Midwest League

Information about Midwest League

Midwest League
SportBaseball
Founded1954
No. of teams14
Country(ies) United States
Most recent champion(s)West Michigan Whitecaps
Official websiteOfficial Website


The Midwest League is a Class A minor league baseball league which operates in the Midwestern United States.

History

Six teams – the Belleville Stags, the Centralia Cubs, the Marion Indians, the Mattoon Indians, the Mount Vernon Braves, and the West Frankfort Cardinals – began operating as the Class D Illinois State League in 1947. The league changed its name to the Mississippi-Ohio Valley League in 1949 after the Marion team moved to Paducah, Kentucky. The league added teams in Clinton and Dubuque, Iowa, in 1954 and was renamed the Midwest League two years later. After the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League folded in 1961, teams from Appleton, Burlington, and Cedar Rapids joined the Midwest League for the 1962 season and remain in the league today. In 1963 the Midwest League became a Class A league after the minor league classification structure was reorganized.

In 1976 the Midwest League contracted from ten teams to eight when teams in Danville and Dubuque were eliminated. In 1982 the league expanded to 12 teams by adding the Beloit Brewers, the Danville Suns, the Madison Muskies, and the Springfield Cardinals. The league expanded to the present 14 teams in 1988 with the addition of franchises in South Bend, Indiana, and Rockford, Illinois. During the 1990s several teams changed cities as Major League Baseball placed higher standards on minor league baseball facilities; franchises in smaller cities were sold to new owners who moved those teams to new ballparks in larger cities. Kenosha, Madison, Rockford, Springfield, Waterloo, and Wausau lost teams during this decade while Battle Creek, Dayton, Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids (West Michigan), Kane County, and Lansing gained teams.

The Fort Wayne Wizards are the oldest franchise in the league, having begun as the Mattoon Indians in 1947 and playing in Keokuk, Iowa, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, and Kenosha, Wisconsin before moving to Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1993. The Clinton LumberKings have been in one city longer than any Midwest League team, having called Clinton, Iowa, home since 1954.

Season structure

The league plays a 140-game schedule that begins in April and ends in early September. Since 2000 it has been divided into an Eastern Division and a Western Division, with four teams from each division (the winners of each half of the season and one or two runners-up) qualifying for the first round of playoffs. The first two rounds of playoffs are best-of-three series; the league championship series is a best-of-five.

Midwest League presidents

Current Member Teams and Stadiums

Eastern Division
Name MLB Affiliation Stadium
Dayton DragonsCincinnati RedsFifth Third Field
Fort Wayne WizardsSan Diego PadresMemorial Stadium
Great Lakes LoonsLos Angeles DodgersDow Diamond
Lansing LugnutsToronto Blue JaysOldsmobile Park
South Bend Silver HawksArizona DiamondbacksStanley Coveleski Regional Stadium
West Michigan WhitecapsDetroit TigersFifth Third Ballpark


Western Division
Name MLB Affiliation Stadium
Beloit SnappersMinnesota TwinsHarry C. Pohlman Field
Burlington BeesKansas City RoyalsCommunity Field
Cedar Rapids KernelsLos Angeles Angels of AnaheimVeterans Memorial Stadium
Clinton LumberKingsTexas RangersAlliant Energy Field
Kane County CougarsOakland AthleticsPhilip B. Elfstrom Stadium
Peoria ChiefsChicago CubsO'Brien Field
Swing of the Quad CitiesSt. Louis CardinalsJohn O'Donnell Stadium
Wisconsin Timber RattlersSeattle MarinersTime Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium

Midwest League teams since 1956

See also

External links

Midwest League
Eastern DivisionWestern Division
Dayton Dragons | Fort Wayne Wizards | Great Lakes Loons | Lansing Lugnuts | South Bend Silver Hawks | West Michigan WhitecapsBeloit Snappers | Burlington Bees | Cedar Rapids Kernels | Clinton LumberKings | Kane County Cougars | Peoria Chiefs | Swing of the Quad Cities | Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
Professional Baseball Leagues
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1954 1955 1956 1957

19th century · 20th century · 21st century
1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 
1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957


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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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West Michigan Whitecaps Founded in 1994
Comstock Park, Michigan

Team Logo Cap Insignia
Class-Level
  • Single-A (1994-present)

Minor League affiliations

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Minor League Baseball, formerly the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues and also known in the past as NAPBL, National Baseball Association, and NA
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Midwestern United States (or Midwest) refers to the north-central states of the United States of America, specifically Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
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City of Belleville
City |

Welcome fountain coming into the city.


Country | United States
State | Illinois
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Centralia is a city located in Marion, Jefferson, Washington and Clinton Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 14,136 at the 2000 census. The town was founded because it was the point where the two original branches of the Illinois Central Railroad, built in
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City of Marion

Coordinates:
Country United States
State Illinois
County Williamson County
Founded
Government
 - Mayor Robert L.
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Mattoon is a city in Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 18,291 at the 2000 census. Mattoon was the site of the "Mad Gasser" attacks of the 1940s.

History


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Mount Vernon (Mt. Vernon) is a town located near the center of Jefferson County, Illinois, in the United States. In the 2000 census, the town's reported population was 16,269 people.

Geography

Mount Vernon is located at (38.
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West Frankfort, Illinois
Franklin County, Illinois
Coordinates:
County Franklin County, Illinois
Founded 1810
Incorporated 1906 as a city
Government
 - Mayor Marion Presley

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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1910s  1920s  1930s  - 1940s -  1950s  1960s  1970s
1944 1945 1946 - 1947 - 1948 1949 1950

Year 1947 (MCMXLVII
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1910s  1920s  1930s  - 1940s -  1950s  1960s  1970s
1946 1947 1948 - 1949 - 1950 1951 1952

Year 1949 (MCMXLIX
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Paducah
Location of Paducah within Kentucky.
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Kentucky
County McCracken
Settled c.
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Clinton

Location in the State of Iowa
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Iowa
County Clinton
Incorporated 1836
Government
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Dubuque, Iowa

Flag
Seal
Nickname: "The Key City", "City of Five Flags", "Masterpiece on the Mississippi"
Location in the State of Iowa
Coordinates:
Country
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State of Iowa

Flag of Iowa Seal
Nickname(s): The Tall Corn State, The Hawkeye State
Motto(s): Our liberties we prize and our rights
we will maintain

Official language(s) English

Capital
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1920s  1930s  1940s  - 1950s -  1960s  1970s  1980s
1951 1952 1953 - 1954 - 1955 1956 1957

Year 1954 (MCMLIV
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The Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League was a minor league baseball organization that operated for the better part of 60 years, mostly in those three states. It was popularly known as the Three-I League and also sometimes jokingly as the Three-Eye League.
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1930s  1940s  1950s  - 1960s -  1970s  1980s  1990s
1958 1959 1960 - 1961 - 1962 1963 1964

Year 1961 (MCMLXI
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City of Appleton, Wisconsin
Appleton skyline from the south bank of the Fox River.
Location of Appleton within Wisconsin
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Wisconsin
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Burlington
Shoquoquon
Flint Hills
U.S. 34 over the Mississippi River in Burlington. The Great River Bridge connects Burlington and Gulf Port, Illinois.
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Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Flag
Seal
Nickname: City of Five Seasons, CR
Location in the State of Iowa
Coordinates:
Country United States
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1930s  1940s  1950s  - 1960s -  1970s  1980s  1990s
1959 1960 1961 - 1962 - 1963 1964 1965

Year 1962 (MCMLXII
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1930s  1940s  1950s  - 1960s -  1970s  1980s  1990s
1960 1961 1962 - 1963 - 1964 1965 1966

Year 1963 (MCMLXIII
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1940s  1950s  1960s  - 1970s -  1980s  1990s  2000s
1973 1974 1975 - 1976 - 1977 1978 1979

Year 1976 (MCMLXXVI
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1950s  1960s  1970s  - 1980s -  1990s  2000s  2010s
1979 1980 1981 - 1982 - 1983 1984 1985

Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII
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Beloit Snappers Founded in 1982
Beloit, Wisconsin

Team Logo Cap Insignia
Class-Level
  • Low-A

Minor League affiliations
  • Midwest League

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