Fort Smith Marshals (2024-Present)

The page was written by contributor Jacob Kauffman.

The Fort Smith Marshals are an independent amatuer-status baseball franchise based in Fort Smith, AR since 2024. The Marshals presently play in the Mid-America League, an independent summer development league. The 2024 Marshals represented the first organized baseball team in Fort Smith in more than 70 years. Home games are played at Crowder Field.

History

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The Marshals were one of six teams formed to launch the inaugural season of the Mid-America League in the summer of 2024. The Mid-American League brands itself as a summer development league but with organizations that are “operated like a minor league professional baseball team, with a focus on sales, customer service and value-add entertainment to complement the play on the field.”1 Most players in the league plan to return to their college programs at the conclusion of the season, while others hope to progress to varying levels of independent and professional baseball. Opening Day 2024 marked the end of a more than 70 year drought for organized baseball in Fort Smith (iterations of several clubs played sporadically from 1887-1953).2

In advance of their first season, the Fort Smith organization held a naming contest with nods to Fort Smith’s frontier history. General Manager Greg Kigar said the end result was “easily the most popular” choice, “the Marshals name is a great fit for the team, which includes the regional history of Bass Reeves, Judge Parker, and the U.S. Marshals Museum.”3

In its first season, each team in the MAL had a 68 game schedule (34 home, 34 away), with the Marshals traveling up to eight hours to play their most distant opponent. Fort Smith faced off against the Abilene Flying Bison (TX), Piney Woods TimberHogs of White Oak (TX), Sherman ShadowCats (TX), Texarkana Rhinos (TX), and Joplin Outlaws (MO). The Marshals’ home games are played at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith’s Crowder Field. Attendance reached around 700 fans to mark the opening game against the Texarkana Rhinos.4 While official season attendance figures were not released, General Manager Greg Kigar confirmed to the Arkansas Baseball Encyclopedia that crowd figures generally hovered in the low-100s throughout much of the season, sometimes dipping into double-digits.5

Despite a strong showing through the first half of the season, the team finished in last place (28-38 overall record) after a six game losing streak took them out of fleeting playoff contention. The end-season collapse, included a dismal 4-20 performance in the second half of the season. The Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette concluded, “Injuries and departures from the team, which was down to 18 players on a 40-man roster, didn't help.”6

Future & Facilities

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The Marshals will rejoin the other five teams in the MAL for their second season, running May 22nd to August 3rd 2025. There are 64 games scheduled (32 home, 32 away) with home games returning to UAFS’ Crowder Field.7 In 2024, the facility offered several seating options, including: field-level, terrace, and picnic tables with an estimated capacity of about 1,000 fans. 8 Amenities included concessions, alcohol sales, merchandise, game-day give-aways and a cooling/misting station for extreme summer temperatures.9

The city of Fort Smith has taken initial steps to pursue the feasibility of constructing a multi-use riverfront stadium that, if constructed, could become the home of the Marshals. In August 2023, city officials “authorized spending $75,000 from the city's 2023 operating budget to have Mammoth Sports Construction provide design services for a potential baseball stadium and related services.” Preliminary estimates for an “entry-level” stadium on the riverfront, seating approximately 1,500 fans, predict a cost of “roughly $10 million.”10 The study has not yet been completed as of January 2025.

From 1921-1955, the city’s organized baseball franchises played in the historic, and now-demolished, Andrew’s Field. The ballpark was torn down in 2010 and the land was turned over to the Fort Smith National Cemetery.

Record

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Year	League	Wins	Losses	%	Manager	General Manager	Ballpark
2024	Mid-America League	28	38	.424	Steve Maddock	Greg Kigar	Crowder Field

A full report on the Marshals’ 2024 season standings and league standings are available here:11 https://midamerica.prestosports.com/sports/bsb/2023-24/schedule?teamId=kyj6dp4i36ij7vb0

Players

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Nearly all of the players in the MAL actively play at the collegiate level and are seeking to develop in one of a number of summer-collegiate wood bat leagues across the nation. Although players, almost to a rule, come from across all levels of college play, rosters can include “select players who may have exhausted their college eligibility but want to maintain their amateur playing status.”12 54 players donned Marshals uniforms throughout the 2024 season. Nine players were listed as “veterans,” or those who no longer played at or had never played at the collegiate level. Eight of the players have their hometowns recorded as Fort Smith, while 18 hailed from Arkansas.13

The roster included several players with Minor League Baseball and independent league experience, including: Ethan Clark (5 years in Tampa Bay Rays system);14 pitching coach Toro Trevino made one appearance, he gave up zero runs in a single inning (various independent leagues);15 and Braden Quisenberry (California Winter League, United Shore Professional Baseball League).16

Several MAL players progressed to various levels of professional baseball, including Marshal’s players Jonathan Martinez (MLB Draft League; American Association)17 and Ethan Rivera (Pecos League).18 The vast majority returned to their collegiate programs as planned.

Third baseman Matthew Schilling and pitcher Zeke Hirsch earned All-Star accolades for the league.19

Team Statistics

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The full 2024 team roster and stats are recorded and available courtesy of the Mid-America League, here:20 https://tinyurl.com/pm5ea5jt

Team roster at the Fort Smith Marshalls team website.