Selma Cloverleafs

Selma Cloverleafs
Selma Cloverleafs
1901–2003; (1901, 1911–1914, 1927–1930, 1932, 1937–1941, 1946–1950, 1957–1962, 2002–2003); Selma, Alabama ;
Minor league affiliations
Previous classes	Independent (2002–2003); D (1957–1962); B (1927–1930, 1932, 1937–1941, 1946–1950); D (1911–1914); B (1901);
League	Southeastern League (2002–2003)
Previous leagues	Alabama–Florida League (1957–1962); Southeastern League (1927–1930, 1932, 1937–1941, 1946–1950); Georgia–Alabama League (1914); Cotton States League (1913); Southeastern League (1911–1912); Southern Association (1901);
Major league affiliations
Previous teams	Cleveland Indians (1959–1962); Kansas City Athletics (1958); Philadelphia Phillies (1957); Chicago Cubs (1948–1949); Pittsburgh Pirates (1946–1947); Washington Senators (1940–1941); Boston Red Sox & Washington Senators (1937);
Minor league titles
League titles	1930, 1959, 1961, 1962
Team data
Previous names	Selma Cloverleafs (1928–1930, 1932, 1937–1941, 1946–1950, 1957–1962, 2002–2003); Selma Selmians (1927); Selma River Rats (1914); Selma Centralites (1911–1913); Selma Christians (1901);
Previous parks	Bloch Park

The Selma Cloverleafs were a baseball team based in Selma, Alabama.

The original Cloverleafs played in the Southeastern League and Alabama–Florida League at various times between 1928 and 1962.

Independent League

In 2002 a new version of the team was charter members of the Southeastern League of Professional Baseball. They played their home games in Selma, Alabama, at Bloch Park. The team left Selma after playing only three games in 2003 and playing the remainder of that season as the Southeastern Cloverleafs before folding at season's end.

2002

In April 2002, it was announced that Selma was the recipient of a team in the newly formed Southeastern League of Professional Baseball. For their inaugural season Merritt Bowden served as the manager. On May 27, 2002, the Cloverleafs played the Montgomery Wings in an exhibition game, marking the first professional baseball game to be played within the city since the original Cloverleafs folded in 1962. The season would officially begin on May 31, 2002, against the Americus Arrows on opening night, with Selma mayor James Perkins, Jr. throwing out the opening pitch. Dennis Gomez was the starting pitcher for the 'Leafs. Throwing 6 innings with 8 K's and giving up 1 earned run, picking up the win and closer Tony Macon pitched the top of the ninth inning to earn the save. Both feats were firsts for the Cloverleafs since the 1960s..The opening series drew over 2,000 fans to the stadium before the teams would embark on an 18-game roadtrip.

On June 25, 2002, the team returned after the extended roadtrip to play in front of many Cloverleaf alumni from the 1950s–1960s teams that called Selma home. The major highlight of the second half of the season occurred on July 17 when both Desmond O'Quine and Jose Colon each hit a grand slam in the seventh inning of a 17–2 rout of the rival Montgomery Wings.

The season would end after a 3–0 loss to the Pensacola Pelicans in the league tournament on August 29. The 2002 squad finished with an overall record of 29-29.

2002 Roster

Kevin Bice, catcher
Jose Colon, outfield
Joe Colvin, outfield
Bart Cowan, outfield
Jessie Ellison, pitcher
Dennis Gomez, pitcher
Luke Hurst, catcher
Lee Jolly, pitcher
Brock Lowell, outfield, 1st base, catcher
Tony Macon, pitcher
Lucus McCollum, pitcher
Desmond O'Quinn, 3rd base
Kyle Parker, pitcher
John Renfro, pitcher
Brian Rushton, pitcher, 1st base
Keith Sills, 2nd base
Andrew Tarver, short stop
David Thomas, 1st base
Terrance Thomas, outfield
Eric Turnrose, pitcher
Terry Waters, pitcher
Joe Whitmer, 1st base, outfield
John Learson, pitcher
Carlos Booker, coach
Merritt Bowden, player/manager
Jim Brantley, player/coach

2003

After seeing success in the 2002 season along with the teams’ new ownership, the outlook for 2003 looked bright. The team had initial player tryouts in March followed by an invitation only try-outs in April to fill out the final team roster.

On May 13, it was announced that the team would play as a traveling team for the 2003 season after ownership was unable to pay the league a $100,000 safety net to make sure they would finish out the season on the heels of the Ozark and Americus teams folding mid-season in 2002. After the announcement, the team would play on May 29 and a final double-header on May 31 in Selma before officially becoming a traveling team. These games against the Montgomery Wings were played in Selma due to a scheduling conflict at Paterson Field.

Of note, the traveling Cloverleafs team made national press upon signing the late Ted Williams' son, John Henry Williams, on June 9. His first game came against the Pensacola Pelicans on June 12. John played in 13 games with the Cloverleafs with an average of .051.

The 2003 squad finished with an overall record of 23–44, and finished sixth in the overall standings.

2003 Roster

Brian Baker
Jack Blanchard
Jim Booth
Vince Cerni
Mike Clohessy
Bobby Cobo
Matt Day
Eric Donaldson
Sean Easton
Michael Falco
Anthony Gonzales
Duffer Harrison
Hector Henriquez
Brad Hertel
Steve Horn
Patrick Jernigan
Jeff Larue
Brock Lowell
Tyler Marsh
Eric McKay
Mike Mulhall
Nate Nelson
Brett Nuss
James Pack
Ryan Price
Martin Reilly
Augie Rodriguez
Mike Settle
Josey Shannon
Chad Simmons
Travis Suereth
Antoine Watts
Josh Wilke
John Williams
Jason Wilso

References

Baseball Reference
Masterson, John. (May 29, 2002) "Gates will open early for Leaf's opener." The Selma Times-Journal.
Veach, Katherine. (June 4, 2002) "Nearly 2,000 attend homestand." The Selma Times-Journal.
AP Reports. (July 18, 2002) "Selma team hits pair of slams in inning." The Associated Press State & Local Wire.
Gullion, John. (May 14, 2003) "Cloverleafs Gone." The Selma Times-Journal.
Ted Williams' son signed by pro league from the Sporting News, extracted 19 October 2006.
2003 Selma Cloverleafs Statistics^[usurped] from The Baseball Cube, extracted 19 October 2006.