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Independent baseball team in the Pioneer League From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Grand Junction Jackalopes are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. They are located in Grand Junction, Colorado, and play their home games at Suplizio Field. They were formerly named the Rockies, after the Colorado Rockies, who were their major league affiliate from 2001 to 2020 prior to the league becoming independent.
| Grand Junction Jackalopes | |
|---|---|
| |
| |
| Minor league affiliations | |
| Class | Independent (from 2021) |
| Previous classes | Rookie (1978–1985, 1987–2020) |
| League | Pioneer League (1978–1985, 1987–present) |
| Major league affiliations | |
| Team | Independent (from 2021) |
| Previous teams |
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| Minor league titles | |
| League titles (2) |
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| Division titles (4) |
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| Team data | |
| Name | Grand Junction Jackalopes (2023–present) |
Previous names |
|
| Mascot | Jake the Jacked-alope |
| Ballpark | Suplizio Field (2012–present) |
Previous parks |
|
| President | Mick Ritter |
| Manager | Jimmy Johnson |
The Butte Copper Kings, named for the once-powerful owners of the copper mines of Butte, Montana, began play in the Pioneer League in 1978 as a co-op team with players from the Philadelphia Phillies, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers organizations as well as a few free agents.[1]
Beginning in 1987, the franchise had been operated by Silverbow Baseball. It was sold in 1996 to the Goldklang Group in a move necessary to stem conflict-of-interest issues when Silverbow head Jim McCurdy had taken the position of President of the Pioneer League in 1994.[2] Silverbow had attempted to sell the franchise in 1994 to investors from California, but the deal fell through when it was determined that Silverbow owned a lesser percentage of the franchise than it had purported to own.[3]
Following the 2000 season, the team relocated to Casper, Wyoming as the Casper Rockies (and was renamed the Ghosts before the 2008 season[4]) and affiliated with Colorado.[5]
On January 13, 2011, Casper Professional Baseball Club, LLC announced the sale of the team to Monfort Investment Group, a group headed by Colorado Rockies General Partners. [6]
October 17, 2011, Grand Junction city officials unanimously approved a lease agreement to the team, making Suplizio Field home to the newly renamed Grand Junction Rockies.[7]
In conjunction with a contraction of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Pioneer League was converted from an MLB-affiliated Rookie Advanced league to an independent baseball league and granted status as an MLB Partner League, with Grand Junction continuing as a member.[8]
On November 4, 2022, the team officially announced their new name of the Grand Junction Jackalopes.[9]
| Active (25-man) roster | Coaches/Other | |||
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Infielders
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Butte Copper Kings,[10] Casper Rockies and Casper Ghosts[11] players who have made appearances on Major League teams:
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