Merrillville Muddogs

The Merrillville Muddogs of Merrillville, Indiana are the only professional baseball team the town has had, and they lasted one summer. They were one of four clubs in a new independent league that played entirely within Indiana in 1995, alongside the Lafayette Leopards, Anderson Lawmen and East Chicago Conquistadors. The season opened June 13 and ended August 28.

The draw was the manager. Ron Kittle ran the club, twelve years after he won the 1983 American League Rookie of the Year award with the White Sox and next door to his hometown of Gary. He also put himself on the mound for the Muddogs that summer. His pitching coach was Steve Trout, who was fired before the season ended. Trout was another familiar Chicago name, having pitched five seasons each for the White Sox and Cubs.

Home games were played at Merrillville High School. The Muddogs finished third at 27-31, 6.5 games behind pennant winner Lafayette, in a league that held no playoffs. They scored 267 runs and allowed 310. They led the league in attendance at 18,351, which was more than Lafayette (7,624) and East Chicago (5,444) combined.

Five Muddogs were named All-Stars: catcher Donnie Diffenbaugh (.322), third baseman Craig Tucker (.276), shortstop Jeff Laschinski, and pitchers Ryan Lewis (3-2, 4.08) and Javier Gomez (5-4, 2.43). Gomez led the league in ERA and was named pitcher of the year.

There was no second season. Two of the four clubs carried on in the Heartland League in 1996: Lafayette and Anderson. Merrillville and East Chicago did not.