Tombstone
Born: December 17, 1996 – Frontier League expansion franchise1NO BYLINE. “Frontier League puts team in Canton, Ohio”. The Palladium-Item (Richmond, IN). December 18, 1996
Moved: November 2001 (Washington Wild Things)
First Game: June 6, 1997 (L 9-2 @ Chillicothe Paints)
Last Game: September 2, 2001 (L 8-7 @ Chillicothe Paints)
Frontier League Champions: 1997
Stadium
Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium
Opened: 1989
Ownership & Affiliation
Owners: Steve Gang, Paul Norman, Dave Cook & Bill Alge
Major League Affiliation: Independent
Attendance
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Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 2007
Background
The Canton Crocodiles were an independent minor league baseball team that took up residence in Canton, Ohio’s Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium in 1997. The Crocs replaced the departing Canton-Akron Indians (1989-1996), the Class AA farm club of the Cleveland Indians, who were lured away by neighboring Akron’s development of $31 million Canal Park, which opened in 1997.
As part of the independent Frontier League, the Crocodiles had no affiliation with a Major League parent club. The level of play in the Frontier League was a considerable step down from the Class AA ball played by the Indians for the previous eight seasons. No Crocodiles player ever made it to the Major Leagues.*
The Crocs enjoyed a charmed debut season on the field in 1997. After finishing with the 3rd best record in the Frontier League that summer, Canton swept both the Johnstown Steal (semi-finals) and the Evansville Otters (championship series) to claim the league title.
Move To Pennsylvania & Aftermath
After the 2001 season, the Canton Crocodiles moved to Washington, Pennsylvania and became the Washington Wild Things. The Things are still around and concluded their 18th season of play in the Frontier League this summer.
As soon as the Crocs left Canton, the Frontier League’s London (Ontario) Werewolves moved to Canton and became the Canton Coyotes for the 2002 season. The Coyotes lasted only one season and then moved on to Missouri.
Professional baseball has never returned to Thurman Munson Stadium since the Coyotes left town in 2002. But local hardball junkies still have the former Canton-Akron Indians team to enjoy just 30 minutes north on I-77. After two subsequent re-brandings (Akron Aeros 1997-2013) and Akron RubberDucks (2014-Present), that team still serves as the double-A farm club of the Cleveland Indians three decades after first arriving in Canton in 1989.
Trivia
*A caveat to that bit above about no Crocs player ever making the Majors. In 1999 the team hired “Super” Joe Charboneau, the 1980 American League Rookie-of-the-Year with the Cleveland Indians, as a hitting coach. On August 28, 2000, at age 45, Charboneau activated himself for a single at-bat with the Crocodiles and reached base on a pinch hit single.
Links
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7 Responses
The at-bat by Joe Charboneau listed above does not show in his Baseball Reference listing. From where did this “trivia” come?
Charboneau’s pinch-hit single came on August 28, 2000 at Thurman Munson Stadium during a game against the London Werewolves. The Associated Press reported on the event. One place you can find it is in the 8/29/2000 edition of the Indiana (PA) Gazette on Newspapers.com.
Odd that Baseball Reference doesn’t have it, but nobody’s perfect!
Drew
Does any one have the link to the canton crocs commercials they were showing on t.v then?
Any body interested in an un opened
Canton Crocodiles 2001 team cards?
Yes. I am
They may not have had a player make it to the MLB, but they did have a pretty good football coach play there…
“In 1998, (Kalen) DeBoer played one season of independent league baseball with the Canton Crocodiles as a left fielder”
– from Kalen DeBoer’s Wikipedia page
Great find, Tim! Thanks for posting. We’ll make sure to add that nugget to the Crocs article
Drew