By Jacob Infald
CENTRAL ISLIP – For nearly the last three decades, Suffolk County residents flocked to Fairfield Properties Ballpark in Central Islip each summer to watch the Long Island Ducks, an independent professional baseball team in the Atlantic League owned by Frank Boulton.
Boulton, a lifelong Long Island resident who graduated from Bay Shore High School in 1969, founded both the Atlantic League and the Ducks in 1998 and provides Long Island baseball fans with a family-friendly and affordable product to enjoy.
On Wednesday morning, the Atlantic League announced that the championship trophy will be renamed the Frank Boulton Trophy, honoring Boulton for the legacy he continues to build in professional baseball.
The Long Island Ducks are in the midst of their twenty-sixth season of Atlantic League Baseball, they sit 13-12 in the 10 team standings so far in the 2026 season. The Ducks have won four Atlantic League Championships and are the all-time league leader in wins. Furthermore, Boulton has ensured a product that is enjoyable for all types of fans, frequently providing firework nights and fun activities on the field in between innings led by their infamous mascot, QuackerJack.
The league is also expecting their 50 millionth all-time visitor this season.
Boulton’s have paid off, as the Ducks are the all-time attendance leader in Atlantic League history, and have led all MLB Partner Leagues in total attendance for five consecutive seasons. The Ducks also have the most sellouts in Atlantic League history with 723 games.
Boulton and the Ducks have continued to prioritize both winning baseball and a high-quality fan experience this season when they signed Trevor Bauer, a former MLB Cy Young award winner and ten-year MLB veteran. In four starts this season Bauer has posted a 2.73 earned run average, and 56 strikeouts. Bauer also fired the third no-hitter in Duck’s franchise history on April 26 in their 13-0 victory over the Lancaster Stormers.
In addition to Bauer’s talent on the mound, Boulton and the Ducks ensure that Bauer, who is also popular amongst fans on social media, sporting over 800,000 followers on Instagram and one million subscribers on his YouTube channel, is available to fans. The Ducks have Bauer mic’d up for all his starts and Bauer will sign autographs in the outfield before many of the Duck’s home games.
With Bauer’s presence leading to two sellout crowds during his two home starts this season, it is only a matter of time before Boulton finds another star or idea that will add to the already highly successful product of the Long Island Ducks.
