Sioux Falls Canaries

The Sioux Falls Canaries are an independent minor league baseball team in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA. From 1993 to 2005, the Canaries were members of the Northern League. The city's Northern League history dates back to 1942, while the history of the Canaries dates back nearly 100 years.

Legend has it that the nickname "Canaries" emerged from a newspaper writer's repeated reference to the team's unusual yellow uniforms.

Sioux Falls was home to the Canaries of the original Northern League in 1942 and again from 1946-1953. The city was then without a Northern League franchise until 1966. Then, the Sioux Falls Packers began play and spent six seasons in the circuit until the league ceased operations following the 1971 campaign.

A handful of independent baseball pioneers breathed new life into a revived Northern League in 1993. Sioux Falls competed in a six-team league, joining the St. Paul Saints, the Rochester Aces, the Thunder Bay Whiskey Jacks, the Sioux City Explorers and the Duluth-Superior Dukes.

On the field, the Canaries previously had enjoyed their greatest successes in 1994 and 1996. Former major leaguer Pedro Guerrero batted .329 with eight home runs and 47 RBIs for the 1994 Canaries as the team posted a 47-33 record for the season. Sioux Falls was narrowly beat out by Sioux City in the first half of the season while the Birds finished four games out of first in the second half. Chris Powell batted a league-best .357 to lead the Canaries while Jamie Ybarra paced all league hurlers with 10 wins and 109 strikeouts.

In 1996, the Canaries overcame a 20-22 first half to the season and posted a 24-18 mark over the second half of the campaign. Even then, the team finished three games back of the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks.

New ownership took over the club in 1998 and a steady diet of improvements have followed, including a new manager, new logo and identity system.

More importantly, the Canaries posted their finest season ever in 2001, going 55-35 and gaining the team's first playoff berth since the league re-emerged in 1993. It was a gigantic party on July 11, 2001, as the Canaries won the first-half title in the South Division in dramatic fashion on the final day of the half. Sioux Falls blasted its way to a 21-7 win over Duluth-Superior in the game that secured its first pennant and its first playoff appearance.

Team owners and city officials hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking in November 1999, effectively kicking off a $5.6 million renovation to Sioux Falls Stadium. An unusually pleasant winter allowed workers to get a leg-up on the project renovation, which was already going to be a tight fit with the June 2, 2000 home opener in mind. Canaries personnel could be seen applying coats of paint and prepping the field the night before and the day of the home opener to get the stadium ready for its grand unveiling.

The new Birdcage drew national attention on June 2, 2001, as USA Today writer Mel Antonen wrote a feature story on the unique retrofit. To this day, the project continues to draw praise for the integration of an existing facility with more modern elements that makes the stadium so appealing.

Sioux Falls Stadium now features nine beautiful luxury suites, a 3000-square-foot home clubhouse, a state-of-the-art group barbecue area and a video wall/scoreboard that features live and recorded video clips as well as animated pieces.

On September 29, 2005, the Canaries left the Northern League, along with the Lincoln Saltdogs, the Sioux City Explorers and the St. Paul Saints to form the American Association for the 2006 season.

Current Roster

As of July 7, 2007

Catchers 27 Tim Marks 15 Jake Smith Infielders 23 Abner Arroyo 26 Matt Imwalle 11 Cameron Coughlan  4 Damon Lessler 44 Orlando Miller Outfielders -- Juan Figueroa 22 Wil Quintana  9 James Shanks 18 Will Smith 17 Ben Van Iderstine

Pitching Staff 20 Lenny Bays 14 Kelly Casares 21 Kevin Cheppenko 37 Sean Donlin 16 Ryan Ford 25 Jerrod Fuell 24 Aaron Garrison  9 Jeff Landing 28 Pat Mahomes 34 Micah Posey 29 Kris Regas

External links

• Sioux Falls Canaries- Official Website
• nlfan.com Sioux Falls Canaries' Guide (Northern League '93-'05)
• aabfan.com Sioux Falls Canaries' Guide (American Association '06-)

References

• aabfan.com - yearly league standings & awards (American Association)
• nlfan.com - yearly league standings & awards (Northern League)