Don't count on the Cruisers in 2012

Not that anyone across the Frontier League was banking on the Oakland County Cruisers to return next season with a new stadium in Waterford Township, Mich., but you can probably count the team among the defunct.

One reason is Cruisers owner Rob Hilliard filed for bankruptcy last month. Hilliard, president of Diamond Heroes of Southeast Michigan, Inc., the corporation that controls the team, filed for personal bankruptcy, listing about $12,000 in assets and $414,000 in liabilities.

According to the Oakland Press, court records show legal filings against the corporation and individuals associated with the Cruisers.

Business debts listed include $17,334 to State Farm Bank in Georgia, $15,810 to Nationwide Credit Inc. in Georgia, $49,814 to Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati, $37,792 to Chase in Illinois, $13,088 to Advanta Credit Cards.

About the only thing the Cruisers have going for them is Hilliard has been through this before. In 1994, he was part of an ownership group for the New Jersey Cardinals of the Class A New York-Penn League. That group filed for bankruptcy after being hit with significant construction-cost overruns on its ballpark in Sussex County, N.J.

The Cardinals' ownership eventually reorganized and got out of debt. The franchise lasted 12 seasons before being sold and moved to State College.

Hilliard has not given up hope that the Cruisers will have a ballpark to call its own.

“I don’t know if the ballpark will be built where we originally planned (in Waterford), but we are working hard behind the scenes to make things happen,” he said.