Tag: Veterans Memorial Stadium I – Cedar Rapids

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. 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). Following the 1979 season, the Cincinnati Reds replaced San Francisco as Cedar Rapids’ parent club and the team became the Cedar Rapids Reds in 1980.

The Cedar Rapids Reds were a Class A farm club of the Cincinnati Reds in the Class A Midwest League from 1980 through 1992. Cincinnati replaced the San Francisco Giants as Cedar Rapids’ Major League parent club shortly after the 1979 season. The club played under the “Reds” name until the end of the 1992 season. At that point, Cedar Rapids signed a new Player Development Contract with the California Angels and adopted the Cedar Rapids Kernels moniker that the club still plays under today (as of 2022).