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HistoryDuring the summer of 1996 there was no amateur baseball in Stewartville or Racine. Finishing his freshman year of college and no longer eligible for Legion baseball, Andy Johnson could only play slow-pitch softball. Frustrated by the lack of competiveness, strategy, etc. Andy missed baseball. Andy noticed an article in the Rochester Post-Bulletin titled "Amateur Baseball" which featured a game between Plainview and Pine Island. Andy recognized many of the names in the article which were players out of high school like himself. Andy knew if Plainview had a baseball team, Jarvis Anderson had to be involved somehow. Andy called Jarvis, who turned out to be the Twin Rivers League secretary, and asked what it would take to get a team in the league. Jarvis said all that was needed was for Andy to tell him he could form a team and they would be let in with no questions asked. Andy then went to his high school assistant coach Mark Schmitz to get advice for starting a team. Mark told Andy he helped start the Lake City Serpents so it was something he had done before. Mark told Andy how much money it would probably take and recommended that the team get donations from local businesses and call themselves the Merchants. Being from Racine, Andy wanted Racine to be mentioned in the name along with Stewartville. Mark asked Greg Bro to come up with a design for the hats and Greg came up with the neat SR ensignia for the caps as shown below that was used until 2004. 
Black and red became the colors and the Stewartville-Racine Merchants started their inaugural season in the summer of 1997. After struggling through 4 seasons, the Merchants changed their name to the Sharks in 2001. The Sharks have come a long way since the team started in 1997 and hope to keep improving.
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