After a nearly 30-year hiatus, minor league baseball returns to Huntington with a new team in a spanking new ballpark.
By Keith Morehouse
HQ 129 Spring 2025
Kenyon Collins was still a kid, a newly tasseled graduate of Cabell Midland High School last June, when he found out he was getting a chance to play in the very same league where Cal Ripken Jr. started his professional career. The Major League Baseball Hall of Famer signed with the Bluefield Orioles right out of high school in 1978.
Collins got the call to play for the Tri-State Coal Cats in the Appalachian League — only two days after he and his Cabell Midland team won the Class AAA state championship.
“It was very exciting,” Collins said of his debut with the Coal Cats. “Many may assume it was a lot to switch to another team and play another season, but I was just excited to play more baseball, especially at Marshall University’s Jack Cook Field. I was excited to get a different feel for baseball as well; transitioning from high school to the Appalachian League was a big switch talent-wise.”
Collins, and the Coal Cats, will be back in 2025. The right-handed pitcher went 2-2 in his Appalachian League season debut, and he will do double duty playing for both the Thundering Herd and the Coal Cats this season.
He’ll be joined on the roster by two of his Herd teammates this year. Jackson Golden, a freshman catcher, and Griffin Miller, a freshman pitcher, play for the Coal Cats and represent the Herd at the same time.
More baseball is just fine with Marshall Head Coach Greg Beals.
“Having the Coal Cats and the Appalachian League here in Huntington is a benefit to Marshall baseball,” Beals said. “It is an opportunity for some of our current student-athletes to stay locally and play for the Coal Cats. It’s also nice that we can see players that are in the transfer portal right here in our backyard.”
The Appalachian League has a deep and storied past in minor league baseball. It was formed in 1911, and its alumni include Nolan Ryan, Kirby Puckett, Daryl Strawberry and Greg Maddux.
Huntington has its own history in the “Appy” League. From 1990-1994, the Huntington Cubs competed in the Class A rookie league as a Chicago Cubs affiliate, calling St. Cloud Commons home. The city loved its Cubs. In 1990 Huntington finished second in the league in attendance, and in 1991 the Cubs led the Appy League with nearly 60,000 fans coming through the gates. In 1995, the team was renamed the River City Rumblers as a co-op team, and its time in the Appalachian League ended after the season.
But in 2021, Major League Baseball began to downsize its role in Minor League Baseball. The Appalachian League became a summer collegiate baseball league that is part of MLB and USA Baseball.
Huntington’s appreciation for America’s pastime is part of what enticed Kindred Communications to become the managing partner for the Tri-State Coal Cats.
“I think there are so many positives happening in our community,” said Reeves Kirtner, vice president at Kindred Communications. “This is just another piece of that good recipe that we have here in Huntington. It’s really good baseball. The players are young and hungry. They’re up-and-coming players.”
Kirtner and his company want Huntington summer baseball to thrive again. Kindred will get a better leadoff this time around; the organization stepped in last year when the original operations group bowed out just before the season began. Kirtner has more promotional ideas in store this summer — fireworks on July 5, a bobblehead night, a Gilligan’s Island night and a Taylor Swift night are all in the works.
Also returning for the Coal Cats’ second season is manager Tommy Gregg. The former MLB player guided the team to a 22-26 record last year.
“I’m so excited to be returning to Huntington and being the Tri-State Coal Cats manager,” Gregg said. “I’m looking forward to another successful and fun season with the fans, the coaches and the players — and, hopefully, winning a championship this year.”
For those fans who can’t get enough of America’s pastime, there’s good news. The Thundering Herd will play 27 home games between February and May, while the Coal Cats will play 24 home games in June and July. That means six straight months of baseball at Jack Cook Field in Huntington — a dream come true for the kid in all of us.
