Although the name carries stone-throwing atavistic associations, the Pelters of Winnipeg are in fact named after the fur industry that so dominated the early years of Canada. In 1738, the fur trading post of Fort Rouge was established here. In 1822 Fort Garry (formerly Fort Gibralter) was erected. While America celebrated its centennial of independence from Britain and the National League enjoyed its first season, Winnipeg built its first City Hall and theatre.

Baseball came to town in the early 1930s and prospered here into the 1950s, the golden age of minor-league baseball, when hundreds of teams dotted the continent and television was still just a scientific trick. By the 1960s, the intemperate climate and cultural preferences for hockey drove baseball from town. The renaissance of minor-league baseball in the late 70s and early 80s brought a team back, as the Scrappers of the short-season Black Fly Association rebuilt the town's relationship with America's cricket. By the 1990s, Winnipeg had moved up to a AAA team status as a member of the Continental League, hooking up with the Moline Greens in 1993. It's a town that outfielder and ex-Greens prospect Chad Hermansen knew too well, having been player manager here for two consecutive years, training that still never made him a major-league ready ballplayer.

Attendance at Pelters' games varies from year to year, depending on the talent the Greens organization leaves in town, depending on the fluctuations of the local economy, and depending on the weather. It's not uncommon in Winnipeg to have home games in April snowed out. On such days, the alternate meaning of the team's nickname often manifests itself in the streets and fields of Winnipeg. Mothers, watch your sons when the snow falls. And check your freezers in July for snowballs turned lethal ice. Boys are thugs.