{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox baseball team |name = Manchester Silkworms |founded = 2000 |disbanded = 2009 |city = Manchester, Connecticut<br />(2000–09) |ballpark = Northwest Park (2000–09) |logo = ManSilkwormsLogo.png |cap_logo = SilkwormsHat.png |league = |division = |former_leagues = |former_names = {{plainlist| * Manchester Silkworms (2000–09) }} |nicknames = |uniform = |retired_numbers = |colors = |former_ballparks = |league_champs = 0 |division_champs = |owner = |gm = |manager = |media = |website = }} The '''Manchester Silkworms''' were a collegiate summer baseball team located in Manchester, Connecticut playing in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a collegiate summer baseball league operating in the northeastern United States region of New England. The team, an expansion franchise formed in 1999 which began play for the 2000 season, was based out of Northwest Park. In October, 2009 a new ownership group announced they would be moving the team to Laconia, New Hampshire, becoming the Laconia Muskrats (now called the Winnipesaukee Muskrats).
==History==
===Silkworm name=== In 1838, the Cheney Family started what became the world's largest silk mill, and by the 1920s developed a utopian industrial community. The intact mill buildings, owner houses and worker houses are now a National Historic Landmark District. The mill buildings have undergone restoration and conversion to housing in the recent past.<ref>{{cite news|date=2005-07-11 |title=About Us |url=http://www.manchestersilkworms.org/links/about.html |publisher=Manchester Silkworms |accessdate=2007-03-07 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061203054040/http://www.manchestersilkworms.org/links/about.html |archivedate=2006-12-03 }}</ref>
Hence, the name ''Silkworms''.
===Move to Laconia=== On Sunday, October 18, 2009, Silkworms founder, owner, and general manager Ed Slegeski announced that he had sold the team to a partnership led by Noah Crane, which moved the team to Laconia, New Hampshire for the 2010 NECBL season.<ref>{{cite news | date = 2009-10-18 | title = Manchester Silkworms are sold, moving to New Hampshire | url = http://www.manchestersilkworms.org/ | publisher = Manchester Silkworms | accessdate = 2009-10-20 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090906083306/http://www.manchestersilkworms.org/ | archive-date = 2009-09-06 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
===Notable former players=== [[File:Ryan Lavarnway 2012.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Ryan Lavarnway]] *Jonah Bayliss, former Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher *Nick Christiani, Cincinnati Reds pitcher *Chris Denorfia, San Diego Padres outfielder *Graham Godfrey, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher *Reid Gorecki, former Atlanta Braves outfielder *Zach Jackson, Washington National pitcher *Ryan Lavarnway, Baltimore Orioles catcher *Andy Parrino, Oakland Athletics shortstop
==Postseason appearances==
{| class="wikitable" |- !Year !colspan=2|Division Semi-Finals !colspan=2|Division Finals !colspan=2|NECBL Championship Series |- |2004 |Riverpoint Royals |L (1-2) | | | | |- |2005 |North Adams SteepleCats |L (1-2) | | | | |- |2006 |Newport Gulls |L (1-2) | | | | |- |2007 |Torrington Twisters |L (0-2) | | | | |- |2008 |Newport Gulls |L (0-2) | | | | |}
==See also== * New England Collegiate Baseball League * Manchester, Connecticut
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090906083306/http://www.manchestersilkworms.org/ Manchester Silkworms website] * [http://www.necbl.com NECBL website]
Category:New England Collegiate Baseball League teams Category:Sports in Manchester, Connecticut Category:Amateur baseball teams in Connecticut Category:Silk Category:1999 establishments in Connecticut Category:2009 disestablishments in Connecticut Category:Baseball teams established in 1999 Category:Baseball teams disestablished in 2009