The New York Boulders are a professional baseball team based in Pomona. The Boulders compete in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the East Division in the Atlantic Conference. The team plays its home games at Clover Stadium, a 6,300-seat stadium built 40 miles north of New York City. They are one of three Frontier League franchises located in the New York metropolitan area; the others being the New Jersey Jackals and Sussex County Miners. Beginning play in the 2011 season as the Rockland Boulders, the rest of the teams in the Can-Am League (except for the Ottawa Champions, who were not invited) were absorbed into the Frontier League when the two leagues merged following the 2019 season.[1]
| New York Boulders | |||||
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| Information | |||||
| League | Frontier League (2020–present) (East Division) | ||||
| Location | Pomona, New York | ||||
| Ballpark | Clover Stadium | ||||
| Founded | 2011 | ||||
| League championships | 1: 2014 | ||||
| Division championships | 2: 2014, 2015 | ||||
| Former name(s) | Rockland Boulders (2011–2019) | ||||
| Former league(s) | Can-Am League (2011–2019) | ||||
| Colors | Blue, red, white | ||||
| Mascot | BoulderBird | ||||
| Playoff berths |
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| Ownership | NY BB, LLC | ||||
| Manager | T. J. Stanton | ||||
| President | Shawn Reilly | ||||
| Media | The Journal News | ||||
| Website | nyboulders | ||||
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The "Boulders" name refers to Rockland County's plethora of boulders in its landscape. The team's primary color, blue, alludes to the former Brooklyn Dodgers (now Los Angeles Dodgers), which used Bear Mountain State Park for spring training during World War II. The red honors the neighboring Rockland County Fire Training Center. Boulder Bird is the official team mascot and "Disco" Seth Cantor is the team's play-by-play announcer.
History
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On May 26, 2011, the Boulders won their first official game by a score of 11-5 over the Newark Bears after coming back from a 4-1 deficit. On July 24, 2011, in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs, Joe Hage (23) hit a walk-off grand slam at Stade Municipal in Quebec City, Canada to give Rockland a 7-4 win over the Québec Capitales. It was the first grand-slam in Boulders history.
On September 4, 2011, the Boulders announced they had signed former New York Mets player Howard Johnson to a two-game contract to play alongside his son, Glen. Both games were played against the Newark Bears.[2]
Although the Boulders played their first 20 games away due to construction of the new stadium, they finished their inaugural season second in the league with an attendance of 123,518 tickets sold.
The New York Boulders signed their first three players Tommy Giles, Eric Flynn and Ryan Mollica, from Suffern in its history in March 2011. Of these three, Mollica remained and played in 86 games. On August 22, 2013, Boulders pitcher Charlie Law pitched a complete game no-hitter defeating the New Jersey Jackals, a major divisional rival.
On July 7, 2014, Outfielder Jerod Edmondson singled off Ryan Bollinger of the Trois-Rivieres Aigles in the top of the fourth inning at Trois-Rivières, breaking the all-time Can-Am League record for career hits. His 700 career hits breaks the record previously held by former Major League Toronto Blue Jays player Chris Colabello.[3] On August 25, 2014, the Boulders beat the Trois-Rivières Aigles and clinched the playoffs for the first time in the franchise's history.
On September 2, 2014, The best-of-7 Parkway Series between the Rockland Boulders (Palisades Interstate Parkway) and the New Jersey Jackals (Garden State Parkway) began. The Boulders captured their first league championship beating their river rivals, the New Jersey Jackals at Yogi Berra Stadium, despite the always large contingency of Boulders fans at those games.[4]
On August 11, 2023, New York Boulders turned the first triple play in franchise history against the home team Ottawa Titans. Left-handed starting pitcher Ryan Munoz froze the runners on first and second base by allowing an attempted bunt to touch the ground, then picked up the ball and fired a strike to third base initiating an around-the-horn triple play that went from third baseman Gabriel Garcia to shortstop Matt McDermott and was capped by first baseman Chris Kwitzer.[5]
Clover Stadium
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The New York Boulders' stadium is Clover Stadium. It was originally known as Provident Bank Park then as Palisades Credit Union Park and contains 6,362 seats, 16 luxury and 11 loge boxes. The dimensions of the playing field are 323 feet down the left-field line, 313 feet down the right-field line, power alleys of 383 feet, and 403 feet at centerfield. The park also includes a 34-foot x 52-foot scoreboard, as well as a 75-foot ribbon sign board. Other features include special hearing-impaired seating with loudspeakers installed under each seat, a children's playground, and community rooms. The park also contains an indoor batting cage used by players to warm up prior to games which is open to the public during the game.
On September 4, 2011, the Rockland Boulders played to the largest crowd in its inaugural season – 6,300 fans – to see former New York Met Howard Johnson become one of the few players to have the opportunity to play in a professional game with their son. In 2012, the Boulders led the league in attendance with 161,375 fans.
Season-by-season records
edit| Rockland Boulders (2011–2019) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 1st Half | 2nd Half | Total | Finished | Playoffs |
| 2011 (8 Teams) | 19–27 (7) | 21–25 (6) | 40–52 | .435 | Did not qualify |
| 2012 (5 Teams) | - | - | 48–52 | .480 | Did not qualify |
| 2013 (5 Teams) | - | - | 49–51 | .490 | Did not qualify |
| 2014 (4 Teams) | - | - | 56–40 | .583 | Won League Championship New Jersey Jackals, 4–2 |
| 2015 (6 Teams) | - | - | 63–34 | .649 | Lost to Trois-Rivières Aigles, 3–2, in Semifinals. |
| 2016 (8 Teams) | - | - | 58–42 | .580 | Won Opening Round vs Quebec Capitales 3-2 Lost Championship to Ottawa Champions 3–2 |
| 2017 (7 Teams) | - | - | 64–35 | .646 | Won Opening Round vs New Jersey Jackals 3–1 Lost Championship to Quebec Capitales 3–0 |
| 2018 (8 Teams) | - | - | 54–48 | .529 | Lost Opening Round to Quebec Capitales 3–1 |
| 2019 (9 Teams) | - | - | 43–50 | .462 | Lost Opening Round to Sussex County Miners 3–1 |
| Totals | 564–487 | .537 | 16–20 | ||
| New York Boulders (2020–present) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Total | Finished | Playoffs | ||
| 2020 (14 Teams) | 14-9 | .609 | Lost Opening Game vs. New Jersey Jackals 11-2 Lost Fifth Place Game vs. Skylands Cardinals 7-6 (See note) | ||
| 2021 (14 Teams) | 43-52 | .453 | Did not qualify | ||
| 2022 (16 Teams) | 57-38 | .600 | Lost East Division Wild Card Playoff Game 8-2 to the Ottawa Titans | ||
| 2023 (16 Teams) | 54-42 | .563 | Did not qualify | ||
| 2024 (16 Teams) | 52-44 | .542 | Did not qualify | ||
| Totals | 220-185 | .553 | 0-3 | ||
1: In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the All-American Baseball Challenge was held and the Boulders participated in it along with the Jackals and Miners. Three other custom teams also played in the league. The league featured players from independent, affiliated minor league, and college baseball. However, the team kept the franchise’s former name of Rockland Boulders for the season.
Broadcasting
editFor the 2022 season, Boulders games are broadcast on WRCR 1700 AM and FloBaseball.[citation needed] Select home games are also available on Eleven Sports.
Current roster
edit| Active (24-man) roster | Coaches/Other | |||
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Pitchers
Utility players
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Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
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Manager
Coaches
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Notable alumni
edit- Howard Johnson (2011) 2x MLB All-Star and 2x World Series champion
- Barry Wesson (2011)
- Gustavo Chacín (2012)
- Julio Santana (2012)
- Carlos Rivera (2013)
- Bobby Jones (2013)
- Andrew Taylor (2014)
- Stephen Cardullo (2013–2015)
- Donnie Joseph (2016)
- Markus Solbach (2016–2017)
- Mayckol Guaipe (2017)
- C. J. Riefenhauser (2017)
- Justin Topa (2017–2018)
- Ezequiel Carrera (2019)
- Zach Penprase (2021)
- Chris Kwitzer (2022–present)
- Patrick Kivlehan (2023)
- Assaf Lowengart (2024–present)
- Alfredo Marte (2024)
References
edit- ^ "Boulders Roll into a New Frontier". Rockland Boulders Baseball (Press release). October 16, 2019. Archived from the original on October 16, 2019. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
- ^ "Ex-Met Howard Johnson, son to play in minors". ESPN. Associated Press. September 2, 2011.
- ^ "Rockland Boulders star Jerod Edmondson Breaks All-Time Can-Am Hits Record". The Rockland County Times (Press release). July 8, 2014.
- ^ "Boulders Crowned Can-am League Champions". CanAmLeague.com (Press release). Can Am League. September 9, 2014. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
- ^ Zacchio, Mike (August 11, 2023). "Boulders Turn First Triple Play in Franchise History". NY Boulders Baseball. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
External links
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