Meet Cedar Rapids

Google Earth shot of Dale & Thomas Popcorn Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium. This stadium opened in 2002. Here's your trivia fact. The Timber Rattlers played the final game ever at the old vet in August 2001. Derrick Van Dusen threw a 9-inning no-hitter in the second to last game ever at the Vet.

There has been baseball in since 1891 when the team was called the Cedar Rapids Canaries.

Both the Appleton and Cedar Rapids baseball clubs joined the Midwest League in 1962. Cedar Rapids teams have been known as Red Raiders, Cardinals, Astros, Giants, Reds, and -- since 1993 -- the Kernels.

Rob Dibble and Trevor Hoffman both played in Cedar Rapids.

The Timber Rattlers and the Kernels have been affiliated with their parent clubs the longest in the Midwest League. The Rattlers and Mariners and the Kernels and Angels have been together since 1993.

From the Chamber of Commerce website:

Cedar Rapids is the manufacturing capital of Iowa and the state’s second largest city. More than 120,000 people live in Cedar Rapids and the surrounding towns make Linn County a community of more than 190,000 residents. The 2000 Census showed this area as one of the strongest growth areas in Iowa.

A few seasons ago, area artists created sculptures of the Grant Wood painting American Gothic. These statues were placed throughout the city of Cedar Rapids.

Why?

Grant Wood’s home and studio was located at 5 Turner Alley from 1924 to 1934.

Near downtown Cedar Rapids the studio is owned and operated by the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, which houses the world’s largest collection of works by Grant Wood.

Grant Wood (1891-1942) was a prominent member of the Regionalist movement. His most famous painting, American Gothic, was painted in this studio in 1930.

There is also a small replica of the Statue of Liberty on one of the bridges across the Cedar River.

From a Picasa Web Album

And the Quaker Oats Plant is right across the river from the team hotel.

Mount Mercy College and Coe College are both located in Cedar Rapids along with the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library. They currently have a display on the pivotal year of 1968, which included the "Prague Spring" and the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia.

Meet Great Lakes

Pop Great Lakes Loons into Google Earth. This is what you'll find.

Now try Dow Diamond and zoom in a bit...


If there are no satellite pictures of Dow Diamond, does it exist? Or, more likely in my mind, Dow Chemical has perfected a cloaking shield generator and is blocking the view from space.

Why should I continue with this post about the Loons being in their second year and historically they are the team that was in Battle Creek?

If this town of 41,685 and the home of Dow Chemical isn't going to get a decent satellite picture of their beautiful ball park, home of the 2008 MWL All-Star Game*, I'll just end this post.

*-powered by Dow Corning.

Meet Lansing

That's Oldsmobile Park, the home of the Lansing Lugnuts. If you head west from the stadium and can you find the Michigan Capitol Building?



The Lugnuts joined the Midwest League in 1997. Their immediate predecessor was Springfield, but that was just a placeholder franchise in 1996. According to MWL Guide, the Lugnuts are historically the Waterloo team.

Lansing had Kansas City as their first major league parent club. They were a Chicago Cub affiliate from 1999-2004. The Lugnuts have had an agreement with the Toronto Blue Jays since 2005.

Lansing won a MWL Championship in their first year and won their second league championship in 2003. They lost to the Peoria Chiefs in the 2002 finals.

Carlos Zambrano and Corey Patterson were both Lugnuts in 1999.

Lansing is the State Capital of Michigan and has a population of 300,032 (according to the 2000 census).

The campus of Michigan State University is east of Lansing in, um, East Lansing.

Want to learn more about the history of Michigan. Check out the Michigan Historical Museum or walk the Michigan Walk of Fame. Danny Thomas, Dr. Jonas Salk, and Gordie Howe were in the class of 2007.

Michigan automakers something that might interest you? RE Olds Transportation Museum may be for you.

Meet South Bend

Before getting started with this new series of posts, credit. The idea of the Google Earth shot of the visiting stadium is from The Wisconsin Sports Bar. The part about the miscellany about the team and the town is from No Rhubarb! One last thing before getting started. Thanks to MWLGuide.com for having a lot of this information in easily accessible locations.

Now, Let's Meet South Bend...

Stanley Coveleski Regional Stadium is the home of the South Bend Silver Hawks. It is named after Stanley Coveleski, a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Coveleski is a native of Pennsylvania, but settled in South Bend after his playing days were over.

The stadium has been the only home of the Silver Hawks. But, the team was not always known as the Silver Hawks. When they joined the Midwest League as an expansion team in 1988, the squad was known as the South Bend White Sox. Silver Hawks was not used as a nickname until 1995.

South Bend was a Chicago White Sox affliate from 1988 until 1996. The team has been a farm club for the Arizona Diamondbacks since 1997.

Did you know that the team the White Sox were the parent club of the Appleton Foxes from 1966 through 1986?

Did you know that South Bend played the final game at Goodland Field? On August 29, 1994 Greg Norton, who is now with the Seattle Mariners, caught a line drive for the final out in the last game in Appleton Foxes history. South Bend won 8-1 in front of over 3,000 fans.

South Bend has won Midwest League Championships in 1989, 1993, and 2005. They have made the MWL Championship Series in 1990, 2001. That 2005 championship was a victory over the Timber Rattlers in Game Five of a best-of-five series.

Added this paragraph about Retired Numbers after the original posting was made:
The Silver Hawks also have retired four numbers. The first is #42 for Jackie Robinson. The second is #4 for Jeff Reinebold, who is in the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame for his 503 wins as a High School baseball coach, was a coach for the Silver Hawks from 1988-2000. The third is #12 for Rick Patterson, the manager of the 1989 MWL Championship team. The fourth is #18 for Tony Franklin, the manager of the 1993 MWL Championship team.

The most well-known feature of South Bend, Indiana is a small private college with a legendary football program. Although, the hockey team had a much better season.

But, there are other features in this city of just over 100,000* in Northwestern Indiana. The main ones of interest to this blogger would be:

College Football Hall of Fame

Studebaker National Museum

The Sox/Silver Hawks were not the first pro team in South Bend. The city had an entry in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1943-1954. The team was known as the South Bend Blue Sox.

*-according to the 2000 census