In 1978, the Manteno Thorobred baseball team was formed from a group of then current and former Manteno High School players. Coached by Manteno High School coach Don Fletcher, the team competed in the old Wil-Kan Thorobred League for players between the ages of 17-21, against teams from Peotone, Beecher and Crete. The league lasted two years. In 1979, Vernon LeSage took over as manager. In 1980, only Crete and Manteno were able to field teams, so the Manteno Thorobreds filled out the schedule with games against local American Legion teams and semi-pro teams. Muskie pitcher Rick LaMore took over the managerial reigns in 1981. In that season and in 1982, the Manteno Thorobreds competed as an independent team with no league affiliation primarily against American Legion, Palomino and semi-pro teams. It was also during this period of time that the Thorobreds began recruiting players from outside Manteno to fill the roster.
In 1983, at the urging of Kankakee Daily Journal sportswriter Mike Clark, the Manteno Thorobreds joined the Sullivan and Turnbull semi-pro leagues based in the southern suburbs. The team would win just three league games that season. Recognizing that to become competitive, it would be necessary to recruit more and better players, the Thorobreds recruited a number of current and former area collegiate players for the 1984 season. It was also in 1984 that the name of the team was changed to "Muskies". The name was changed because the team now rostered players older than the 17-21 year olds that Pony Baseball's Thorobred division called for, and the fact that the team was no longer associated with a Thorobred league. The name "Muskies" was chosen following an article in Sports Illustrated magazine about the Class A Madison Muskies of the Midwest League.
From 1983-1994, the Muskies competed in the Sullivan and Turnbull Leagues and each season from 1984 on competed in the American Amateur Baseball Congress (AABC) State Tournament. In 1989, due to a squabble over the use of the Manteno High School field, the Muskies moved to Momence for one season. In 1990, the Muskies played for the AABC state championship against a team from Chicago Heights. Since 1991, most home games have been played at Beecher's Sippel Memorial Field.
In 1994, Fred LeSage who had been on the team's first roster in 1978 and every season since took over as manager. In 1995, the Muskies moved to the Northern Illinois Baseball League in an effort to find higher quality competition. The NIBL had an outstanding reputation nationally and received an automatic bid for its champion to participate in the National Baseball Congress tournament in Wichita, KS. Other league teams routinely went on to play in the AABC and National Amateur Baseball Federation tournaments.
In 2000, the Muskies shifted leagues again with a move to the Chicago Suburban Baseball League. The CSBL represented yet another step up for the Muskies and the competition made the team even better. As the Muskies began to recruit some of the top collegiate players in the southern suburbs of Chicago to surround a veteran nucleus, the team's success grew. In 2001, the Muskies won the AABC Illinois State Tournament and advanced to the Battle Creek, MI Regional. The following year, the Muskies advanced to their first World Series by winning the NABF's Memphis, TN Regional. In 2003, NABF selected the team to host a Chicago area regional tournament. The team won that regional to advance to a second consecutive NABF World Series. The team would go on to appear in 8 out of 9 NABF World Series through the 2010 season. The 2009 team advanced to the championship game of the NABF World Series before falling to Troy, MI Jet Box. Then, in 2010, the team did one better and took the NABF National Championship by defeating West Haven, CT A-Plus Plumbing 10-4 in the World Series title game.
Today, the Muskies play 40-50 games each summer and split home games between Beecher's Sippel Memorial Field and several other south suburban baseball fields.
