Cedar Rapids Giants

Midwest League (1975-1979)

Tombstone

Born: 1975 – Affiliation change from Cedar Rapids Astros
Affiliation Change: September 18, 1979 (Cedar Rapids Reds)

First Game: April 20, 1975 (W 3-1 @ Waterloo Royals)
Last Game: August 30, 1979 (L 5-3 vs. Quad City Cubs)

Midwest League Championships: None

Stadium

Veterans Memorial Stadium (6,000)¹

Dimensions (1978): Left: 325′, Center: 385′, Right: 325′²

Ownership & Affiliation

Owner: Cedar Rapids Baseball Club

Major League Affiliation: San Francisco Giants

Attendance

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Print Download

Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 2007

Trophy Case

Midwest League Most Valuable Player

1976: Wayne Cato

Background

Cedar Rapids, Iowa hosted the Class A Midwest League farm team of the National League’s San Francisco Giants for five summers between 1975 and 1979.

The Cedar Rapids franchise has been an active member of the Midwest League in every season since the league’s founding in 1962. C-R’s parent club and local identity had changed a number of times over the decades. The Giants era followed on the Cedar Rapids Astros (1973-1974) and preceded the Cedar Rapids Reds (1980-1992).

Player Development

Top players to emerge from Cedar Rapids during the Giants era included third basemen Bob Brenly (C-R ’77), outfielder Chili Davis (C-R ’78) and outfielder Rob Deer (C-R ’79). Brenly and Davis are members of the San Francisco Giants Wall of Fame. Though Brenly played catcher in the Majors, he was a corner infielder during his summer in Cedar Rapids.

Chili Davis was the last alumnus of the Cedar Rapids Giants active in professional baseball. He played his final game for the New York Yankees in 1999.

Bob Brenly went on to manage the Arizona Diamondbacks to the 2001 World Series championship.

One notable Cedar Rapids Giants who did not advance to the Majors was catcher Wayne Cato (C-R ’76). Cato won Midwest League Player of the Year honors for the Giants as a 23-year old during the 1976 season. Cedar Rapids Gazette sportswriter Bob Hersom proposed Cato as “the most popular player in C-R Giants history” in a season preview penned ahead of the Giants’ final season in 1979.³ Interestingly, Cato – though he had only just turned 26, returned to Cedar Rapids in 1979 to manage the team.

After the 1979 season, the Giants moved their Midwest League farm operation to Clinton, Iowa. Cato would manage the 1980 Clinton Giants as well.

With San Francisco’s departure following the 1979 season, Cincinnati quickly moved in and secured Cedar Rapids as a farm club for the 1980 season. The team changed its name to the Cedar Rapids Reds in 1980 as a result.