We took a lovely Sunday evening and took advantage of some cheap tickets to enjoy some Cornbelters baseball. 'Old Lady', 'My Girl T', and MB were all in attendance today. We listened to a show choir before the game started and turned our chairs around to watch the game. I hope I succeeded in some color on the corpse-color legs today because it was sunny(although safety first, I did use sunblock).
'Old Lady' was very inquisitive about the logistics of the team and had many questions. After the pictures I got some info for ya about the league.
The Normal CornBelters are starting their 2010 inaugural season as a member of the West Division of the independent Frontier League. The Frontier League is comprised of twelve teams in the Midwest and is not affiliated with a Major League Baseball team. Today, the West Division consists of Evansville Otters of Evansville, Indiana. The Florence Freedom in Florence, Kentucky. The Gateway Grizzlies in Sauget, Illinois. The River City Rascals in O’Fallon, Missouri. The Southern Illinois Miners in Marion, Illinois.
In the winter of 1992-1993, several men got together and decided to start an independent professional baseball league to serve the West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southeast Ohio areas. They believed they could bring professional baseball to areas that would never have a chance of affiliated professional baseball coming to their communities. The seed was planted and they named their project “The Frontier League.” These founders approached business people and interested individuals in many different cities to own and operate the franchises. In late June of 1993, eight cities began play in high school, college and municipal parks. College players quickly heard of the fledgling league and mostly came from the Midwest and the east coast to chase their dreams of playing pro ball.
The Normal CornBelters is to give players between the ages of 21 to 27 years old an opportunity to showcase their baseball skills. Players that are selected come from a minor league farm system ball or who went undrafted in Major League Baseball Amateur draft. The 24 man roster must meet Frontier League requirements and therefore teams must recruit and sign their own players.
Players in the Frontier League receive low pay for their dedication to the sport and typically live with host families in the area. However, low pay does not compare to the success players can eventually achieve through the organization. For example, reliever Josh Kinney pitched for the River City Rascals in 2001 and shortly thereafter signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. He eventually broke into the Major Leagues in 2006 and won a World Series ring with the Cardinals that year.
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