American Professional Slo-Pitch League (1978-1979)
Tombstone
Born: 1978 – Re-branded from Minnesota Goofy’s
Folded: 1980
First Game: May 19, 1978 (W 38-14 & 35-16 vs. Cincinnati Suds)
Last Game:
APSPL Championships: None
Stadium
Midway Stadium I
Opened: 1957
Demolished: 1981
Marketing
Team Colors: Kelly Green, Gold & White
Ownership
Owners: Dick Doran & Steve Doran
Background
Remember this one? The Twin Cities had a men’s professional softball team for three summers in the late 1970’s in the American Professional Slo-Pitch League (APSPL).
First up was the Minnesota Goofy’s. The green-and-gold clad Goofy’s lasted for only one summer and swiftly evaporated after the APSPL’s 1977 debut season. But new owners stepped in to keep the league going in St. Paul. The revived club kept the green-and-gold color scheme but ditched the silly name in favor of the “Minnesota Norsemen” for the 1978 season.
The 1978 Norsemen advanced to the APSPL Championship Series where they were swept by the Detroit Caesars.
The Norsemen roster featured a couple of players of cult interest. Steve Winfield was the older brother of future Major League Baseball Hall-of-Famer Dave Winfield. The 1979 Norsemen also signed former Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Bob Lurtsema, who retired from the NFL in 1977. He’s the guy on his knees on the cover of the Norsemen’s 1979 yearbook (above) pretending to be a little person.
Monsters of Midway
Norsemen batters often feasted on the short 300′ left field at the original Midway Stadium, built for the St. Paul Saints minor league baseball team in 1957. During the team’s season opening homestand on May 19th-20th, 1978, which consisted of a pair of double-headers against the Cincinnati Suds, the Norsemen belted 47 homers in four games. In game 2 of the opening night tilt, Joe Russell of the Norsemen went six-for-six at the plate with all six hits sailing out of the yard.1Herbst, Dave. “Hard-Hats Set For Longball”. The Press (Pittsburgh, PA). May 28, 1978
End of Voyage
The Norsemen were owned by father and son Dick and Steve Doran. In a March 1980 interview with Joe Soucheray of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune2Soucheray, Joe. “Column (no headline.” The Star-Tribune (Minneapolis, MN). March 19, 1980, 31-year old Steve Doran ripped into the APSPL’s management and declared his intention not to field a squad in 1980.
“It would take a miracle for us to play this summer. The league wants us but we don’t want the league,” the younger Doran told Soucheray. “Aside from Detroit and Louisville, the rest of the franchise holders are Mickey Mouse.“
Soucheray noted that the Norsemen traveled by air and stayed in decent hotels in a league where “the majority of teams travel by school bus.” At one 1979 road game in Philadelphia, the Norsemen played on a youth baseball field in front of 36 people, according to the journalist.
True to Steve Doran’s word, the Minnesota Norsemen did not field a team in the APSPL in 1980. A small notice in the Outdoor Calendar section of The Star Tribune in May 19803“Outdoor Calendar; Softball”, The Star-Tribune (Minneapolis, MN). May 18, 1980 announced that “all but two” of the players from the Norsemen’s 1979 championship finalist team were still together and seeking exhibitions games in the Twin Cities area, willing to “play for just expenses”.
The APSPL dissolved at the end of the 1980 season. The old Midway Stadium where the Norsemen played was demolished in the spring of 1981. A new smaller ballpark, Municipal Stadium, opened in 1982 and was later re-named Midway Stadium in the early 1990’s.
Downloads
1979 American Professional Slo-Pitch League Franchise Sales Brochure
1979 American Professional Slo-Pitch League Franchise Sales Brochure
Links
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