The 2013 Sioux Falls Canaries baseball team begins its season on Thursday night in Sioux City against the Explorers. Friday night the Canaries host Sioux City in the teams home opener game. The name change to Canaries from Pheasants is creating a lot of hype.
The Sioux Falls Canaries were founded in 1993 and the name remained the same until 2010. New management took over that year and changed the name to the Sioux Falls Fighting Pheasants. After a few years of fan support struggles, the front office management decided it was time to go back to the name which built baseball in Sioux Falls, the Canaries. Team manager Steve Shirley says he is very excited with the name change because it is what the fans and citizens of Sioux Falls want.
"What I found over the time is that the community here identifies us, their baseball team as the canaries. Always has and always will. So when I would go out in the community over the last couple years and I would talk to people they would say how’s the canaries going to do this year. Regardless of what the name was, they identified us as the canaries," Manager Shirley says.
Shirley says he is very excited for the 2013 season. He says he's confident of the team this year. He says nothing is possible though without support of the fans and management. The home opener is Friday night at the Sioux Falls bird cage with the first pitch at 7:05.