Wisconsin State League (1940-1953)
Tombstone
Born: 1940
Suspended Operations: November 8, 1953
First Game:
Last Game:
Wisconsin State League Championships: None
Stadium
Ownership & Affiliation
Owners:
Major League Affiliation: Chicago White Sox
Background
The Wisconsin Rapids White Sox were a Class D farm club of the Chicago White Sox in the 1940’s and early 1950’s. The team went dark for three years from 1943 through 1945 at the peak of World War II along with the rest of the Wisconsin State League.
Key Figures
Only a handful of Wisconsin Rapids players from this era ever advanced to the Major Leagues. The two players who enjoyed the longest big league careers were pitcher Bill Fischer (Wisconsin Rapids ’48) and slick-fielding outfielder Jim Landis (Wisconsin Rapids ’52).
Fischer won 45 games in the Majors between 1956 and 1964. He later became a respected pitching coach for the Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Fischer helped to develop Roger Clemens into a Cy Young Award winner in Boston in the mid-1980’s.
Jim Landis won 5 consecutive Gold Glove Awards for the Chicago White Sox between 1960 and 1964. He was the last active player from the Wisconsin Rapids White Sox when his career ended in 1967.
Pitcher Bert Shepard appeared in 9 games for Wisconsin Rapids during the 1940 season. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force in March 1943 and trained as a fighter pilot. In May 1944, Shepard survived the crash of his P38 Lightning fighter jet after being shot down over Germany. He spent the next nine months in a Nazi P.O.W. camp and had the lower portion of his right leg amputated due to his crash injuries. Shepard was repatriated in a prisoner exchange in February 1945. That August, he pitched five-and-a-third innings of mop-up relief for the Washington Senators against the Boston Red Sox and allowed just one run. He became the first player with an artificial leg to play in Major League Baseball. It was his only Major League Baseball game.
In 1941, 21-year old Max Patkin won 10 games for Wisconsin Rapids. He returned for part of the season in 1942. As a ballplayer, Patkin never made it past Class A ball. But in retirement, Patkin became “The Clown Prince of Baseball”, touring the U.S. as a ballpark entertainment act for the next half century. Patkin even appeared as himself in Bull Durham in 1988.
The End
After years of declining attendance, the Wisconsin State League voted to suspend operations in November 1953. The various league cities spent the next couple of years unsuccesfully attempting to re-organize.
After a ten-year absence, Wisconsin Rapids returned to the professional baseball scene in 1963 with a Washington Senators farm club in the Class A Midwest League. The Wisconsin Rapids Senators (later Twins) remained in the Midwest League until 1983.
Wisconsin State League Shop
Wisconsin Rapids White Sox Video
1990 interview with White Sox alum Max Patkin, the “Clown Prince of Baseball”, with our friend Kenn Tomasch.
In Memoriam
First baseman Ken Landenberger (Wisconsin Rapids ’48-’49), who appeared in 2 games for the Chicago White Sox in 1952, died of leukemia at age 31 on July 28, 1960.
Pitcher Max Patkin (Wisconsin Rapids ’41-’42) passed away on October 30, 1999 at age 79. New York Times obituary.
Pitcher Bert Shepard died on June 16, 2008 at age 87. New York Times obituary.
Outfielder Jim Landis passed away following a battle with lung cancer on October 7, 2017 at age 83. New York Times obituary.
Pitcher and Wisconsin native Bill Fischer (Wisconsin Rapids ’48) died on October 30, 2018. Fischer was 88.
Links
Wisconsin State League Programs
###
5 Responses
I have a ball signed. By many players either in 1940 or 1941. I would love to know most or all of the players. I have identified 7 or 8 names already.
I believe my grandfather played on this team during that era, Alvin Lange. Do you have a photo of the baseball?
I WOULD LIKE TO SEE A PIOCTURE OF THAT BASEBALL IS POSSIBLE.
I grew up in the Rapids during that era. I didn’t see the game but I remember Bill Fisher throwing a no hitter for the Wisconsin Rapids White Sox. Don’t remember the year. Also don’t remember Max Patkin as a member of the team but did see him perform there. I remember me and my mother listening to the away games on the radio and many of them were “on wire” (used in the early days of radio) where the announcer wasn’t at the game but reading the play by play off the “wire”.
That was a long time ago but wonderful time and place to grow up.
Dear Mr. Saeger,
Great recall. Did you happen to even watch famed singer Lou Rawls in a Wisconsin League game. I understand he played for Fond du Lac. Don’t know how old you may have been but just curious if you may have heard of some of my relatives who played in the Wood County league. My father J.A. (then known as Al) Liebenstein pitched for varied teams in the late 1940s and may have even pitched under a fake name of Russell McElroney in 1947 for the White Sox. He gave his three sons the honor of meeting Max Patkin before a minor league game in San Jose, Calif. in the 1960s. I also had older cousins in the Liebenstein and Rokus, Searles and Viertel families who were scattered in some of the small towns like Vesper, Arpin, Pittsville and Seneca Corners, in case you may have run into any of them.