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The Newport Gulls are a wooden-bat, collegiate summer baseball team based in Newport, Rhode Island. The Newport Gulls Baseball Club is a member of the Coastal Division of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Since 2001, the Gulls have played at Cardines Field.
While most teams playing at Cardines average attendance in the dozens or, at most, a few hundred per game, the Newport Gulls, since moving to Newport in 2001, have helped bring the field back to its former glory days of the mid-twentieth century, averaging over 2,300 fans for a regular-season home game. During the 2004 season alone, the Gulls attracted over 50,000 fans through just 26 home games, with sellout crowds in excess of 3,000 people. Following the 2006 season, the Gulls set a team and league record (since surpassed) for regular season home attendance, totaling 42,424 fans after 21 games, along with the league's all-time best win–loss record of 32–10. For the 2024 season, the Gulls ranked 13th in all of summer collegiate baseball with an average attendance of 2,676 per game, second in the NECBL to the ninth-ranked Martha's Vineyard Sharks. In 15 seasons in Newport, the Gulls have never failed to win fewer than 25 regular season games.
Newport Gulls games often feature fan participation activities between innings, along with concessions, low ticket prices, and a safe atmosphere. This reputation has only added to their popularity, not only among tourists passing through Newport, but with many Aquidneck Island children and families, as well. The active crowds, historic atmosphere, and competent club management have allowed the Gulls to recruit some of the best college baseball players in the nation, with talent rivaling the Cape Cod League. Since 2001, Cardines Field has hosted the Gulls through 13 regular season division titles, 13 postseason division titles, and 8 league championships, along with other notable awards, such as the RI Governor's Cup, Pell Bridge Series Championship, and Dunkin' Donuts Cup. The Gulls formerly had an annual tradition of playing USA Baseball in an exhibition around Independence Day every July, in what was often a sellout game. In July 2005, the Gulls hosted the NECBL All-Star Game and Home Run Derby at Cardines, which was a major event for the park, the league, and the City of Newport. The Gulls have hosted the NECBL All-Star Game and Home Run Derby four times, in 2005, 2010, 2016, and 2021.
The Gulls and the NECBL as a whole have received national attention with the addition of live Internet video webcasts to the normal audio webcast of games, effectively doing so at minimum cost in infrastructure. On opening night of the 2006 NECBL season, the Newport Gulls were the first to implement this new technology, bringing summer collegiate baseball, as well as Cardines Field, into a new era. These changes and improvements were implemented under the direction of team Director of Broadcast Operations and Media Relations Nicholas Lima from 2005 to 2015.
This attention is more than welcome for Gulls players, who, as amateur college athletes, hope to be drafted by Major League Baseball teams. The recent surge in recognition and popularity of the Newport Gulls organization throughout the professional baseball world has provided for an increase in the number of Gulls players to be drafted every year. The professionalism and expanse of the Gulls media operations has made it a model summer collegiate teams around the country attempt to emulate, and the Gulls internship program is considered a premier stepping stone for college students seeking a career in sports management.
The Gulls are the most successful franchise in NECBL history, having won the Fay Vincent Sr. Cup in 2001, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2023, and most recently in 2024. The 2012 Gulls were Perfect Games unofficial national champion, and NECBL's first team to be so honored.
| 2000 !style="background-color:#cfcfcf;" | !style="background-color:#cfcfcf;" | Mill City All-Americans | W (2–1) | Keene Swamp Bats | L (1–2) | |
| 2001 !style="background-color:#cfcfcf;" | !style="background-color:#cfcfcf;" | Eastern Tides | W (2–1) | Keene Swamp Bats | W (2–1) | |
| 2002 | North Adams Steeplecats | W (2–1) | Danbury Westerners | W (2–0) | Keene Swamp Bats | W (2–0) |
| 2003 | Danbury Westerners | W (2–1) | Torrington Twisters | L (0–2) | ||
| 2004 | Torrington Twisters | W (2–1) | Riverpoint Royals | W (2–1) | Sanford Mainers | L (1–2) |
| 2005 | Danbury Westerners | W (2–0) | North Adams Steeplecats | W (2–0) | Vermont Mountaineers | W (2–0) |
| 2006 | Manchester Silkworms | W (2–1) | Torrington Twisters | L (0–2) | ||
| 2007 | North Adams Steeplecats | W (2–1) | Torrington Twisters | W (2–0) | Vermont Mountaineers | L (0–2) |
| 2008 | Manchester Silkworms | W (2–0) | Pittsfield Dukes | W (2–0) | Sanford Mainers | L (0–2) |
| 2009 | New Bedford Bay Sox | W (2–0) | Sanford Mainers | W (2–1) | Vermont Mountaineers | W (2–1) |
| 2010 | Laconia Muskrats | W (2–0) | North Shore Navigators | L (1–2) | ||
| 2011 | Laconia Muskrats | L (0–2) | ||||
| 2012 | Sanford Mainers | W (2–1) | New Bedford Bay Sox | W (2–0) | Danbury Westerners | W (2–0) |
| 2013 | Sanford Mainers | W (2–0) | Mystic Schooners | W (2–0) | Keene Swamp Bats | L (1–2) |
| 2014 | Ocean State Waves | W (2–1) | Plymouth Pilgrims | W (2–1) | Sanford Mainers | W (2–0) |
| 2015 | Ocean State Waves | W (2–1) | Mystic Schooners | L (0–2) | ||
| 2016 | Danbury Westerners | W (2-1) | Mystic Schooners | L (0-2) | ||
| 2019 | Mystic Schooners | W (1-0) | Martha's Vineyard Sharks | L (2-1) | ||
| 2022 | Sanford Mainers | L (0–1) | ||||
| 2023 | Ocean State Waves | W (2–1) | Danbury Westerners | W (2–0) | Bristol Blues | W (2–0) |
| 2024 | Valley Blue Sox | W (2–0) | Bristol Blues | W (2–0) | Sanford Mainers | W (2–1) |
| + Notable Newport Gulls | |||
| 1999 | Jason Szuminski | San Diego Padres | MIT |
| 2003 | Chris Ianetta | Los Angeles Angels | University of North Carolina |
| 2004 | Mitchell Boggs | St. Louis Cardinals | University of Georgia |
| 2005 | Dan Otero | San Francisco Giants | Duke University |
| 2006 | Jeff Beliveau | Chicago Cubs | College of Charleston |
| 2006 | Chris Dominguez | San Francisco Giants | University of Louisville |
| 2007 | Adam Wilk | Detroit Tigers | Long Beach State University |
| 2007 | Mike Stud | N/A | Duke University |
| 2009 | Greg Garcia | St. Louis Cardinals | University of Hawaii |
| 2010 | Mark Appel | Philadelphia Phillies | Stanford University |
| 2010 | Chris Taylor | Seattle Mariners | University of Virginia |
| 2010 | Pat Light | Boston Red Sox | Monmouth University |
| 2011–12 | Daniel Wright | Cincinnati Reds | Arkansas State University |
| 2013 | Brett Graves | Miami Marlins | University of Missouri |
| 2013 | Joel McKeithan | Cincinnati Reds | Vanderbilt University |
| 2014 | Tommy Edman | St. Louis Cardinals | Stanford University |
| 2014 | Will Smith | Los Angeles Dodgers | University of Louisville |
| 2015 | James Karinchak | Cleveland Guardians | Bryant University |
| 2016 | Kris Bubic | Kansas City Royals | Stanford University |
| 2016 | Jake Cousins | Milwaukee Brewers | University of Pennsylvania |
| 2017 | JJ Bleday | Oakland Athletics | Vanderbilt University |
| 2019 | Justyn-Henry Malloy | Detroit Tigers | Georgia Tech |
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