History
The Otters franchise history began with the Lancaster Scouts, a founding member of the Frontier League in 1993. [3] After their second year playing in Lancaster, Ohio, and drawing a league-low 261 fans a game, the franchise relocated to Evansville, Indiana and renamed themselves the Otters. [4] The name was chosen via a Name the Team contest, with Otters beating out Pioneers, River Pilots, and Wolves. Otters were extirpated from Southern Indiana in the late 1800s, but one had recently been spotted in the region and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources was working to re-introduce them. [5] [6]
When the Otters began play in 1995, they returned professional baseball to Evansville for the first time in a decade. [7] The city had been without a team since the Evansville Triplets of the American Association relocated to Nashville, Tennessee following the 1984 season.
The Otters named Boots Day their manager in December of 1994. Day was a former Evansville Triplet and had previously managed for the Bristol Tigers of the Appalachian League from 1982 to 1983. [8]
The Otters drew 90,943 fans in their first season, more than the entire Frontier League had in its inaugural season two years earlier. [9] Their 2,675 fans a game was third among all independent baseball teams in 1995, behind only the St. Paul Saints, Winnipeg Goldeyes, and Sioux City Explorers. [10] The Otters' general manager, Jim Miller, was awarded the Frontier League's 1995 Executive of the Year award. [11]
The first Evansville Otters game was played on June 15, 1995. The Otters were awarded the Frontier League Organization of the Year Award in 1997, and the Commissioner's Award of Excellence in 2004. They earned their 689th win, a league record, on August 18, 2011. The team hosted the largest crowd ever at Bosse Field on July 24, 2013, with 8,253 fans in attendance. The Otters welcomed their 2,000,000th fan to the ballpark on August 18, 2013.
The Otters have promoted over 50 of their players to Major League Baseball franchises. Four Otters have gone on to careers at the major league level including George Sherrill, Andrew Werner, Brandyn Sittinger, and Randy Wynne. [12]
The success of the Otters in Evansville led to the move of more Frontier League teams to larger cities, many of which have built new ballparks, leading to the increased stability and success of the league in recent years.
On May 27, 2014, the Otters became the first team in the Frontier League to reach 800 wins. [13]
The Otters reached the Frontier League Championship Series in 2023 for the first time since 2016 but lost in five games to the Quebec Capitales. [14]
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