Grand Rapids (baseball)

Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids
1883–1951; (1883–1884, 1889–1891, 1894–1917, 1920–1924, 1926, 1934, 1940–1941, 1948–1951); Grand Rapids, Michigan ;
Minor league affiliations
Previous classes	Class A (1948–1951); Class C (1940–1941); Class B (1903–1934); Class D (1902); Class A (1899, 1901); Class B (1898–1899); Class A (1895–1897);
League	Central League (1948–1951)
Previous leagues	Michigan State League (1940–1941); Central League (1934); Michigan State League (1926); Michigan–Ontario League (1923–1924); Central League (1903–1917, 1920–1922); Michigan State League (1902); Western League (1901); Western Association (1901); International League (1900); Western League (1899); Interstate League (1898–1899); Western League (1894–1897); Northwestern League (1891); International Association (1890); Michigan State League (1889–1890); Northwestern League (1883–1884);
Major league affiliations
Previous teams	Chicago Cubs (1950–1951); Brooklyn Dodgers (1940–1941); Detroit Tigers (1939);
Team data
Previous names	Grand Rapids Jets (1948–1950); Grand Rapids Colts (1941); Grand Rapids Dodgers (1940); Grand Rapids Tigers (1934); Grand Rapids Black Sox (1912, 1915–1917, 1926); Grand Rapids Homoners (1924); Grand Rapids Billbobs (1922–1923); Grand Rapids Joshers (1920–1921); Grand Rapids Champs (1914); Grand Rapids Bill-eds (1913); Grand Rapids Grads (1912); Grand Rapids Furniture Makers (1901, 1911); Grand Rapids Raiders (1910); Grand Rapids Wolverines (1906–1909); Grand Rapids Orphans (1903–1905); Grand Rapids Colts (1902); Grand Rapids Furniture Makers [Interstate League] (1899); Grand Rapids Prodigals [Western/American League] (1899); Grand Rapids Cabinet Makers (1898); Grand Rapids Rippers (1894, 1896); Grand Rapids Bob-o-links (1897); Grand Rapids Gold Bugs (1896–1897); Grand Rapids Shamrocks (1890–1891); Grand Rapids Baseball Club (1883–1884, 1889–1890, 1901);
Previous parks	Recreation Park, Alger Park, Bigelow Field

The Grand Rapids Baseball Club was a minor league baseball team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan that played under several different names at various times between 1883 and 1951.

An ancestor to two Major League franchises

From 1894-1897, Grand Rapids played in the Western League, a minor league precursor to what is now the American League of Major League Baseball. Despite being a founding member of the newly reorganized Western League under Ban Johnson, Grand Rapids was only allowed annual, rather than a five-year, franchise renewal rights. This lack of permanency, as well as the city's refusal to allow professional games to be played in the city limits on Sundays - traditionally the day for the largest crowds by far - were contributing factors in the failure to upgrade Recreation Park, their home grounds; the ballpark was adequate by 1894 standards but quickly fell behind the times as newer, larger parks such as Detroit's Bennett Park (Detroit) (in 1896) were being completed. In 1897, the team was purchased by Robert Leadley and named the Bob-O-Links. During this season, the team ignobly finished with 100 losses against a mere 34 wins, and suffered immensely under Leadley's fiscal maleficence. ^[1] Poor team and business management, the lack of improvements, the poor level of team play with basement finishes in the previous three seasons - all conditions rendering the city's slight comparative size a likely though unnecessary factor - caused Johnson to remove the team to Omaha, Nebraska after the 1897 season. Following the departure from Grand Rapids, the team fared even worse with attendance, not being able to last a full season in Nebraska. They moved to St. Joseph, Missouri to finish the 1898 season, and moved to Buffalo, New York in 1899. The Grand Rapids-Omaha-St. Joseph-Buffalo franchise, from 1895-1899, finished in last place every season, and finished second to last in Buffalo in 1900, never being able to reach attendance levels previously known in the Furniture City. By this time, the former minor Western League had become the American League and was pursuing major league status. In keeping with Ban Johnson's strategy of direct competition and playing American League teams in National League (baseball) towns, the Buffalo team was moved - by direct transfer or by vacation, depending upon historiological perspective^[2] - to Boston, Massachusetts and eventually became known as the Boston Red Sox.

In July 1899, the Columbus, Ohio franchise of the Western League, run by team president Tom Loftus, moved to Grand Rapids after a year and a half of financial losses due to lack of fan support. At the same time, the Interstate League team known as the Grand Rapids (or Torreyson's) Furniture Makers, filling the void of the Western League's departure, moved to Columbus when Grand Rapids fans were less enthused over the lower standards of Interstate League play.^[3] Grand Rapids' second iteration as a Western League city began on July 20, 1899, and the team routinely played to overflow crowds in what was admittedly a smaller than average Recreation Park ^[4]. As an obvious celebration of the return of the superior Western League - soon to be renamed the American League and declared a major league - the 1899 Grand Rapids team was rechristened the Prodigals and contained future Hall of Famers Sam Crawford and Rube Waddell, in addition to a team the majority of which had, or were soon to have, major league experience, including Bumpus Jones, Frank Genins, Billy Sullivan (1900s catcher), and Louis Bierbauer.

Despite Grand Rapids strong fan support and first division placement - the city's only top half finish in Western League play - Tom Loftus accepted a job managing the Chicago Cubs for the 1900 season, compelling him to divest of his interests in the Grand Rapids franchise. The poor condition of Recreation Park, its property owner renewing his refusal to allow Sunday baseball there - forcing the team to play outside the city limits on its most lucrative day of the week - presented local complications difficult to surmount. Meanwhile, at the league level, with the inevitable sale of the club by Loftus - the only manager with proven experience at making big(ger) league ball work in Grand Rapids - there appears to be no serious consideration by Johnson to keep one of only eight American League franchises there, especially when his league's budding competition with the National League had him eyeing franchise placements in Chicago, Cleveland, and New York. In February 1900, months after the Western League's rechristening, Grand Rapids ultimately lost its American League franchise when its transfer was finalized to Cleveland, where it plays to this day as the major league Cleveland Guardians. (See also History of the Cleveland Guardians)

Firmly established a minor league city

Later Grand Rapids teams played mostly in the Central League but also in various other Michigan-based leagues. After a long minor league hiatus in Grand Rapids, the West Michigan Whitecaps of the Midwest League began play in Comstock Park, Michigan, just outside Grand Rapids, in 1994.

The ballparks

Prior to Western League play in 1894, the various Grand Rapids professional teams played at a variety of parks intended more for convenience than for permanence. Midtown Green, located at Fountain and Eastern streets, as well the property upon which Gerald R. Ford Job Corps (formerly South High School) presently sits (19th century site of the Kent County Fairgrounds), at Hall and Jefferson, were two such sites most frequently used.

The stands for Recreation Park were built in the early Spring of 1894 over a five-week period at a cost of $1,500. It was located conveniently on the South Division electric streetcar line, behind the site of the present-day Cottage Grove Silver Line Rapid station. Limited thought went into its design. The grandstand was located on the west side of the field, meaning defenses faced the sun. It was built 400 feet off of Division Avenue amid an array of lumber yards and sawmills, which likely made construction of the wooden park easy, but contributed to dirt and sawdust chocking the playing field glass, which was splotchy and a dingy yellowish color. It was a common complaint that fans walking to the games from the streetcar line frequent did so through sand and sawdust.^[5] Nonetheless, it was the city's first intended permanent home of professional baseball in advance of the arrival of the much-heralded Western League and the effort was headed by team president and future Grand Rapids mayor George "Deacon" Ellis. ^[6] ^[7] Prior to 1898, teams played at Recreation Park for non-Sunday games and at Alger Park on Reeds Lake on Sundays, so as not to run afoul of the city's Blue laws or the wishes of the owner of the Recreation Park property. Playing professional baseball games on Sundays within the city limits was a frequently recurring controversy and a stumbling block tripping up improvements of the grounds until the laws were relaxed in time for the 1899 season - the final year of its use as an athletic facility. The stands and fences were taken down following the 1899 high school football season, and what wood had not by this time rotted was removed to Reed's Lake for use at the ballpark there.

Later, the teams played at Bigelow Field on South Division Avenue and 39th Street.^[8] A McDonald's restaurant occupies a portion of the site today.^[9]

Notable alumni

Baseball Hall of Fame alumni

Burleigh Grimes (1940, MGR) Inducted, 1964
Rube Waddell (1899) Inducted, 1946
Sam Crawford (1899) Inducted, 1957

Notable alumni

Nick Altrock (1899)
Louis Bierbauer (1899)
Theodore Breitenstein (1891) ERA Leader
Hal Carlson (1915)
Bud Clancy (1923)
Josh Devore (1920-1921, 1923-1924)
Red Donahue (1895)
Red Dooin (1899)
Pat Duncan (1916)
Pretzels Getzien (1883-1884)
Charlie Hemphill (1899)
Joe Heving (1924)
Dave Hoskins (1948)
Bert Humphries (1909)
Bumpus Jones (1894-1895, 1899)
Frank Killen (1901)
Bobby Lowe (1908)
Jeff Pfeffer (1913)
Dusty Rhodes (1950)
Lance Richbourg (1920)
Milt Shoffner (1926)
Sherry Smith (1913)
Billy Sullivan (1900s catcher) (1899)
Ed Summers (1906)
Lee Tannehill (1917)
Jack Taylor (1909) ERA Leader
Maurice Van Robays (1934)
Stan Wasiak (1941)
Al Wickland (1911)

References

^ "He Will Forfeit It". The Evening (Grand Rapids) Press, November 6, 1897. p.4
^ Historians who favor the simple vacating of one town for another point to new ownership of the Boston team following the drop of Buffalo, while those favorite the transfer theory point to the multiple players retained from the 1900 Buffalo team on the 1901 Boston Americans, despite a dropping of minor league pretense would have necessitated a completely new roster.
^ Although often so referred to in digital spaces, the 1899 Grand Rapids Western Leaguers were never referred to as "furniture makers" in any of the contemporaneous press - this applied to the Interstate League product only for that year. All three daily newspapers, whenever mentioning a mascot, always referred to the team as "Prodigals" save for a single August 5, 1899 issue of the Grand Rapids Daily Democrat, which did refer to the team once as the "Rabbits"; the Grand Rapids Herald of August 20, 1899, in a drawing captioned "A Pennant Race", drew for third place an image of what might be construed as a rabbit. (there obviously being no ready imagery conjured by the term "prodigal") However, these are the only such references discovered.
^ Various Grand Rapids newspaper sources place seating capacity at about 1,500 to 2,000. Crowds approaching 4,000 were noted during the 1899 Western League season that placed fans along the foul lines from the first base coach's box to the right field fence. The left field fence was largely not available for this as the park was tightly flanked on its north side by the Detroit, Lansing and Northern (future Pere Marquette) railway.
^ "New Base Ball Park Is Being Figured Upon for This City Next Year" The Evening (Grand Rapids) Press, June 19, 1897, p.8
^ "The Base Ball Park. It Will Be Located on South Division Street." The Evening (Grand Rapids) Press, March 7, 1894, p4
^ "Today Decides It Question of Western League Ball In Grand Rapids. Loftus Is On Hand," The Evening (Grand Rapids) Press, July 12, 1899, p7
^ "History".
^ "Bigelow Field".

External links

Baseball Reference

[1] "He Will Forfeit It". The Evening (Grand Rapids) Press, November 6, 1897. p.4

[2] Historians who favor the simple vacating of one town for another point to new ownership of the Boston team following the drop of Buffalo, while those favorite the transfer theory point to the multiple players retained from the 1900 Buffalo team on the 1901 Boston Americans, despite a dropping of minor league pretense would have necessitated a completely new roster.

[3] Although often so referred to in digital spaces, the 1899 Grand Rapids Western Leaguers were never referred to as "furniture makers" in any of the contemporaneous press - this applied to the Interstate League product only for that year. All three daily newspapers, whenever mentioning a mascot, always referred to the team as "Prodigals" save for a single August 5, 1899 issue of the Grand Rapids Daily Democrat, which did refer to the team once as the "Rabbits"; the Grand Rapids Herald of August 20, 1899, in a drawing captioned "A Pennant Race", drew for third place an image of what might be construed as a rabbit. (there obviously being no ready imagery conjured by the term "prodigal") However, these are the only such references discovered.

[4] Various Grand Rapids newspaper sources place seating capacity at about 1,500 to 2,000. Crowds approaching 4,000 were noted during the 1899 Western League season that placed fans along the foul lines from the first base coach's box to the right field fence. The left field fence was largely not available for this as the park was tightly flanked on its north side by the Detroit, Lansing and Northern (future Pere Marquette) railway.

[5] "New Base Ball Park Is Being Figured Upon for This City Next Year" The Evening (Grand Rapids) Press, June 19, 1897, p.8

[6] "The Base Ball Park. It Will Be Located on South Division Street." The Evening (Grand Rapids) Press, March 7, 1894, p4

[7] "Today Decides It Question of Western League Ball In Grand Rapids. Loftus Is On Hand," The Evening (Grand Rapids) Press, July 12, 1899, p7

[8] "History".

[9] "Bigelow Field".

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