Fort Myers Miracle

Fort Myers Miracle Founded in 1926 Fort Myers, Florida
Team Logo Cap Insignia
Class-level
A-Advanced (1964–present) Class D (1963)
Minor league affiliations
Florida State League South Division
Major league affiliations
Minnesota Twins (1992–present) San Diego Padres (1983–1984) Baltimore Orioles (1966–1981) Philadelphia Phillies (1962–1965)
Name
Fort Myers Miracle Fort Myers Palms (1926), Miami Hustlers, (1927–1928), Miami Marlins (1962–1970, 1982–1988), Miami Orioles (1971–1981), Miami Miracle (1989–1991)
Ballpark
Hammond Stadium
Minor league titles
League titles	1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 & 1978
Division titles	1995, 2008 First Half: 2003, 2008 & 2009 Second Half: 1995, 2000 2006 & 2009
Owner(s)/Operated by: Goldklang Group
Manager: Jake Mauer
General Manager: Steve Gliner

The Fort Myers Miracle is the Class A Advanced minor league baseball affiliate of the Minnesota Twins Major League Baseball club, currently managed by Jake Mauer. Home games are played at the Lee County Sports Complex in Hammond Stadium, which has a capacity of 7,500, and opened in 1991. The park is also used as the Minnesota Twins' Spring training facility.

Musician Jimmy Buffett and actor Bill Murray have been minority part-owners of the team since 1989. The majority owner is Marvin Goldklang, who also owns a stake in three other minor league baseball teams throughout the country (Hudson Valley Renegades, Charleston RiverDogs, and St. Paul Saints). Murray is also a minority part-owner of the Saints.

History^[1]

The Miracle franchise was founded in 1926, as the Fort Myers Palms. One year later, they moved to Miami, Florida and were renamed the Hustlers. The team became temporarily inactive, with the rest of the Florida State League, midway through the 1928 season. Even though the Florida State League resumed play in 1936, the Hustlers remained inactive until they were reactivated by the FSL during the 1961–1962 offseason to serve as the Class D affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. The team was renamed the Miami Marlins in honor of the original Marlins of the Triple-A International League who had moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico (and subsequently Charleston, South Carolina) following the 1960 season.

Before embarking on his Hall of Fame career with the Baltimore Orioles, Cal Ripken, Jr was a member of the Miami Orioles

In 1963, there was a restructuring of the classification system of all Minor League Baseball, which resulted in the FSL changing from Class D to its current status of Class A-Advanced. They became a Baltimore Orioles affiliate in 1966, and were renamed the Miami Orioles after their MLB parent club from 1971–1981.

Upon the Baltimore Orioles' severing of their affiliation with the Miami Orioles following the 1981 season, the franchise reverted back to the Marlins name, and actually participated in the 1982 FSL season as an independent entry. Without a Major League affiliate, this team was composed of undrafted players from the area, free agents from various organizations and players on loan from the Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres, and Oakland A's organizations.

The following season the Miami Marlins became a San Diego Padres affiliate. This partnership only lasted two years, and the Marlins found themselves again without a parent club for the 1985 season. Again, they filled their roster with talent on loan from various organizations, along with eleven former major leaguers looking to rejuvenate their careers. They stuck with this formula through the 1991 season.

In 1989, the Marlins were renamed the Miami Miracle after a group of investors that included Bill Murray and Jimmy Buffett purchased the club. They moved the team from Bobby Maduro Miami Stadium to Florida International University's University Park (the vast majority of their time in Miami, the team played at Miami Stadium).

The Miracle were sold again a year later to the Marv Goldklang Group. Mike Veeck (son of Hall of Fame inductee Bill Veeck, and author of the book, Fun is Good) also became part owner of the organization while Murray and Buffett still maintained their shares as well. In 1992, these new owners returned the Miracle to Fort Myers where it has remained ever since. The Miracle operated as a co-op club with the Minnesota Twins that season, and became a full Twins affiliate a year later. This Player Development Contract runs through 2012.

The 2008 1st & 2nd half Western Division champions take the field in game 2 of the playoffs at Hammond Stadium

Since their arrival in Fort Myers, the Miracle have won the FSL's Western division in the first half of the 2003 & 2008 seasons, and won the second half in 1995, 2000 & 2006. They've gone on to win the division in 1995 & 2008, but have yet to win an FSL League championship. For the 2009 season, the Florida State League was realigned, and the Miracle became part of the Southern Division, along with the Charlotte Stone Crabs, Jupiter Hammerheads, Palm Beach Cardinals, St. Lucie Mets and Sarasota Reds. The team notched a franchise first by capturing both the first and second half division crown.^[2] They faced the Charlotte Stone Crabs, who finished second both halves, in the South Division Finals. Despite a 14-6 regular season record against the Stone Crabs, the Miracle lost in three games to Charlotte.^[3]

2010

Former Twins farmhand and older brother of Twins catcher Joe Mauer, Jake Mauer, was named manager of the 2010 team after having led the GCL Twins to a wild card victory in 2008 and the South Division crown in 2009. Mauer's success in the Gulf Coast League did not carry over to the Florida State League, as he led the team to a 64-74 record his first season at the helm, its worst record since finishing 61-74 in 2004. Billy Bullock and Chris Herrmann represented Fort Myers at the FSL All-Star game, held on June 12 at Space Coast Stadium, home of the Brevard County Manatees. Kyle Gibson and Yangervis Solarte were also named Southern Division All-Stars, however, both had been promoted to double A prior to the game.

Joe Mauer was a 2003 FSL All-Star for the Fort Myers Miracle

Fort Myers Miracle rosterview · talk · edit
Players				Coaches/Other
Pitchers 20 Andrew Albers -- Paul Bargas 19 Ricky Bowen 43 Logan Darnell 25 Pat Dean 38 Jhon Garcia 32 Matthew Hauser 33 Kane Holbrooks 22 Shooter Hunt 39 Edgar Ibarra 40 Miguel Muñoz -- Daniel Osterbrock -- Bruce Pugh 24 Matt Schuld 31 Brad Stillings 44 Tom Stuifbergen 17 Matthew Tone 21 Alex Wimmers		Catchers  4 Josmil Pinto 35 Daniel Rams Infielders 21 Oswaldo Arcia  2 James Beresford 11 Jamaal Hawkins 15 Anderson Hidalgo -- Paul Kelly  9 Nicholas Romero 18 Reggie Williams Outfielders 16 Jonathan Goncalves  5 Aaron Hicks 37 Jason Kubel #* 23 Steven Liddle  7 Derek McCallum -- Angel Morales 10 Ramon Santana		Manager 12 Jake Mauer Coaches 26 Jim Dwyer (hitting) 13 Steve Mintz (pitching) 7-day disabled list * On Minnesota Twins 40-man roster ∞ Reserve list § Suspended list ‡ Restricted list # Rehab assignment Roster updated July 8, 2011 Transactions → More rosters

FSL All-Stars

David Ortiz would have represented the Miracle in the 1997 All-Star game had he not been promoted to Double A

• 1992 - Troy Buckley, Brian Raabe
• 1993 - Brent Brede, Steve Hazlett,^[4] Damian Miller
• 1994 - Gus Gandarillas, Andrew Kontorinis,^[5] Matt Lawton,^[6] Scott Moten, Chad Roper^[7]
• 1995 - Shane Bowers
• 1996 - Mike Moriarty, Javier Valentin
• 1997 - Chad Allen, Phil Haigler, Jacque Jones, Brad Niedermaier, David Ortiz,^[8][9] A.J. Pierzynski^[10]
• 1998 - Joe Mays, Chad Moeller, Tommy Peterman^[11]
• 1999 - Matt LeCroy, Kyle Lohse
• 2000 - Brandon Masters, Juan Rincon, Saul Rivera, Ruben Salazar, Brad Thomas^[12]
• 2001 - Ronnie Corona, Juan Padilla
• 2002 - Beau Kemp, Josh Rabe, Matt Scanlon^[13]
• 2003 - J.D. Durbin, Jason Kubel, Joe Mauer^[14]
• 2004 - Scott Baker,^[15] Travis Bowyer,^[16] Kaulana Kuhaulua, Francisco Liriano, José Morales, Justin Olson
• 2005 - Nick Blackburn, Matt Moses, Denard Span
• 2006 - Alexi Casilla, Matt Garza,^[17] Kyle Geiger, Brandon Roberts, Kevin Slowey
• 2007 - Eddie Morlan, Ryan Mullins,^[18] Oswaldo Sosa
• 2008 - Robert Delaney, Brian Dinkelman, Jeff Manship, Wilson Ramos, Anthony Slama, Rene Tosoni,^[19] Danny Valencia
• 2009 - David Bromberg, Chris Cates, Carlos Gutierrez,^[20] Steven Hirschfeld, Daniel Lehmann,^[21] Chris Parmelee, Ben Revere, Steve Singleton, Spencer Steedley
• 2010 - Billy Bullock, Kyle Gibson,^[22] Chris Herrmann, Yangervis Solarte^[23]

In 1982, Jose Canseco was an Oakland A's farmhand on loan to the Miami Marlins

References

1. ^ "The Original Miami Marlins (1956-1988) & Miami Minor League History". Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=107433322624423&v=info. Retrieved 2010-10-20. 
2. ^ "Miracle Notch First in Team History". 2009-09-03. http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3899509. 
3. ^ "Miracle bow out of playoffs as Stone Crabs advance to finals". 2009-09-10. http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3903862. 
4. ^ Injured & did not play
5. ^ FSL All-Star game MVP
6. ^ MLB All-Star
7. ^ Promoted & did not play
8. ^ MLB All-Star
9. ^ Promoted & did not play
10. ^ MLB All-Star
11. ^ FSL All-Star game MVP
12. ^ Promoted & did not play
13. ^ Promoted & did not play
14. ^ MLB All-Star
15. ^ Promoted & did not play
16. ^ Promoted & did not play
17. ^ Promoted & did not play
18. ^ Promoted & did not play
19. ^ Injured & did not play
20. ^ Promoted & did not play
21. ^ Promoted & did not play
22. ^ Promoted & did not play
23. ^ Promoted & did not play

External links

• Official website