The region's close proximity to existing teams made Southern Illinois a natural fit for the Frontier League.

[4] The Miners began their inaugural season on May 23, 2007, on the road against the Gateway Grizzlies, with the franchise's first home run hit by Tim Dorn that same night.

In addition, Southern Illinois Miners fans contributed heavily to supporting their lead mascot, Big John, to become the record-setting overall winner of the Best Logo in Minor League Baseball, awarded April 2, 2008, by CNBC following their largest online poll ever.

Thanks to a league-best 64–32 overall record, they also claimed their first-ever division title and made their second playoff appearance,[6] falling in a hotly contested five-game series to the River City Rascals three games to two.

In Game 1 on the road, the Miners shut out the Beach Bums 1–0 behind a solo home run by postseason all-star outfielder Javier Herrera (acquired in a trade with the Rockford RiverHawks earlier in the season) and eight shutout innings from ace right-hander David Harden.

Southern Illinois completed the sweep of the favored Beach Bums by winning Game 3 at home 4–3, sending the club to their first-ever Frontier League championship series.

In Game 1, trailing 1–0 in the third inning, Southern Illinois got back-to-back home runs by catcher Chris Anderson (a two-run shot) and second baseman Cannon Lester to take a 3–1 lead.

In Game 2, Southern Illinois used home runs from Gregory, Lester and shortstop Jake Kaase to jump out to a 5–2 lead after six innings.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Kaase drew a walk from Florence's Brent Choban to force in the championship-winning run as the Miners claimed their first league title in team history.

After the Miners missed the playoffs in 2013 for the first time since 2009, Southern Illinois finished with a 60–36 record in 2014,[9] clinching the East Division title on September 3 (the second-to-last day of the regular season) with a road victory over the Lake Erie Crushers.

[10] They also won their second-straight East Division championship, clinching it in memorable fashion on August 30 with a walk-off, two-run home run by third baseman Steve Marino against Traverse City.

Right-handed starter Adam Lopez went 10–0 with a 1.86 ERA to become the second-straight Miners hurler to win the league's Pitcher of the Year Award.

On October 6, 2021, after going 54-42 (.563) and coming 3rd in the West Division but missing the playoffs, owners Jayne and John Simmons announced they would be retiring from professional baseball, ceasing the operations of the Southern Illinois Miners.

The team has sent a total of 66 players to the league's All-Star game in 13 seasons, with 17 postseason all-stars in their history including five Pitchers of the Year (2008: Ryan Bird, 2010: Joe Augustine, 2014: Matt Bywater, 2015: Adam Lopez, 2019: Chase Cunningham), one league Most Valuable Player (2009: Joey Metropoulos) and one Rookie of the Year (2016: Shane Kennedy).