Following the Blue Sox' demise, Gerry Long of Los Angeles was installed as the Northstars' first coach, and the new team established an affiliation with Baseball Ireland.

[citation needed] During this period there were two victories over the reigning national champions the Spartans in Belfast,[5] and also wins against the Black Sox, Hurricanes and league newcomers the Munster Warriors.

[6] The Northstars entered a growth phase in 2013, bringing in former Keuka College Storm pitcher Jonathan Sculli as co-manager,[7] finishing eighth place at the Finkstonball tournament in Attnang-Puchheim, Austria[8] and reintroducing the development team to Baseball Ireland's B League.

Rosbotham, the Northstars starting shortstop and one-time outfielder with the Ireland National team, had his career cut short due to a serious knee injury.

As a fielder and clutch hitter, he was selected in 2001 to represent Ireland at Fenway Park in Boston against the Slocum baseball club from Rhode Island.

[15] In 2006, two young Northstar outfielders – David McCullagh and Conor Keenan – were both selected to represent Ireland ahead of the European B Pool Championships in Belgium, but neither made an appearance.

[16] There has been Northstars' representation on both the President's 9 and Los Barbaros,[17] select international teams made up of non-Irish nationals playing in the Baseball Ireland adult league.

[18] 2005 One year after being named most improved player, Northstars first baseman and pitcher Sean Shackley was presented with the MVP award recording a batting average of .360 and slugging percentage of .560.

He led the Baseball Ireland adult league in stolen bases with 18 swipes in 18 games, had a batting average of .400, an OBP of .531, scored 25 runs and drove in 18.

In their first few years of league play, the team wore red shirts with grey lettering but changed to the new colours of maroon and gold ahead of the 2003 season.

[23] On 1 July 2006, the Northstars team wore black shirts and Pittsburgh Pirates caps to mark the 100th anniversary of Irish McIlveen's major league debut.

The team was the brainchild of then Northstars player-coach Stephen Van Houten and was an attempt to lay the groundwork towards the creation of a northern division of Baseball Ireland.

[citation needed] The Emerald Diamond, a documentary film released in 2006 that chronicles the history of baseball in Ireland and the Irish National team, features footage of a 2005 Northstars game against the Blue Devils of Dublin.

[29] [30] On 15 March 2007, Ulster Television broadcast a short documentary entitled "Fastball", which told the story of how baseball helped US-born players cope with homesickness.