News release by Danville Baseball Club
A new era of baseball, entertainment and memorable, family fun has officially come to Danville and Pittsylvania County. Now, the Danville Baseball Club needs the community’s help in deciding their new team identity.
As we usher in the new era of the Appalachian League, we get to enter into the new future of Danville Baseball. A future filled with excitement, energy and once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
This new Danville Identity needs to match that vision, and the name on our jerseys will do just that.
Danville is a baseball town. This city has always embraced their team. Now, it's time to create an identity that embraces our community, our past, our present, our future and our fans — one that Danville and Pittsylvania County can proudly stand with. To do this, the club wants to hear from the community.
If you have an outlandish idea for a name that embodies our community's values, let them know. If you have a traditional name that embraces Danville's history, tell them. If you are a fan of the wild and wacky and think you can shock the world with your idea, tell them. If you just want to let them know how excited you are that Danville Baseball will be back in 2021, let them know. This is Danville's team, and this is Danville's time.
Submit your idea at milb.com/danville/community/name-the-team.
As of January 2021, Danville Baseball Club, LLC and the City of Danville have entered into a long-term MOU to l ease American Legion Post 325 Stadium in Danville.
Danville Baseball Club, LLC i s part of Knuckleball Entertainment, which also owns and operates Burlington Baseball (N.C.) of the Appalachian League. The group is owned by Brittany and Ryan Keur. Ryan Keur had previously been the Appalachian League Executive of the Year in 2014, 2015 and 2016. In 2017, Keur was named the 2017 Minor League Baseball Executive of the Year by both Baseball America and Ballpark Digest.
The Appalachian League is a summer collegiate baseball league that is part of the MLB and USA Baseball Prospect Development Pipeline, a pathway for amateur baseball players in the United States, and will also be an integral part of the identification and development process for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team and other future national teams.
The league is comprised of ten clubs deep in the heart of the Appalachia Region of the United States: Bluefield, Virginia and West Virginia, Bristol, Virginia, Burlington, North Carolina, Danville, Virginia, Elizabethton, Tennessee, Greeneville, Tennessee, Johnson City, Tennessee, Kingston, Tennessee, Princeton, West Virginia, and Pulaski, Virginia.
The Appalachian League is one of the longest-running baseball leagues in the history of professional baseball. It began in 1911, however disbanded in the middle of the 1914 season.
The league reformed in 1921 before again closing midway through 1925. A third iteration of the Appalachian League started i n 1937 and found success paying during World War II while other Minor Leagues ceased operations before once again folding in 1955.
The modern Appalachian League began in 1957, its first year as a short-season league for Minor League Baseball, and has now undergone a new transformation in 2021 as it becomes a summer collegiate baseball league in partnership with MLB and USA Baseball.