Traverse City Pit Spitters

The Traverse City Pit Spitters are a baseball team in the Northwoods League (a collegiate summer baseball league) which began play in the 2019 season. Based out of Traverse City, Michigan, the Pit Spitters play their home games at Turtle Creek Stadium in nearby Blair Township.

Traverse City Pit Spitters
Information
LeagueNorthwoods League (Great Lakes East (2019-)
LocationTraverse City, Michigan
BallparkTurtle Creek Stadium
Year founded2018
Nickname(s)The Spitters
League championships1 (2019)
Division championships1 (2019)
ColorsCherry Red, Leaf Green, Black, White
       
OwnershipTC Baseball, LLC (Joe Chamberlin, CEO)
ManagerJosh Rebandt
WebsiteOfficial Website

History

On September 26, 2018, it was announced that Wuerfel Park had been purchased by a new investment group led by the owners of the West Michigan Whitecaps (Class A Midwest League affiliate of MLB's Detroit Tigers), with the park's previous tenant, the Traverse City Beach Bums (independent Frontier League) ceasing operations and the ownership group launching a new franchise in the Northwoods League for the 2019 season.[1]

On October 25, the team named Josh Rebandt as their first field manager.[2]

A name-the-team contest was held until December 14, with five finalists: Black Pearls, Dogmen, Dune Bears, Pit Spitters, Tree Shakers and Sasquatch.[3]

On January 29, the Pit Spitters name and logos were officially announced.[4][5]

2019 season (inaugural season & league championship)

May 28, 2019, served as the opening day for the Pit Spitters as they defeated the Green Bay Booyah 2-1 before 2,274 fans.[6]  The Pit Spitters eventually went to the playoffs against the Kalamazoo Growlers (2-0) and the Madison Mallards (3-2). The Spitters then went on to beat the Eau Claire Express in the 2019 championship game (3-2).[7]

2020 pod season

On June 25, 2020, following decreasing regulations for the COVID-19 pandemic, the Northwoods League approved the creation of two temporary teams to play during the 2020 season: the Northern Michigan Dune Bears and the Great Lakes Resorters.[8] The three teams would be the only ones to play at Turtle Creek Stadium for the season until the playoffs in September.[9] On July 5 of the same year, the season was put on pause due a number of players testing positive for the virus.[10] Play was supposed to resume on July 10, but was pushed further back to July 19.[11] Play resumed that day, but the Dune Bears team had been temporarily dissolved (with the possibility of returning later in the season[12]), leaving the rest of the 2020 season to be played between the Pit Spitters and Resorters.[13]

Mascot

The mascot of the Traverse City Pit Spitters is Monty, a "blue furry creature" said to have grown up on a Montmorency cherry orchard near Traverse City.[14][15]

References
  1. Buczek, Joe (2018-09-26). "Whitecaps Group Purchases Wuerfel Park, Plans Northwoods League Franchise". MISportsNow.com. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  2. "Josh Rebandt Named First Manager of Traverse City Baseball". 2018-10-25. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  3. "Team Name Ranking". 2018-12-04. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  4. "Introducing the Traverse City Pit Spitters!". PitSpitters.com. 2019-01-29. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  5. Herringa, Karie (2019-01-29). "Traverse City Baseball Announces New Team Name". MISportsNow.com. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  6. bsommers@record-eagle.com, BRETT A. SOMMERS. "Strong opening day crowd drives Pit Spitters to franchise's 1st win". Traverse City Record-Eagle. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  7. "Playoffs 2019". Traverse City Pit Spitters. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  8. "Traverse City Pit Spitters to begin play July 1". mlive. 2020-06-15. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  9. "Traverse City Schedule 2020" (PDF). Traverse City Pit Spitters. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  10. "Pit Spitters Pause Baseball After Players Test Positive For Coronavirus". The Ticker | Traverse City News & Events. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  11. "Baseball Pause Continues". Traverse City Pit Spitters. 2020-07-05. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  12. "Baseball is BACK! Season Resumes July 19th". Traverse City Pit Spitters. 2020-07-13. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  13. "Traverse City Schedule 2020 (July 19)" (PDF). Traverse City Pit Spitters.
  14. "Meet Monty". Traverse City Pit Spitters. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  15. "Traverse City's Newest -- And Bluest -- Mascot". The Ticker | Traverse City News & Events. Retrieved 2020-07-10.


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