Long Island Ducks

Long Island Ducks
File:LongIslandDucks.GIF
Founded	2000
Ballpark	Citibank Park
Based in	Central Islip, New York
Colors	black, orange, green
League	Atlantic League of Professional Baseball
Team Trainer	Dorothy Pitchford
General manager	Michael Hirsch
Owner	Frank Boulton

The Long Island Ducks are a minor league baseball team which plays in Central Islip, New York. They are a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, and are affiliated with no Major League Baseball team.

The Ducks currently own the independent minor league baseball single-season attendance record of 443,142 fans. They reached this total in the summer of 2001, surpassing the previous record of 436,361 fans which the team had also set in 2000. The Long Island Ducks recorded their 2 millionth fan since the stadium opened in 2000.

Bud Harrelson was key in founding the team. He started out at various coaching positions and currently owns part of the team.

The team plays in Citibank Park, formerly known as EAB Park.

The 2004 Season

On July 12th 2004 the Ducks had a chance to earn a spot in the Atlantic League Playoffs for the first time in the team's history with the team ahead of the Bridgeport Bluefish by 1 Game in the First Half Standings of the Atlantic League's North Division all the Ducks needed was to defeat the Bluefish in Bridgeport on the final day of the first half of the season to clinch a playoff spot unfortunately for Long Island the game was called off due to rain with the scored tied at 3-3 in the 9th Inning. The game had to be made up on August 9th to determine the first half championship when the game was replayed the Ducks defeated Bridgeport 5-4 scoring a run in the 9th Inning to clinch the First Half Title and the team's first-ever Playoff Appearance in front of 5,500 People about 1,000 of whom we're Ducks fans who made the trip to Bridgeport on the Long Island Ferry across the Long Island Sound.

The Ducks then faced the Nashua Pride who won the North Division title for the Second Half of the 2004 Season in the North Division Playoffs to determine who would play in the Atlantic League Championship Series; the Ducks lost the first game of the best two out of three game series in Nashua losing 3-2. The Ducks headed on back to Long Island where behind former New York Mets Starting Pitcher Bill Pulispher threw 6 1/3 Innings of work beat Nashua 3-2 to tie the series at 1-1. In the third and deciding game in a pitcher's duel between Nashua's Denny Harriger & Long Island's Lance Davis, the Ducks ended up scoring the game's only run in the 1st Inning on a Doug Jennings Single to defeat the Pride 1-0 to win the North Division Championship it was onto the Atlantic League Championship Series where they faced the Camden Riversharks in a best three out of five series to determine the champion.

In the first game of the Championship against Camden the Ducks took a 10-6 lead into the Top of the Ninth Inning when Camden's Chris Widger hit a Grand Slam Homerun to tie the game at 10 to send the game into Extra Innings when Long Island's Justin Davies the last remaining player from the original 2000 team hit a game winning single to win Game 1 by a score of 11-10, Davies would end up being the hero again in Game 2 with the score tied at 4-4 in the Bottom of the Ninth, Davies got an RBI Single to win the game 5-4 and come up in the clutch for the second straight night and lead the series two games to none to send the series to Camden to win the Championship. In Game 3 Long Island sent out Bill Pulsipher to the mound to try and clinch the Ducks first-ever League Championship despite giving up three runs in 1st Inning Pulsipher settled down as the Ducks scored two runs in the 5th Inning and tied the game in 7th Inning and took the lead in that inning on a Bases Loaded Hit By Pitch on Shortstop Kevin Baez. Ducks Closer Bill Simas got the final six outs in two innings of relief to get the save and give Long Island the 2004 Atlantic League Championship in a three-game sweep.

John Rocker

In 2005, John Rocker signed with the Ducks in an attempt to revive his career. He asked New Yorkers to "bury the hatchet," claiming his willingness to play in Long Island proved he had matured since his controversial comments. Rocker was received poorly by fans and ended up pitching with an 0-2 record and an ERA of 6.50.

On June 27th 2005 Rocker announced in a statement that "After pitching for two months with the Long Island Ducks, the consistency required to pitch at the Major League level, and the consistency I demand from myself, are not where they should be. As a result, I have elected to take a step back and reevaluate the options available to me. I would like to thank the Long Island Ducks organization for the opportunity they've given me to help me reestablish myself as a Major League pitcher."

Season-By-Season Records

Season Records

Season	Manager	First Half Record	Second Half Record
2000	Bud Harrelson	40-30, 2nd Place North	42-28, 2nd Place North
2001	Don McCormack	35-28, 2nd Place North	27-36, 4th Place North
2002	Don McCormack	35-28, 2nd Place North	30-33, 2nd Place North
2003	Don McCormack	32-31, 3rd Place North	35-28, 2nd Place North
2004	Don McCormack	40-23, 1st Place North	25-38, 3rd Place North

External links

• Long Island Ducks Official Webpage
• 2005 Team Bio
• Atlantic League Independent