One managerial opening

The Normal CornBelters, who finished in last place in the West Division with a 29-67 record that included only one win in the last 14 games, have fired manager Chad Parker after only one season.

Parker previously managed in the Frontier League with the River City Rascals.

“Square peg in a round hole. It wasn’t the right fit. It just didn’t work out,” Parker told the Bloomington (Ill.) Pantagraph. “I wish them the best of luck, and I’ll move on to a place that fits me better.”

The CornBelters have been in the Frontier League for three years and are still without a winning season. Normal hosted the Frontier League all-star game this year.

“Our owners expect a winning team – a team that is highly competitive on the field,” Normal president Steve Malliet said. ”We took a step backward on the field (this season).”

First opening

The first official managerial opening in the Frontier League for 2012 is in Normal, Ill., where the CornBelters have announced that Hal Lanier will not return for a third season.

The 69-year-old Lanier, a former National League Manager of the Year with the Houston Astros, guided Normal to a 90-102 record in his two seasons in the Frontier League. The Cornbelters were 46-50 this year and finished in third place in the West Division, but missed the playoffs by 12 games.

"This decision was based on a second season in which expectations were much higher than what was achieved," CornBelters general manager Steve Malliet said. "There's no doubt our talent pool of players grew significantly this season, but that didn't translate into enough wins on the field.

"We felt Hal worked hard to bring a winning team to Normal, and we wish him all the best. We expect to compete for a playoff spot each and every season."

Malliet plans to have a new manager hired by Nov. 1.

"Fran the Man" back in FL

Fran Riordan, pictured, is back in the Frontier League.

The winningest manager in Frontier League history, Riordan has been hired as manager of the Florence Freedom. Riordan replaces Toby Rumfield, who had an 87-105 record in two seasons with Florence.

This will be the fourth Frontier League team for Riordan, who has won three championships.

“I’m very excited to join the Freedom organization. The Frontier League has been a huge part of my life since 1997," Riordan said. "I’ve seen the league grow from its infancy and it’s been a great ride for the league. I’m very excited to be back."

Riordan was a player/manager for the DuBois County Dragons and the Richmond Roosters, guiding the latter to back-to-back championships in 2001 and 2002. After playing one season in the independent Can-Am League, Riordan returned to the Frontier League as manager of the Kalamazoo Kings in 2004. He guided the Kings through the 2008 season and won a league title in 2005.

Riordan has a 435-341 career record in the Frontier League.

Last year, Riordan managed the expansion Lake County Fielders of the independent Northern League. The Fielders had a 41-59 record.

Frontier League commissioner Bill Lee said, "It is fabulous to have Fran back in the league. He has been a great influence in the Frontier League, both as a player and as a manager."

More manager talk

- The Wild Things currently do not have a manager under contract for the 2011 season. Darin Everson had a one-year contract, but Wild Things executive director Todd Marlin said he's hopeful that Everson will return to Washington next season. Like most Frontier League managers, Everson has expressed a desire to return to affiliated ball. Whoever is running the Wild Things' baseball operations has until Dec. 22 to offer contracts to returning players.

- Former National League Manager of the Year Hal Lanier will return for a second season as the Normal CornBelters' manager. Normal had a 44-52 record and finished in fourth place in the West Division last year.

The Corn Crib

WJPA Radio's Randy Gore was kind enough to pass along these photos of the Frontier League's newest ballpark, The Corn Crib, in Normal, Ill. It's the home of the Normal CornBelters.

The unique parts of this ballpark are the corn stalks in right field, a throwback to "Field of Dreams." I believe the clubhouses are located in the building behind the scoreboard. Players walk through the cornstalk area and enter the field in right centerfield.

If you click on the photo, then you should be able to view a larger image.

Manager skipping series to play softball

The Wild Things begin a three-game series Friday at Consol Energy Park against the Normal CornBelters, the Frontier League's newest team.

The CornBelters are managed by Hal Lanier, pictured, the former major league infielder and 1986 National league Manager of the Year with the Houston Astros.

The 68-year-old Lanier, however, won't be in Washington this weekend. Word is he's staying behind in Normal, Ill., to play softball.

That's right, softball.

Lanier will skip the series in Washington to play in the State Farm Legends Softball Classic with a bunch of former St. Louis Cardinals, including ex-Pirates center fielder Andy Van Slyke and pitcher John Tudor.

With the CornBelters nine games out of a playoff berth in the West Division and Washington 10 1/2 games behind second-place Windy City in the East, the feeling in Normal is there's no need for Lanier to manage his team. Apparently, the CornBelters are sending only one coach to Washington.

Cleaning out the notebook

If you thought there were some long rain delays at Consol Energy Park, then you should have been in Kalamazoo, Mich., last night. The Kings and Evansville Otters waited three hours before starting their game at 10 p.m. This three-game series is Evansville's only trip to Kalamazoo, and with rain in the forecast for today (the game is in a rain delay as I type this), they wanted to do everything possible to get in the series opener. The Tuesday game lasted only eight innings before being cut short because of rain.

* Former Wild Things pitcher Patrick Stanley has been fitted for a lot of uniforms this season. Stanley, who is in the Detroit Tigers' system, played for his third team in less than a month Tuesday night when he pitched for the Erie Seawolves of the Class AA Eastern League.

Stanley began the year with Class A Lakeland, was promoted to Class AAA two weeks ago and pitched in one game for Toledo. In that game, Stanley tossed 2.2 scoreless innings with five strikeouts and was credited with a win. He was sent to Erie on Friday, and was the starting pitcher Tuesday against the Harrisburg Senators. Stanley pitched five shutout innings, allowing two hits with four strikeouts.

* The Frontier League team that will play next season in Normal, Ill., will be called the Normal CornBelters. Ugh!

The name received approximately 40 percent of the votes in an online contest.

“We like it for its promotional, retail and marketing potential," said team president Steve Malliet.

Other nickname finalists were Nutz, Coal Bears, Fellers and Camelbacks. The team will play at a new ballpark on the heartland Community College campus.

Nicknames that are Nutz

The Normal, Ill., franchise that is planning to enter the Frontier League in 2010 has trimmed its list of potential team nicknames to four. Almost 1,500 entries were submitted in a name-the-team contest, and here are the Final Four:

Nutz
Nighthawks
Coal Bears
CornBelters

If these were the four best nicknames, I don't want to know what the rejected ones were. Nighthawks is obviously the best of the four, but it's too similar to the Rockford Riverhawks. The Normal Nutz is laughable. The Coal Bears might have something to do with mining in the Normal area, but again it's too similar to the Southern Illinois Miners. CornBelters also falls into the laughable category but is even cornier (I can't believe I just typed that) than Nutz.

Coal Bears is the early favorite based on voting on the franchise's homepage. Nutz was the most-suggested nickname of the four finalists.