Wisconsin Rapids Twins

Midwest League (1964-1983)

Background

The Wisconsin Rapids Twins were a long-time farm club of the Minnesota Twins, enjoying a 20-year run in the Class A Midwest League.

The franchise formed in 1963 as the Wisconsin Rapids Senators and marked a return of pro baseball to the community after a ten-year absence.  The city’s only previous team, the Wisconsin Rapids White Sox, went out of business along with the rest of the Wisconsin State League following the 1953 season. After one summer as a Washington Senators farm club in 1963, the new Midwest League entry became a Minnesota affiliate in 1964 and adopted the ‘Twins’ moniker.

Notable Names

Future Major League stars who developed at Witter Field during the Twins’ era included:

• Third baseman Graig Nettles paced the Midwest League with 28 homers in 1966. He went on to become a 6-time Major League All-Star and two-time World Series champion with the Yankees.
• Catcher Rick Dempsey (W.R. ’68-’69) was MVP of the 1983 World Series as a Baltimore Oriole
• Pitcher Bill Campbell (W.R. ’71) emerged as a top American League reliever during the late 1970’s
• Third baseman John Castino (W.R. ’76) won the American League Rookie-of-the-Year Award with Minnesota in 1979
• Gary Gaetti and Kent Hrbek, teammates on the 1980 Wisconsin Rapids club, became key members of the Twins 1987 World Series championship team and are both members of the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame.
• Outfielder Jim Eisenreich (W.R. ’80-’81) enjoyed a 15-year Major League career despite missing two-plus seasons in his prime to undergo therapy for Tourette’s Syndrome

Charlie Manuel, who played with Wisconsin Rapids as a 23-year old outfielder in 1967, managed the Philadelphia Phillies to a World Series crown in 2008. Manuel also managed Wisconsin Rapids during the club’s final summer in town in 1983.

First baseman Randy Bass (W.R. ’73) became one of the all-time greats of Japanese baseball, winning back-to-back triple crowns with the Hanshin Tigers of the Central League in 1985 and 1986.

Departure

Wisconsin Rapids, with a population of fewer than 20,000 people, was a rather small community to sustain professional baseball. Much of the team’s local support came from the efforts of the non-profit Paper Cities Baseball Association, formed to help bring the Wisconsin Rapids Senators to town in 1963. Throughout the 1960’s and into the early 1970’s, the Booster group had approximately 300 members who paid annual dues of just $5 each. A cigar chomping local insurance agent named Ray Burchell served as President of the Association for many years before passing away in 1980.

At the end of the 1977 season, the Minnesota Twins announced they would leave Wisconsin Rapids. Twins official George Brophy stated that the parent club was “appalled at the condition of Witter Field” during a midseason visit. “We’ve never had a field like that in our farm system.”³ASSOCIATED PRESS. “Twins drop farm club, cite poor field conditions”. The Times (St. Cloud, MN). September 13, 1977

Minnesota stated that the decision was final. But the Twins’ efforts to relocate the team to Eau Claire or St. Cloud, Minnesota faltered. Bob Arterburn of the Paper Cities Baseball Association flew to the Baseball Winter Meetings in Honolulu and successfully prevailed upon Minnesota officials to return Wisconsin Rapids for the 1978 season. The club went on to play another six years.

Finally, in 1984, the club packed up and moved three hours south the Kenosha, Wisconsin. Pro baseball has never returned to Wisconsin Rapids since the Twins left town in the fall of 1983.

Links

Midwest League Media Guides

Midwest League Programs

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