys won both halves of the 1993 season and defeated the Ohio Valley Redcoats in the playoffs to become the first champions of the Frontier League. Zanesville had five players hit over .300 as well as solid pitching; Kyle Shade was named Frontier League MVP and Tom Crowley was named Most Valuable Pitcher. The Greys also led the league in attendance with an average of 1,000 fans per game. Initial ownership of the Rascals consisted of a local group headed by Ken Wilson.

The Rascals began play in 1999 in the Western Division of the Frontier League under manager Jack Clark, pitching coach Greg Mathews, and first-base coach Dick Schofield Jr., all previous Major League Baseball players. The first game played was on Wednesday, June 2, 1999, on the road against the Cook County Cheetahs of Crestwood, Illinois. Pitcher Joey Pipes pitched a complete game in losing by a score of 1–0. The first home game was played on Tuesday, June 8, 1999, at T.R. Hughes Ballpark at the Ozzie Smith Sports Complex in front of an overflow crowd of 4,173 (3,500 seat capacity). The Rascals beat the Dubois County Dragons by a score of 6-5 by rallying from a 5–1 deficit with William Black scoring on Tim Still's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning. This was the first minor league baseball game in Missouri since 1955. Under Clark, a former St. Louis Cardinals slugger, the team led the Frontier League in home runs, however only two pitchers had ERAs under 5.00. He was replaced by Neil Fiala, who led the team to a West Division title in 2000 before losing in the first round of the playoffs to the Evansville Otters.

In 2005 the team auctioned off a "one-day professional contract" on eBay. Mark Skorlich, a 41-year-old Californian, won the auction with a $9,050 winning bid. The proceeds were donated to the local chapter of the United Way in nearby St. Louis. Coach Randy Martz started Skorlich in center field and the newly minted "pro" made a long throw from the right-center field gap into the cut-off man, but he saw no other action in the field. Local and national news outlets covered the story with the game being a sell-out.

Following the 2006 season the franchise was acquired by the group PS and J Professional Baseball Club, LLC headed by Steve Malliet, an experienced minor league executive in both affiliated and independent baseball. After declining attendance and a number of seasons without a winning record Malliet hired former Cincinnati Reds farmhand Toby Rumfield as the Rascals' manager for the 2007 season. Rumfield began remaking the team, with only a few players from the 2006 remaining on the roster. The rebuilding was not immediate and the team finished with a record of 36–60. The Rascals ended the 2009 season with a franchise-record 56 wins and Parker was named Frontier League Coach of the Year.

In 2013, the Rascals and the City of O'Fallon, Missouri came to an agreement to extend their lease at TR Hughes Ballpark through the 2022 season. However, in October 2018 the city of O'Fallon locked the Rascals out of CarShield Field and terminated the lease, citing a lack of payment. The team's ownership disputed the claims of unpaid bills in a statement, and said it would play ball in 2019. The dispute was resolved with a new one-year lease in January 2019, opening a path for the Rascals season to continue as scheduled.

On August 12, 2019, the team announced that they would cease operations after the 2019 season. The Rascals defeated the Florence Freedom in a decisive Game 5 winning 7-5 thus securing the 2019 Championship in their final season.

Season-by-season record

{| class="wikitable style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"

|align="center" bgcolor="#FFE6BD"|Division Champions

|align="center" bgcolor="#FFCCCC"|Frontier League Champions

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:95%"

!rowspan=2|Season

!rowspan=2|League

!rowspan=2|Division

!colspan=5|Regular season

!rowspan=2|Postseason

!rowspan=2|Awards

!Finish

!Wins

!Losses

!Win%

!GB

|align="center" colspan="11" bgcolor="000000" style="color:white"|Zanesville Greys

|align="center" style="background: #FFCCCC"| 1993

|align="center" style="background: #FFCCCC"| FL

|align="center" style="background: #FFE6BD"| West

|align="center" style="background: #FFE6BD"| 1st

| 35

| 17

| .673

| —

|align="center" style="background: #FFCCCC"|Won FLCS vs. Ohio Valley Redcoats 2-0

|1993 Kyle Shade, Most Valuable Player 1993 Tom Crowley, Most Valuable Pitcher 1993 Tom Venditelli, Manager Of the Year

| 1994

| FL

| North

| 3rd

| 35

| 28

| .548

| 6.5

| 1995

| FL

| —

| 3rd

| 37

| 31

| .544

| 8.5

| Won first round vs. Newark Buffaloes 2–0. Lost FLCS vs. Johnstown Steal 2–0.

| Don Wolfe, Most Valuable Pitcher

| 1996

| FL

| East

| 3rd

| 41

| 33

| .554

| 7.0

|align="center" colspan="11" bgcolor="000" style="color:#B8AB84"|River City Rascals

| 1999

| FL

| West

| 5th

| 39

| 45

| .464

| 5

| 2000

| FL

|align="center" style="background: #FFE6BD"| West

|align="center" style="background: #FFE6BD"| 1st

| 46

| 36

| .561

| —

|align="center" style="background: #FFE6BD"| Lost in first round vs. Evansville Otters 2–0.

| Ryan Bauer, Most Valuable Pitcher

| 2001

| FL

| West

| 2nd

| 46

| 38

| .548

| 2

| 2002

| FL

| West

| 4th

| 39

| 45

| .464

| 13

| 2003

| FL

| West

| 4th

| 43

| 47

| .478

| 8

| 2004

| FL

| West

| 3rd

| 51

| 43

| .543

| 6.5

| Chris Klosterman, Frontier League All Star

| 2005

| FL

| West

| 4th

| 42

| 52

| .447

| 10

| 2006

| FL

| West

| 5th

| 40

| 56

| .417

| 9

| 2007

| FL

| West

| 3rd

| 36

| 60

| .375

| 29.5

| 2008

| FL

|West

| 5th

| 47

| 49

| .490

| 13

| 2009

| FL

|align="center" style="background: #FFE6BD"| West

|align="center" style="background: #FFE6BD"| 1st

| 56

| 38

| .596

| —

|align="center" style="background: #FFE6BD"| Won in first round vs. Windy City ThunderBolts 3–0. Lost in FLCS vs. Lake Erie Crushers 3–2.

| Chad Parker, Manager Of the Year

|align="center" style="background: #FFCCCC"| 2010

|align="center" style="background: #FFCCCC"| FL

| West

| 2nd

| 57

| 38

| .600

| 6.5

|align="center" style="background: #FFCCCC"|Won first round vs. Southern Illinois Miners 3-2 Won FLCS vs. Traverse City Beach Bums 3-1

| 2011

| FL

|align="center" style="background: #FFE6BD"| West

|align="center" style="background: #FFE6BD"| 1st

| 68

| 27

| .716

| —

|align="center" style="background: #FFE6BD"| Won in first round vs. Southern Illinois Miners 3–1. Lost in FLCS vs. Joliet Slammers 3–1.

| 2012

| FL

|West

| 4th

| 45

| 50

| .474

| 11.5

| 2013

| FL

|West

| 3rd

| 50

| 46

| .521

| 9

|Danny Canela, Rookie of the Year

| 2014

| FL

|align="center" style="background: #FFE6BD"| West

|align="center" style="background: #FFE6BD"| 1st

| 61

| 36

| .629

| —

|align="center" style="background: #FFE6BD"| Won in first round vs. Washington Wild Things 2–0. Lost in FLCS vs. Schaumburg Boomers 3–1.

|Taylor Ard, Frontier League All Star Saxon Butler, Frontier League All Star Hector Crespo, Frontier League All Star Josh Ludy, Frontier League All Star Johnny Morales, Frontier League All Star Gabe Shaw, Frontier League All Star

| 2015

| FL

|West

|2nd

| 56

| 40

| .583

| 5

| Defeated Florence Freedom 6–5 in preliminary round. Won in first round vs. Southern Illinois Miners 2–1. Lost in FLCS vs. Traverse City Beach Bums 3–0.

|Taylor Ard, Most Valuable Player Taylor Ard, Frontier League All Star Curran Redal, Frontier League All Star Josh Ludy, Frontier League All Star Danny Canela, Frontier League All Star Brian Hansen, Frontier League All Star

| 2016

| FL

|West

|2nd

| 49

| 47

| .510

| 14

| Won in first round vs. Southern Illinois Miners 2–1. Lost in FLCS vs. Evansville Otters 3–2.

|Josh Ludy, Frontier League All Star Zac Treece, Frontier League All Star Nick Kennedy, Frank Riordan Award (Citizenship)

!colspan=5 rowspan=4|Totals

!Wins

!Losses

!Win%

!colspan=3|

!127

!93

!.577

!colspan=3|All-time Zanesville Greys record (1993–1996)

!869

!804

!.519

!colspan=3|All-time River City Rascals record (1999–2016)

!30

!26

!.536

!colspan=3|All-time franchise postseason record

Greys/Rascals in Major League Baseball

Justin Christian (River City 2003–04) most recently pitched in the Tampa Bay Rays system. He played for the New York Yankees in 2008, and the San Francisco Giants in 2011–2012.
Josh Kinney (River City 2001) most recently pitched in the Pittsburgh Pirates system. He pitched for St. Louis Cardinals in 2006 and 2008–2009, the Chicago White Sox in 2011, and Mariners in 2012.
Terry Pearson (Zanesville 1995–96) pitched for the Detroit Tigers in 2002.
Joe Thatcher (River City 2004–05) pitched for the San Diego Padres from 2007 to 2013, the Arizona Diamondbacks 2013–2014, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 2014, and the Houston Astros in 2015.

Sources

External links

River City Rascals