The Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti are a professional baseball team based in Ypsilanti. They are a member of the East Division of the Frontier League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball.
The team is scheduled to relocate to Oakland County in the 2010 season to play as the Oakland County Cruisers. The name "Cruisers" is a reference to Oakland County's proximity to Detroit, the headquarters of the three most prominent automotive companies in the United States: Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors. All three companies also maintain significant investments in Oakland County.
History
The Slippery Rock Sliders were formed for the 2007 season to ensure an even number of teams with the Frontier League's addition of the Southern Illinois Miners. The Sliders played a mere 32 home games at Jack Critchfield Park in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, with the remaining 64 played on the road. For the 2008 season, the Sliders became a traveling team, playing all of their games on the road under the geographical moniker, Midwest.
The Sliders' 2009 season will begin in May, at Eastern Michigan University's Oestrike Stadium located in Ypsilanti. In 2010, the re-named Cruisers are scheduled move to Diamond at the Summit, which will start construction in the spring of 2009[1]. The ballpark is a part of the Summit Place Mall complex.
Seasons
| Slippery Rock/Midwest Sliders (Frontier League) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | W-L | PCT | Place | Postseason | |
| 2007 | 29-66 | .305 | 4th in FL East | ||
| 2008 | 29-67 | .302 | 6th in FL East | ||
| Total | 58-133 | .304 | |||
| Oakland County Cruisers (Frontier League) | |||||
| Year | W-L | PCT | Place | Postseason | |
| 2009 | |||||
External links
Official websites
- Oakland County Cruisers, official site
- Oakland County Cruisers, Facebook
- Frontier League
- @MWSofYpsilanti: Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti
In the news
- Pat Caputo: Oakland County Cruisers playing games while hanging on by a thread, Oakland Press, May 2010
When the Cruisers first came into existence, I called Rob Hilliard, president of Diamonds Heroes of Southeast Michigan, Inc., which operates the Cruisers. He was defensive to even the most innocent questions, an experience shared by others at this newspaper. So I did some high-level research on Hilliard — real Woodward and Bernstein stuff. I did a Google search. Up came the following headline in the New York Times about a short-season minor league team Hilliard was the president of in his native New Jersey: “Field of Dreams Becomes Nightmare in New Jersey.”
- It's the Cruisers!, The Oakland Press, December 2007
