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Sporting Events
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Written by Amanda Johnston
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Monday, 21 September 2009 12:32 |
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Grand Rapids’ Baseball History
 Like many red-blooded American towns, Grand Rapids has a fondness for baseball. It has had ever since the game began to take root in our country. If you thought the Whitecaps was an original effort, you may be surprised to discover that our town has been a home to over thirty professional ball teams since the latter decades of the 19th century.
The first GR pro baseball team began playing in the Northwest League in 1883, and had no name! Other teams quickly followed suit, some with very characteristic names, such as the Billbobs, the Furnituremakers, the Joshers, and the Orphans.
When the Great Depression invaded our community, professional baseball teams quickly withered and died, but the game could not be entirely rooted out of the community. Local heroes rose up and started several semi-pro city leagues. One of the city teams, the Dodger Colts, where even invited to play the 1940 Brooklyn Dodgers!
Pro ball returned to our city when the Chicks, an All American Girls Pro Baseball League team from Milwaukee, chose to relocate to Grand Rapids. The Chicks were good. They won the pennant in 1947 and 1953, but were sadly disbanded when the league folded in 1953.
After that, pro-baseball vanished from Grand Rapids until 1994, when we welcomed the Whitecaps.
They were brought to West Michigan by local businessmen Lew Chamberlin and Dennis Baxter. Their home ballpark is Fifth Third Ballpark in Comstock Park. Before the 2002 season it was known as Old Kent Park; the name was changed when the park's title sponsor, Old Kent Bank, was purchased by Fifth Third Bank.
Source:
www.whitecaps-baseball.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Michigan_Whitecaps
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Destination Medical Mile 
