Minor League Baseball Team in Midland Revives 125 Year Old Tradition Here
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William Stavropolous says "the rumors are true," at a news conference at Bay County's Valley Plaza announcing a new non-profit baseball team, stadium in Midland.
Warm up the flivver and grab the kids, Ma, we're goin' ta the ball game!
In April, 2007, the latest in the tri-counties' professional baseball teams will take the field in a new $20 million stadium in Midland.
As a non-profit operation supported by half a dozen Midland charitable foundations, the new team is as close as you can get to a surefire financial winner right off the bat.
And with a tri-county population base of 400,000 and over 1 million in the region, good attendance is forseen based on the model of Saginaw Spirit hockey that draws 40 percent of its gate from Bay City and Midland.
Dow has long sought community activities that will help the firm attract and retain employees in competition with large cities and baseball could be part of that effort.
A contest will be held in the tri-county area to name the new team. The Bay City Times already is on line at MLive.com seeking entries to the contest from the public.
The Midland team will play against 13 others in the Class A Midwest League: Beloit, WI Snappers, a Minnesota Twins farm team; Burlington (IA) Bees, (Kansas City, MO Royals); Cedar Rapids (IA) Kernels, (Anaheim, CA Angels); Clinton (IA) LumberKings, (Texas Rangers); Dayton, OH, Dragons, (Cincinnati Reds); Fort Wayne Wizards (San Diego, CA Padres); Kane County, IL, Cougars, (Oakland, CA A's); Lansing Lugnuts, (Toronto, ONT Blue Jays); Peoria, IL, Chiefs (Chicago Cubs); Quad Cities (Davenport, Bettendorf, IA, Moline, East Moline, Rock Island, IL) Swing (St. Louis Cardinals); South Bend Silver Hawks (Arizona Diamondbacks); West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit Tigers); and (Appleton) Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Seattle Mariners).
Although professional baseball started in Bay City 125 years ago, the latest team to play ball in the area was the Saginaw Jack Rabbits, 1948-51, more than a half century ago.
In 1882 lumber money in Bay City seeded the baseball team that played in the Northwestern League against Saginaw, Grand Rapids, Peoria, Quincy and Springfield, Illinois, Toledo, Ohio, and Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was the first minor league in baseball recognized by the majors. Teams then were called simply "the Bay City's, Saginaw's, etc.
The practice of "selling players to other teams may have been started here in 1884 when pitcher Dave Foutz was peddled by the Bay City baseball club to the St. Louis Browns for $2,000. The Bay City Wolves in 1909, sold pitcher Hy Cole to the Chicago Cubs and in 1921 manager James E. Davidson got $3,000 for Hazen (Ki-Ki) Cuyler, who went on to star for Pittsburgh. Davidson later was financial vice president of the Cleveland Indians.
Dow Chemical and Midland have a history of sponsoring semi-pro fastpitch softball. The Dow A.C. squad won the national championship in 1951 playing against Kodak, Briggs, Zollner and other squads sponsored by industries. McArdle Pontiac-Cadillac won the fast pitch nationals in 1979 and the world title in 1980.
National fastpitch championship tournaments were held at the Currie Stadium in 1977, 1979 and 1982 and in 1986 the women's fastpitch nationals were played at Emerson Park, notes historian Dorothy Yates.
"The rumors are true," exuded William Stavropolous, chairman of the board of The Dow Chemical Company, at a news conference on a sunny Thursday at Valley Plaza, located in Williams Township, Bay County, bordering the City of Midland.
The cost of the new baseball venture was not revealed, but some observers estimated that Midland's charitable foundations will put up close to $30 million, including the cost of the stadium, before the first ball is tossed out in 2007. News reports quoted Mr. Stavropolous as saying 80 percent of the funds have been raised.However, political observers theorized the team's intentions to get state grants may be dicey.
Midland is negotiating to buy the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays, farm team of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Devil Rays, successor to the Battle Creek Yankees, lasted only two seasons. Poor attendance has put the Devil Rays on the rocks in Battle Creek. A new stadium was planned if 1,800 season tickets could be sold, but only 300 orders were booked, ending the team's hopes. In 2003a projected move of the team to Dubuque, Iowa, was scratched when voters rejected a tax levy for a stadium.
A little known aspect of Mr. Stavropolous: Under the blue suit and corporate image of a leader of the largest chemical company in the country lurked a pin-striped baseball enthusiast.
As a youth on Long Island, New York, Mr. Stavropolous recently told Chris Stevens of the Midland Daily News, he had played "pepper" as a teammate of one Carl Yastremski, a high school pal who later slugged his way to alltime pro honors with the Boston Red Sox.
Now 66 and about to be a retired chairman and former president of Dow, Mr. Stavropolous knew an opportunity to slam a winner when he saw one. What better chance than the idea first floated a year or so ago by Bay City for a minor league team?
The Bay City plan still being studied, focused on how to finance a stadium without using tax dollars, was snatched away before the spring flowers could bloom in the outfield.
Bay City business and governmental leaders wisely support the Midland team knowing that spin-off benefits and dollars will land here. Any enterprise in the tri-counties helps the regional economy, says County Executive Tom Hickner, who spoke at the news conference.
The Michigan Baseball Foundation team will be one of the few non-profit sports ventures in the nation, although the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are a non-stock community owned team similar in structure to the Green Bay Packersfootball team. Besides Stavropolous, foundation board members include Dominic Monastiere, president, Chemical Bank- Bay City; Eric Gilbertson, president, Saginaw Valley State University; Arnold Allemang, senior advisor, Dow Chemical; John Bartos, trustee, Strosacker Foundation; Jenee Velasquez, executive director, Dow Foundation; and Michael Hayes, global vice president, public affairs, of Dow Chemical, who will be operational manager of the venture.
Officials are confident they are in theright ball game. The Minor League baseball is hot, with 160 clubs in 14 leagues drawing about 40 million fans last year. Total regular season attendance has grown in 20 of the past 24 seasons.
Rookie league teams are the first rung on the minor league ladder, followed by Class A, Class AA and Class AAA, the closest to the major leagues.
An Artist's rendering of the new stadium proposed for Midland, Mi.
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