Joplin Miners (Southwest League)
The Joplin Miners are a planned professional baseball team based in team based in Joplin, Missouri. They are slated to be inaugural members of the Southwest League of Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. The team's home games were planned to be played at a reconstructed Joe Becker Stadium.
A name-the-team contest was held to decide a name for the franchise from which six finalists were selected: "Tornado," "Twisters," "Miners," "Phoenix," "Jacks," and "66'ers." Ultimately, the name "Miners" was selected in recognition of the Joplin Miners Minor League Baseball team that played for 49 seasons from 1902 to 1954.
The Joplin City Council terminated the Miners' stadium lease agreement in February 2019 after the league didn't make its first $35,000 lease payment for Joe Becker Stadium by the due date, January 15, 2019. The league's contract also called for them to provide a schedule of play and disclose the leagues' two as yet unnamed teams by October 15, 2018. The league says this was done but is not being publicly disclosed until details of can be finalized and announced.
