The Springfield Sliders baseball team has new owners. Here's what that means

There is a new ownership group of Springfield’s Prospect League baseball team, and the owners say they have plans to make Robin Roberts Stadium a go-to destination in the city.

Golden Rule Entertainment announced its purchase of the Springfield Sliders at a news conference at the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel on Wednesday afternoon.

The official sale is pending approval by the Prospect League. Todd Miller has owned the Sliders since 2016. Golden Rule Entertainment’s Capital City Baseball, LLC, is the fourth ownership group since the Sliders began in 2008. The Prospect League is a summer, wood-bat league for college players.

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The news conference speakers included four of the nine ownership partners: former WWE wrestler Jeff Jarrett, Tim Hoker, Mike Manley and Jamie Toole, who has worked with the Jupiter Hammerheads — a Single-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins.

“The (Springfield) Park District’s been great,” Toole said. “We’re honored to be here and be stewards of this team for whatever period of time it is. It’s not about us; it’s about the product we can offer — the fan experience.”

Toole said he’s open to changing pretty much everything about the team, including between-inning entertainment, concession-stand offerings and even the name.

“People ask me all the time: ‘Are you changing the name Sliders’ — we’re not changing anything,” Toole said. “We’re asking you: what it should it look like, does it make sense?

“I’m a big foodie, so concessions, I think we have to do something. I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag but a walking horseshoe has been discussed … we’ve got to sell these Cozy Dogs here at the stadium, we want to make it feel like Springfield on the concession side.

“The food is important. We want to try to partner with local caterers, we want to enhance what our offerings are.”

But he said he wants to bring even non-baseball fans to the stadium through entertainment.

“I tell people all the time: baseball can be very boring,” Toole said. “That sounds weird coming from a baseball person. We want you to go to the restroom during the game so you don’t miss the between-inning stuff.”

Manley said he met Toole about a year ago and was quickly convinced he was a person worth getting into business with.

“We get on the phone and it probably wasn’t five minutes until I decided, ‘This guy is somebody different; there’s something different about this guy.’ He believes the same way I believe,” said Manley, who said he has two daughters who live in the Springfield area. “Springfield has talent and his name is Jamie Toole.

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“He’s going to turn this into something that you as residents of Springfield are extremely proud of and get baseball back to what it used to be in Springfield. We all know the heritage of baseball in Springfield.”

Hoker, of Grayslake, said this baseball team has four fundamental elements which will resonate with the fans: the historic Robin Roberts Stadium, plenty of baseball history, the community’s knowledge of the game and the game’s history and the ownership group.

“Just as Springfield has the ingredients to be a great city, so does this baseball team,” Hoker said. “I told the park district a couple of weeks ago that we didn’t just pull (the Sliders) out of a hat. We thought about it and we did a lot of research and this place has the ingredients.”

In the 2021 season, the Sliders averaged 1,074 fans over 27 home games and were fifth in the league in attendance.

Hoker said he wants to improve on that.

“Our goal is to lead the league in attendance,” Hoker said. “I think that is admiral and if we do it right, it’s going to happen.”

Jarrett said he bought in with the group because he believes in Toole.

“What in the world is a professional wrestler doing with minor league baseball? I’m a third-generation promoter,” Jarrett said. “Folks, I did zero research. When I met Jamie in Vegas, we hit it off because I think there’s an innate promoter in him and myself. We know at the end of the day, the community is the straw that stirs the drink.”

Toole stressed that the team’s roster will be full of local players.

“This is a team effort; this is a group of folks … that have a vision to make this team about this community and make it feel and look like Springfield,” Toole said. “I’ve been fortunate to meet with University of Illinois Springfield and (Lincoln Land Community College coach Ron Riggle) and these guys get talented kids right here in this town.

“Some of the best baseball players come here. We want those kids in our program. We want to learn from these coaches and we want to get the community’s team on the field. Off the field, we want these kids to be engaged and volunteering. It’s more about the developing the whole player than it is on the on-the-field player.”

The Springfield Sliders won the final Central Illinois Collegiate League title in 2008. The following season, teams from the CICL merged into the Prospect League.

Springfield has made the playoffs just twice since joining the Prospect League. In 2021, the Sliders were 30-30 and finished third in the west division. There was no season in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the 2019 Sliders finished 12-48 and set a Prospect League record with a 26-game losing streak, including 15 in a row at Robin Roberts Stadium.

Contact Ryan Mahan: 857-246-9756, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Sliders baseball: Springfield has new ownership in Prospect League