| Traverse City Pit Spitters | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Information | |
| League | Northwoods League (Great Lakes East (2019–) |
| Location | Chums Corner, Michigan |
| Ballpark | Turtle Creek Stadium |
| Founded | 2018 |
| Nickname(s) | The Spitters |
| League championships | 2 (2019, 2021) |
| Division championships | 2 (2019, 2021) |
| Colors | Cherry Red, Leaf Green, Black, White |
| Ownership | TC Baseball, LLC (Joe Chamberlin, CEO) |
| Manager | Josh Rebandt |
| Website | northwoodsleague |
The Traverse City Pit Spitters are a baseball team in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league, and 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 Chums Corner, Michigan. The team began play at Turtle Creek Stadium in 2019 after the park's former tenant, the Traverse City Beach Bums of the Frontier League, ceased operations at the end of the 2018 season.
Traverse City has a baseball history, beginning with the Traverse City Hustlers, a semi-professional team in the 1890s. The city had a minor league team, the Traverse City Resorters of the Class D West Michigan League and Michigan State League between 1910 and 1914.[1] Baseball then returned to Traverse City in 2006 with the Traverse City Beach Bums of the independent Frontier League, but 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 team, the Beach Bums, ceasing operations. The new ownership group announced plans to launch a new franchise in the Northwoods League for the 2019 season.[2]
On October 25, 2018, the team named Josh Rebandt as their first field manager.[3] A name-the-team contest was held until December 14, with six finalists: Black Pearls, Dogmen, Dune Bears, Pit Spitters, Tree Shakers and Sasquatch.[4] On January 29, 2019, the Pit Spitters name and logos were officially announced [5][6] with the name reflecting the amateur sport of cherry pit spitting, which is played during the annual National Cherry Festival in Traverse City.[7]
- ^ "A "Brief" History of TC Baseball".
- ^ Buczek, Joe (2018-09-26). "Whitecaps Group Purchases Wuerfel Park, Plans Northwoods League Franchise". MISportsNow.com. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
- ^ "Josh Rebandt Named First Manager of Traverse City Baseball". 2018-10-25. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
- ^ "Team Name Ranking". 2018-12-04. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
- ^ "Introducing the Traverse City Pit Spitters!". PitSpitters.com. 2019-01-29. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
- ^ Herringa, Karie (2019-01-29). "Traverse City Baseball Announces New Team Name". MISportsNow.com. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
- ^ "Adult Cherry Pit Spit Contest". www.cherryfestival.org.