A note for the history buffs

I have recently gained possession of some three-ring binders. In the binders are newspaper clippings. The one that is on my desk right now is from 1987. The stories in this particular binder relate to the Appleton Foxes. There are boxscores, final stats, and a few other things.

For example, here is this little bit of Midwest League history from the season wrap-up article that was written by Gary Shriver and ran in the Appleton Post-Crescent on September 6, 1987.

After several seasons of aborted efforts to expand, it finally appears that the Foxes will be playing in a 14-team league next year. Dr. Eric Margeneau, one of the owners of the South Bend franchise recently signed a lease with the city of South Bend to play in a new stadium. The stadium, which was built with public funds and completed this summer, hosted several exhibition games between the United States and Canadian Pan American baseball teams. The White Sox signed a player development contract with the South Bend owners.

The other new franchise will be located in Rockford, Ill. Originally, the team was slated for Evansville, Ind., and when that fell through, Kane County, Ill., just west of Chicago. The team will play its games on an expanded and improved field that was used for amateur baseball.

"The field and lights need upgrading, and the city just approved funds for that," said William McKee, owner of the new team. "We'll also build a unideck grandstand that will seat 2,500 with box seats in front and reserved seats in back. In addition, bleachers will be built down the third baseline. There are already football-type bleachers down the first baseline."

The only other problems facing McKee is to sign of [sic] player development contract with a major league team.

"We have talked to a number of teams, seriously to about five," said McKee. "We expect to have this wrapped up by Sept. 22."

The addition of the two teams could add substantially to league attendance. South Bend's new stadium should attract fans, if only to see the new structure, while Rockford is in close proximity to existing league teams in Beloit and Madison. That should create a situation where fans from all three cities can easily travel to away games.

The league has already voted to scrap the present three-division alignment in favor of two seven-team divisions.

Appleton, Wausau, Madison, Beloit, Kenosha, Rockford, and South Bend will play in one division, and Springfield, Peoria, Burlington, Quad Cities, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, and Clinton will make up the other.

Plans call for a split-season with the winners of each half playing off for the divisional championship and those winners going on to meet for the league title.

No schedule has yet been worked out, but if the league retains its present 140-game format each team would play every other division member 14 times and meet the seven teams in the other division eight times.

Some other articles that are ahead in this series...and for some reason they are both in the 1987 file:

4,741 see Foxes' Correa strike out 13 in 9-3 victory (8/6/85)

Edwin Correa's fast ball was at its best Monday night, and that was bad news for the Waterloo Indians.

In fair territory
Cuban catcher makes his break for freedom (8/21/94)

It was his chance to escape.

While playing baseball for a Cuban national team in the Canary Islands last September, Jose Cuellar, now a 24-year old catcher with the Appleton Foxes, plotted his path to freedom. He convinced two strangers to hide him for a week until his team and any Cuban search parties had gone away.

If they would have caught me, I would have gone straight to jail," Cuellar said in Spanish recently while teammates Raul Ibanez and Ivan Montane translated. "I could forget about baseball. I would have had to rough it like everybody else."

There is a picture of Cuellar, Ibanez, and Montane above that article.

I'll scan it in and post it along with the rest of the article later this off-season.