Lansing Lugnuts

Lansing Lugnuts Founded in 1955 Lansing, Michigan
Team logo Cap insignia
Minor league affiliations
Class	High-A (2021–present)
Previous classes	Class A (1955–2020)
League	High-A Central (2021–present)
Division	East Division
Previous leagues	Midwest League (1955–2020)
Major league affiliations
Team	Oakland Athletics (2021–present)
Previous teams	Toronto Blue Jays (2005–2020) Chicago Cubs (1999–2004) Kansas City Royals (1995–1998, 1969–1976) San Diego Padres (1990–1994) Co-op (1989) Cleveland Indians (1977–1988, 1955) Boston Red Sox (1956–1968)
Minor league titles
League titles (9)	1958 1959 1960 1975 1976 1980 1986 1997 2003
First half titles (4)	1999 2008 2012 2015
Second half titles (1)	1996
Team data
Name	Lansing Lugnuts (1996–present)
Previous names	Springfield Sultans (1994–1995) Waterloo Diamonds (1989–1993) Waterloo Indians (1977–1988) Waterloo Royals (1970–1976) Waterloo Hawks (1958–1969) Lafayette Red Sox (1956–1957) Lafayette Chiefs (1955)
Colors	Red and silver
Mascot	Big Lug
Ballpark	Jackson Field (1996–present)
Previous parks	Lanphier Park (1994–1995) Riverfront Stadium (1958–1993) Loeb Stadium (1955–1957)
Owner(s)/ Operator(s)	Tom Dickson & Sherrie Myers
General manager	Tyler Parsons
Manager	TBD

The Lansing Lugnuts are a Minor League Baseball team of the High-A Central and the High-A 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 in Lafayette, Indiana, in 1955; after two seasons it became the Waterloo Hawks, moving to Waterloo, Iowa, 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^[1] from 1969 through 1976, as the Sultans of Springfield^[2] 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.^[3] In October 2016, their player development contract was extended through the 2018 season.^[4] From 2021, they will be the High-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics playing in the High-A Central.

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 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:

Date	Winning team	Score	Losing team	Attendance	Ref
April 3, 2007	Lansing Lugnuts	4–3	Michigan State	6,223
April 24, 2008	Lansing Lugnuts	4–2	Michigan State	12,862
April 16, 2009	Michigan State	12–2	Lansing Lugnuts	12,992
April 26, 2010	Lansing Lugnuts	5–4	Michigan State	6,778
April 5, 2011	Michigan State	4–3	Lansing Lugnuts	7,212
April 5, 2012	Lansing Lugnuts	7–0	Michigan State	12,997
May 1, 2013	Lansing Lugnuts	10–2	Michigan State	11,619
April 3, 2014	Lansing Lugnuts	3–2	Michigan State	4,455
April 9, 2015	Lansing Lugnuts	9–4	Michigan State	9,318	[5]
September 6, 2016	Lansing Lugnuts	4–1	Michigan State	8,432
September 5, 2017	Lansing Lugnuts	5–1	Michigan State	6,804	[6]
September 4, 2018	Lansing Lugnuts	6–4	Michigan State	6,338	[7]
September 3, 2019	Lansing Lugnuts	5–1	Michigan State	5,933	[8]

Playoffs[]

Season	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
1996	-	-	-
1997	W, 2-1, Michigan	W, 2-0, Fort Wayne	W, 3-2, Kane County
1998	-	-	-
1999	W, 2-0, Michigan	L, 2-0, Wisconsin	-
2000	-	-	-
2001	L, 2-0, Dayton	-	-
2002	W, 2-1, Michigan	W, 2-1, West Michigan	L, 3-1, Peoria
2003	W, 2-0, South Bend	W, 2-0, Battle Creek	W, 3-0, Beloit
2004	L, 2-1, West Michigan	-	-
2005	-	-	-
2006	W, 2-0, South Bend	L, 2-0, West Michigan	-
2007	L, 2-0, West Michigan	-	-
2008	L, 2-0, Dayton	-	-
2009	-	-	-
2010	-	-	-
2011	W, 2-1, Dayton	W, 2-0, Fort Wayne	L, 3-0, Quad Cities
2012	L, 2-0, Fort Wayne	-	-
2013	-	-	-
2014	-	-	-
2015	W, 2-0, Great Lakes	L, 2-1, West Michigan	-
2016	-	-	-
2017	-	-	-
2018	L, 2-0, Bowling Green	-	-
2019	-	-	-

Media coverage[]

Jesse Goldberg-Strassler broadcasts Lugnuts home and away games on WVFN-AM. WVFN previously aired Lugnuts games from 2001-2003.

Lugnuts games also aired on WJIM-AM from 1996–2000 and WQTX-FM from 2004-2016. Several games per season aired on WLNS-TV from 1996 through 2001. From 2002 to 2009, one game aired each season on WILX-TV.

Alumni[]

The following are players in Major League Baseball 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[]

Chicago Cubs[]

Toronto Blue Jays[]

Miami Marlins[]

St. Louis Cardinals[]

• Kiko Calero

San Francisco Giants[]

• Eugenio Vélez

Roster[]

Lansing Lugnuts roster

• v
• t

Players				Coaches/Other
Pitchers 35 Brady Basso 17 Reid Birlingmair 26 Charlie Cerny 34 Jeff Criswell 28 Michael Danielak 31 Stevie Emanuels 21 Richard Guasch 16 Charles Hall 15 Rafael Kelly 24 Aiden McIntyre 36 Bryce Nightengale 32 Colin Peluse 29 Dalton Sawyer 23 Seth Shuman 22 Shohei Tomioka 20 Jack Weisenburger 27 Brandon Withers		Catchers 25 Jared McDonald 12 Drew Millas 18 William Simoneit Infielders 13 Jordan Diaz  2 Ryan Gridley 30 Patrick McColl  7 Elvis Peralta  8 Max Schuemann  1 Cobie Vance Outfielders  6 Austin Beck  4 Michael Guldberg 14 Lester Madden  3 Shane Selman 11 Jake Suddleson		Manager 13 Scott Steinmann Coaches 19 Javier Godard (hitting) 10 Anthony Phillips (assistant hitting) 37 Don Schulze (pitching) 7-day injured list * On Oakland Athletics 40-man roster ~ Development list # Rehab assignment ∞ Reserve list ‡ Restricted list § Suspended list ± Taxi squad † Temporarily inactive list Roster updated May 25, 2021 Transactions → More rosters: MiLB • High-A Central → Oakland Athletics minor league players

References[]

Notes

Sources

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lansing Lugnuts.

• Lansing Lugnuts official web site
• Lugnuts page at the Lansing State Journal
• Lansing Lugnuts at Minor League Baseball site
• Broadcaster's Blog of Jesse Goldberg-Strassler