User:Dcb1986/Macon Bacon

The Macon Bacon is a Georgia based wood-bat Collegiate summer baseball team that began playing in the South division of the Coastal Plain League (CPL) in 2018. They have appeared in the league playoffs twice, and finished as the runner-up after a Championship appearance in their second season.

History
In 2017, the Macon-Bibb County Commission announced that a Coastal Plain League franchise would be coming to Macon. It would be owned by sports marketing firm SRO Partners, and would begin play in the 2018 season. On July 6th, 2017, SRO Partners and Macon-Bibb County signed a ten year lease agreement for Luther Williams field, which is currently set to expire on December 31st, 2027.

Later in 2017, a contest was announced to select a name for the team. After receiving over 1,500 submissions, five finalists were selected: Macon Bacon, Macon Soul, Macon Hits, Macon Heat, and Macon Noise. A vote was held, with the name "Macon Bacon" being announced as the winner.

Location
The team is based in Macon, Georgia and plays its home games at Luther Williams Field in Macon.

Luther Williams Field was built in 1929, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It has housed numerous baseball teams, including the Macon Peaches and the Macon Braves (a class A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves), who were the fields' last major tenants, and left at the end of the 2002 season.

Prior to the inaugural 2018 season, the team announced plans to complete major renovations and updates to Luther Williams Field, in partnership with Macon-Bibb County. At a cost of approximately $2.5 million, the renovations would be funded by revenue from the 2016 SPLOST. In addition to modernizing and updating the stadium's playing field, facilities, and seating bowl, the team added new concession stands and hospitality areas.

During the 2019 off-season, a new concession stand and children's play area were added to the stadium.

During the 2020 off-season, the team announced plans to request that the City of Macon use a portion of their yearly lease payment to install industrial fans in the stadium overhangs, in order to help alleviate the high summer temperatures. After some minor opposition, the county commission voted to allow the installation, citing language in the lease that allowed rent money to be applied towards stadium capital improvements.

Coaching Staff
Danny Higginbotham managed the team for the 2018-2019 seasons. At the end of the 2019 season, he announced plans to leave the team after being named as an Assistant Coach at Des Moines Area Community College. On September 10th, 2019, the team named Jimmy Turk, an assistant coach at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, Arizona as the new manager.

Attendance
In 2018, the team was named the Coastal Plain League's Organization of the year after selling out 11 out of 23 home games. It finished the 2018 season 2nd in attendance in the Coastal Plain League and 11th overall for the entire summer league, with an estimated home total attendance count of over 47,000.

Players in the Pros
These former Players have been selected in the MLB Draft or have gone on to sign contracts with professional baseball teams:

Post-Season Appearances
During their first season in 2018, the team advanced to the league playoffs. On August 5th, they were eliminated in the first round after a 4-15 loss to the Savannah Bananas.

In the 2019 season, the team advanced to the League Championship, the Petitt Cup, for the first time, where they faced the Morehead City Marlins in a 3 game series for the Petitt Cup, where they finished as the runner up, losing by a margin of 1-2. Game 1 of the series resulted in a 3-0 loss to Morehead City. In game 2, Macon scored an 11-4 victory over Morehead City. Game 3 resulted in a 2-6 loss by Macon to Morehead City.