The Grand Rapids Baseball Club was a

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

team based in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

that played under several different names at various times between 1883 and 1951.

An ancestor to two Major League franchises

From 1894-1897, Grand Rapids played in the Western League, a minor league precursor to what is now the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. Despite being a founding member of the newly reorganized Western League under

Ban Johnson Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson (January 5, 1864 – March 28, 1931) was an American executive in professional baseball who served as the founder and first president of the American League (AL). Johnson developed the AL—a descendant of th ...

, and played in Recreation Park (Grand Rapids, Michigan). Grand Rapids was only allowed annual, rather than a five-year, franchise renewal rights. This lack of permanency, as well as the city's refusal to allow professional games to be played in the city limits on Sundays - traditionally the day for the largest crowds by far - were contributing factors in the failure to upgrade Recreation Park, their home grounds; the ballpark was adequate by 1894 standards but quickly fell behind the times as newer, larger parks such as Detroit's

Bennett Park (Detroit) Bennett Park was a ballpark in Detroit. Located at Michigan and Trumbull Avenues, it was home to the Detroit Tigers and was named after Charlie Bennett, a former player whose career ended after a train accident in 1894. The Tigers began play at ...

(in 1896) were being completed. In 1897, the team was purchased by Robert Leadley and named the Bob-O-Links. During this season, the team ignobly finished with 100 losses against a mere 34 wins, and suffered immensely under Leadley's fiscal maleficence. Poor team and business management, the lack of improvements, the poor level of team play with basement finishes in the previous three seasons - all conditions rendering the city's slight comparative size a likely though unnecessary factor - caused Johnson to remove the team to

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

after the 1897 season. Following the departure from Grand Rapids, the team fared even worse with attendance, not being able to last a full season in

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

. They moved to

St. Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri, Buchanan County, Missouri, United States. A small portion of the city extends north into Andrew County, Missouri, Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the princ ...

to finish the 1898 season, and moved to

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

in 1899. The Grand Rapids-Omaha-St. Joseph-Buffalo franchise, from 1895-1899, finished in last place every season, and finished second to last in Buffalo in 1900, never being able to reach attendance levels previously known in the Furniture City. By this time, the former minor Western League had become the American League and was pursuing major league status. In keeping with Ban Johnson's strategy of direct competition and playing American League teams in

National League (baseball) The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

towns, the Buffalo team was moved - by direct transfer or by vacation, depending upon historiological perspective - to

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and eventually became known as the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

. In July 1899, the

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franchise of the Western League, run by team president

Tom Loftus Thomas Joseph Loftus (November 15, 1856 – April 16, 1910) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He had a brief major-league playing career, appearing as an outfielder in parts of the 1877 and 1883 seasons. As a manager, ...

, moved to Grand Rapids after a year and a half of financial losses due to lack of fan support. At the same time, the Interstate League team known as the Grand Rapids (or Torreyson's) Furniture Makers, filling the void of the Western League's departure, moved to Columbus when Grand Rapids fans were less enthused over the lower standards of Interstate League play. Grand Rapids' second iteration as a Western League city began on July 20, 1899, and the team routinely played to overflow crowds in what was admittedly a smaller than average Recreation Park. As an obvious celebration of the return of the superior Western League - soon to be renamed the American League and declared a major league - the 1899 Grand Rapids team was rechristened the Prodigals and contained future Hall of Famers

Sam Crawford Samuel Earl Crawford (April 18, 1880 – June 15, 1968), nicknamed "Wahoo Sam", was an American outfielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Crawford batted and threw left-handed, stood tall and weighed . Born in Wahoo, Nebraska, he had a sh ...

and

Rube Waddell George Edward "Rube" Waddell (October 13, 1876 – April 1, 1914) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). A left-hander, he played for 13 years, with the Louisville Colonels, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Chicago Orphans in the Nati ...

, in addition to a team the majority of which had, or were soon to have, major league experience, including

Bumpus Jones Charles Leander "Bumpus" Jones (January 1, 1870 – June 25, 1938) was an American right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants. Early life He was born in Cedarville, Ohio. Newsp ...

Frank Genins C. Frank Genins (November 2, 1866 – September 30, 1922) was a Major League Baseball utility player who played for three seasons. He played for the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Browns (NL), St. Louis Browns in 1892, the Pittsburgh Pirates ...

Billy Sullivan (1900s catcher) William Joseph Sullivan, Sr. (February 1, 1875 – January 28, 1965) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball, most notably as a member of the Chicago White Sox with whom he won a W ...

, and Louis Bierbauer. Despite Grand Rapids strong fan support and first division placement - the city's only top half finish in Western League play - Tom Loftus accepted a job managing the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

for the 1900 season, compelling him to divest of his interests in the Grand Rapids franchise. The poor condition of Recreation Park, its property owner renewing his refusal to allow Sunday baseball there - forcing the team to play outside the city limits on its most lucrative day of the week - presented local complications difficult to surmount. Meanwhile, at the league level, with the inevitable sale of the club by Loftus - the only manager with proven experience at making big(ger) league ball work in Grand Rapids - there appears to be no serious consideration by Johnson to keep one of only eight American League franchises there, especially when his league's budding competition with the National League had him eyeing franchise placements in Chicago, Cleveland, and New York. In February 1900, months after the Western League's rechristening, Grand Rapids ultimately lost its American League franchise when its transfer was finalized to Cleveland, where it plays to this day as the major league

Cleveland Guardians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. Since , the team has played its home gam ...

. (See also History of the Cleveland Guardians)

Firmly established a minor league city

Later Grand Rapids teams played mostly in the

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

but also in various other Michigan-based leagues. After a long minor league hiatus in Grand Rapids, the

West Michigan Whitecaps The West Michigan Whitecaps are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Comstock Park, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids, and play their home games at LMCU Ballpar ...

of the

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

began play in

Comstock Park, Michigan Comstock Park is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 10,500 at the 2020 census. The community is located within Alpine Township to the west and Plain ...

, just outside Grand Rapids, in 1994.

The ballparks

Prior to Western League play in 1894, the various Grand Rapids professional teams played at a variety of parks intended more for convenience than for permanence. Midtown Green, located at Fountain and Eastern streets, as well the property upon which Gerald R. Ford Job Corps (formerly South High School) presently sits (19th century site of the Kent County Fairgrounds), at Hall and Jefferson, were two such sites most frequently used. The stands for Recreation Park were built in the early Spring of 1894 over a five-week period at a cost of $1,500. It was located conveniently on the South Division electric streetcar line, behind the site of the present-day Cottage Grove Silver Line Rapid station. Limited thought went into its design. The grandstand was located on the west side of the field, meaning defenses faced the sun. It was built 400 feet off of Division Avenue amid an array of lumber yards and sawmills, which likely made construction of the wooden park easy, but contributed to dirt and sawdust chocking the playing field glass, which was splotchy and a dingy yellowish color. It was a common complaint that fans walking to the games from the streetcar line frequent did so through sand and sawdust. Nonetheless, it was the city's first intended permanent home of professional baseball in advance of the arrival of the much-heralded Western League and the effort was headed by team president and future Grand Rapids mayor George "Deacon" Ellis. Prior to 1898, teams played at Recreation Park for non-Sunday games and at Alger Park on

Reeds Lake Reeds Lake is a freshwater lake in the city of East Grand Rapids, Michigan. Formerly the site of an early-20th-century amusement park and resort popular with residents of nearby Grand Rapids, it is adjacent to the suburb's modern-day city center, ...

on Sundays, so as not to run afoul of the city's

Blue laws Blue laws (also known as Sunday laws, Sunday trade laws, and Sunday closing laws) are laws restricting or banning certain activities on specified days, usually Sundays in the western world. The laws were adopted originally for religious reasons ...

or the wishes of the owner of the Recreation Park property. Playing professional baseball games on Sundays within the city limits was a frequently recurring controversy and a stumbling block tripping up improvements of the grounds until the laws were relaxed in time for the 1899 season - the final year of its use as an athletic facility. The stands and fences were taken down following the 1899 high school football season, and what wood had not by this time rotted was removed to Reed's Lake for use at the ballpark there. Later, the teams played at Bigelow Field on South Division Avenue and 39th Street. A

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

restaurant occupies a portion of the site today.

Notable alumni

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ...
alumni

Burleigh Grimes Burleigh Arland Grimes (August 18, 1893 – December 6, 1985) was an American professional baseball player and manager, and the last pitcher officially permitted to throw the spitball. Grimes made the most of this advantage, as well as his unsh ...

(1940, MGR) Inducted, 1964 *

(1899) Inducted, 1946 *

(1899) Inducted, 1957

Notable alumni

Nick Altrock Nicholas Altrock (September 15, 1876 – January 20, 1965) was an American professional baseball player and Coach (baseball), coach. He played in the major leagues as a left-handed pitcher between 1898 and 1919. After the 1919 season he continu ...

(1899) * Louis Bierbauer (1899) * Theodore Breitenstein (1891) ERA Leader * Hal Carlson (1915) * Bud Clancy (1923) *

Josh Devore Joshua M. Devore (November 13, 1887 – October 6, 1954) was an American professional baseball player who played outfielder in the major leagues from –. He would play for the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Giants, and Boston B ...

(1920-1921, 1923-1924) *

Red Donahue Francis Rostell "Red" Donahue (January 23, 1873 – August 25, 1913) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher from Waterbury, Connecticut, who played for 13 seasons both in the National League and the American League from through . Career ...

(1895) *

Red Dooin Charles Sebastian "Red" Dooin (June 12, 1879 – May 12, 1952) was an American professional baseball player and manager. A catcher in Major League Baseball during the first two decades of the 20th century, he played 1,219 of his 1,290 games as a ...

(1899) *

Pat Duncan Patricia Jane Duncan (born April 8, 1960) is a Canadian politician from Yukon. Duncan served as leader of the Yukon Liberal Party from 1998 to 2005 and as the sixth premier of Yukon from 2000 until 2002. Duncan was the first Liberal premier ...

(1916) * Pretzels Getzien (1883-1884) *

Charlie Hemphill Charles Judson "Eagle Eye" Hemphill (April 20, 1876 – June 22, 1953) was an American Major League Baseball outfielder with the St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Spiders, Boston Americans, Cleveland Bronchos, St. Louis Browns and the New York Hi ...

(1899) * Joe Heving (1924) * Dave Hoskins (1948) *

Bert Humphries Albert Humphries (September 26, 1880 – September 21, 1945), was a professional baseball player who played pitcher in the Major Leagues from -. He would play for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, and Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia P ...

(1909) *

(1894-1895, 1899) *

Frank Killen Frank Bissell "Lefty" Killen (November 30, 1870 – December 3, 1939) was a professional baseball player. He was a left-handed pitcher over parts of ten seasons (1891–1900) with the Milwaukee Brewers, Washington Senators (NL), Pittsburgh Pira ...

(1901) *

Bobby Lowe Robert Lincoln Lowe (July 10, 1865 – December 8, 1951), nicknamed "Link", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player, coach, and scout. He played for the Boston Beaneaters (1890–1901), Chicago Cubs (1902–1903), Pittsbur ...

(1908) *

Jeff Pfeffer Edward Joseph Pfeffer (March 4, 1888 – August 15, 1972) was an American pitcher for the St. Louis Browns (1911), Brooklyn Dodgers/Robins (1913–1921), St. Louis Cardinals (1921–1924) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1924). His older brother Francis ...

(1913) *

Dusty Rhodes Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. (October 11, 1945 – June 11, 2015), better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, booker, and trainer who worked for the National Wrestling Alliance ...

(1950) * Lance Richbourg (1920) * Milt Shoffner (1926) *

Sherry Smith Sherrod Malone (Sherry) Smith (February 18, 1891 – September 12, 1949) was a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. From 1911 until 1927, he pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1911–12), Brooklyn Robins (1915–17, 1919–1922) and Clevel ...

(1913) *

(1899) *

Ed Summers Oren Edgar Summers (December 5, 1884 – May 12, 1953), nicknamed "Kickapoo Ed", was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played five seasons with the Detroit Tigers from 1908 to 1912. Biography Summers was born in Lado ...

(1906) *

Lee Tannehill Lee Ford Tannehill (October 26, 1880 – February 16, 1938) was a professional baseball player. He played all or part of ten seasons in Major League Baseball, from 1903 until 1912, for the Chicago White Sox, primarily as a third baseman and shor ...

(1917) * Jack Taylor (1909) ERA Leader * Maurice Van Robays (1934) * Stan Wasiak (1941) * Al Wickland (1911)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Baseball Reference
Defunct minor league baseball teams Brooklyn Dodgers minor league affiliates Chicago Cubs minor league affiliates Detroit Tigers minor league affiliates Defunct baseball teams in Michigan 1883 establishments in Michigan 1951 disestablishments in Michigan Baseball teams established in 1883 Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 1951 Baseball teams disestablished in 1951

An ancestor to two Major League franchises

Firmly established a minor league city

The ballparks

Notable alumni

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ... alumni

Notable alumni

References

External links

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ...
alumni