The Long Island Ducks, 2004 Atlantic League champions, play at Citibank Park, located in Central Islip, N.Y. The 22 million dollar facility seats 6,002 fans, and is home to Long Island's first professional baseball team. The Ducks principal owner is long-time Brightwaters resident Frank Boulton. Frank has owned and operated many successful minor league franchises, including the Prince William Cannons, the Albany-Colony Yankees (Class-A and AA affiliates of the New York Yankees), the Wilmington Blue Rocks (Class-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals) and the Atlantic City Surf. Frank is the founder and chairman of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.
The Ducks are also owned by former Mets shortstop and current Senior VP of Baseball Operations, Bud Harrelson. Bud was a key member of the 1969 World Champion and 1973 National League champion New York Mets. In 1971, he won the Gold Glove for his outstanding defensive play at shortstop for the Mets. Following his playing career, Bud stayed within the Mets organization as a minor league coach and manager, before taking over the managerial reigns of the team from Davey Johnson during the 1990 season He has also been involved with the ownership of the Wilmington Blue Rocks baseball team (Class-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals).
Entering their 10th Anniversary Season in 2009, the Ducks own a nine-year average attendance of 6,094 (101.5% of capacity) and have led all independent leagues in attendance in each season of their existence. Drawing over 400,000 fans to their ballpark each season, the Ducks are recognized as the gold standard in Independent baseball operations. In 2007, Baseball America honored the club as the Independent Organization of the Year. They currently own the independent minor league baseball single-season attendance record of 443,142 fans. They reached this plateau in the summer of 2001, surpassing the previous record of 436,361 fans which was held by...the Long Island Ducks in 2000. |