Northwoods League
The Northwoods League is a collegiate summer baseball league comprising teams of the top college players from North America and beyond. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. Players are not paid, so as to maintain their college eligibility. Graduated senior pitchers are also eligible to play in the Northwoods League. Each team may have four of these players at a time.
Teams are run similar to a professional minor league teams, providing players an opportunity to play under the same conditions, using wooden bats and minor league specification baseballs.
Teams play 72 games scheduled from late May to mid-August. The season itself is broken into two halves, with the winners of each half in each of the four sub-divisions playing against each other to determine a sub-divisional champion in a best-of-three series. The sub-divisional champions then meet in a winner-take-all game to determine a divisional champion. The divisional champions then meet in a winner-take-all game for the league championship.
In 2020, some teams are not playing with some players going to other teams like Thunder Bay players "on loan" to one of the Bismarck playing teams. Instead of playing within their subdivision, playing teams are playing in hubs "regions". With some creating "expansion teams" so they can follow restrictions set by government and other agenices.
History
Established in 1994, the Northwoods League was the first for-profit summer collegiate baseball league. It has more teams, draws more fans, and plays more games than any other summer collegiate baseball league. The Northwoods League drew over 1.1 Million fans for the fourth consecutive year in 2017, far outdistancing its closest rival in the summer collegiate baseball world. In fact, the Northwoods League drew more fans than three of the four short-season affiliated professional leagues in 2017. The purpose of the league is to develop players while college baseball teams are not allowed to work out. Many of the teams in the league play in ballparks formerly occupied by professional clubs from the Midwest League, Prairie League, Northern League, and Frontier League. The wooden bat circuit allows communities deemed too small for professional ball to continue to enjoy high-quality, competitive baseball during the summer months. The Northwoods League was the first summer collegiate baseball league to broadcast on the ESPN network, and currently webcasts all of its games.The teams are located in the Northwoods region of the Upper Midwestern United States and Northwestern Ontario, mostly in the U.S. states of Minnesota and Wisconsin ; also with three teams in Michigan and one team each in Iowa, Illinois, North Dakota, Indiana and Ontario.
Over 200 league alumni have gone on to play in Major League Baseball with 91 alumni entering the MLB ranks from 2013 to 2017. Alumni Max Scherzer, the 2017 National League Cy Young Award winner, and American League runner-up Chris Sale faced each other as the starting pitchers in the 2017 and 2018 Major League Baseball All-Star Games.
Competition
In small cities it may be hard to find the financial stability in a newly founded baseball league. The Northwoods League realized it needed to gain significant revenue from sponsors in order to succeed. According to league Chairman and co-founder Dick Radatz, Jr, two-thirds of the revenue comes from sponsors and the remainder from ticket sales, concessions, and team merchandise. Radatz also noted the importance of having the sponsor revenue before the beginning of the seasonn.Teams
Map of teams
Franchise timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:25
Period = from:1994 till:2022
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:140 left:20 bottom:20 top:0
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:20 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:orange from:1994 till:2020 text:Dubuque Mud Puppies, St. Cloud River Bats, St. Cloud Rox
bar:2 color:orange from:1994 till:1999 text:Kenosha Kroakers
bar:3 color:orange from:1994 till:1998 text:Manitowoc Skunks
bar:4 color:orange from:1994 till:2020 text:Rochester Honkers
bar:5 color:orange from:1994 till:2020 text:Wausau Woodchucks, Wisconsin Woodchucks
bar:6 color:orange from:1995 till:2020 text:Waterloo Bucks
bar:7 color:orange from:1998 till:2003 text:Brainerd Mighty Gulls
bar:8 color:orange from:1998 till:2001 text:Grand Forks Channel Cats
bar:9 color:orange from:1998 till:2001 text:Southern Minny Stars, Minot Greenheads
bar:10 color:orange from:1999 till:2020 text:Mankato Mashers, Mankato MoonDogs
bar:11 color:orange from:2001 till:2016 text:Alexandria Beetles, Alexandria Blue Anchors
bar:12 color:orange from:2001 till:2020 text:Madison Mallards
bar:13 color:orange from:2003 till:2020 text:Duluth Huskies
bar:14 color:orange from:2003 till:2020 text:La Crosse Loggers
bar:15 color:orange from:2003 till:2020 text:Thunder Bay Border Cats
bar:16 color:orange from:2005 till:2012 text:Brainerd Blue Thunder, Brainerd Lakes Area Lunkers
bar:17 color:orange from:2005 till:2020 text:Eau Claire Express
bar:18 color:orange from:2007 till:2020 text:Battle Creek Bombers
bar:19 color:orange from:2007 till:2020 text:Green Bay Bullfrogs, Green Bay Booyah
bar:20 color:orange from:2010 till:2020 text:Willmar Stingers
bar:21 color:orange from:2010 till:2020 text:Wisconsin Rapids Rafters
bar:22 color:orange from:2012 till:2020 text:Lakeshore Chinooks
bar:23 color:orange from:2014 till:2020 text:Kalamazoo Growlers
bar:24 color:orange from:2014 till:2020 text:Kenosha Kingfish
bar:25 color:orange from:2016 till:2020 text:Rockford Rivets
bar:26 color:orange from:2017 till:2020 text:Bismarck Larks
bar:27 color:orange from:2017 till:2020 text:Fond du Lac Dock Spiders
bar:28 color:orange from:2019 till:2020 text:Kokomo Jackrabbits
bar:30 color:orange from:2019 till:2020 text:Traverse City Pit Spitters
bar:31 color:orange from:2021 till:2021 text:St. Croix River Hounds
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1994
Champions
Notable Northwoods League alumni
- Jeremy Accardo, Alexandria Beetles, 2001
- Scott Alexander, La Crosse Loggers, 2008
- Pete Alonso, Madison Mallards, 2014
- Cody Asche, Duluth Huskies, 2009-2010
- Clint Barmes, Kenosha Kroakers, 1998, Waterloo Bucks, 1999
- Joe Bisenius, Duluth Huskies, 2003
- T.J. Bohn, Brainerd Mighty Gulls, 2001
- Rob Brantly, La Crosse Loggers, 2009
- Lance Broadway, Wisconsin Woodchucks, 2004
- Trevor Brown, La Crosse Loggers, 2011
- Mike Burns, Brainerd Mighty Gulls, 1998–1999
- Kole Calhoun, Eau Claire Express, 2007-2009
- Matt Cepicky, Waterloo Bucks, 1997
- Matt Chapman, La Crosse Loggers, 2012
- Jermaine Clark, Kenosha Kroakers, 1995
- Willie Collazo, Waterloo Bucks, 1999
- Allen Craig, Alexandria Beetles, 2003, 2005
- Paul DeJong, Wisconsin Woodchucks, 2014
- Chris Demaria, St. Cloud River Bats, 2000–2001
- Thomas Diamond, St. Cloud River Bats, 2002–2003
- Andy Dominique, Kenosha Kroakers, 1995
- Jeff Duncan, Waterloo Bucks, 1998
- Lucas Duda, Alexandria Beetles, 2006
- Andre Ethier, Rochester Honkers, 2002
- Dave Gassner, Wausau Woodchucks, 1998
- Jay Gibbons, Manitowoc Skunks, 1996–1997
- Tom Gorzelanny, St. Cloud River Bats, 2001
- Curtis Granderson, Mankato Mashers, 2001
- Mitch Haniger, Green Bay Bullfrogs, 2009
- Jack Hannahan, Mankato Mashers, 1999
- Daniel Ray Herrera, La Crosse Loggers, 2005
- Tyler Hoechlin, Battle Creek Bombers, 2007
- Justin Huisman, St. Cloud River Bats, 1998
- Brett Jackson, La Crosse Loggers, 2007
- Casey Janssen, Wisconsin Woodchucks, 2001
- Jimmy Journell, Waterloo Bucks, 1997, 1999
- Bobby Kielty, Kenosha Kroakers, 1996
- Andrew Knapp, La Crosse Loggers, 2011
- Mark Lowe, Wisconsin Woodchucks, 2002–2003
- Jay Marshall, Rochester Honkers, 2002
- Doug Mathis, Duluth Huskies, 2003
- Mark Melancon, Duluth Huskies, 2004
- Paul McAnulty, Mankato Mashers, 2001
- Carlos Muñiz, Alexandria Beetles, 2002
- Pat Neshek, Wisconsin Woodchucks, 2000
- Josh Newman, Alexandria Beetles, 2001
- Wes Obermueller, Wausau Woodchucks, 1995, Waterloo Bucks, 1996–1997
- Jordan Pacheco, La Crosse Loggers, 2005
- Val Pascucci, Rochester Honkers, 1998
- Juan Pierre, Manitowoc Skunks, 1996
- Robb Quinlan, Dubuque Mud Puppies, 1996, St. Cloud River Bats, 1998
- Erasmo Ramirez, Kenosha Kroakers, 1995
- Mike Rouse, Brainerd Mighty Gulls, 1999
- Chris Sale, La Crosse Loggers, 2008
- Max Scherzer, La Crosse Loggers, 2004
- Shawn Sedlacek, Dubuque Mud Puppies, 1996
- George Sherrill, Kenosha Kroakers, 1997
- Drew Smyly, Duluth Huskies, 2009
- Ryan Spilborghs, Madison Mallards, 2001
- Eric Thames, La Crosse Loggers, 2007
- Curtis Thigpen, Waterloo Bucks, 2002
- Jeff Weaver, Dubuque Mud Puppies, 1995
- Josh Willingham, Austin Southern Minny Stars, 1998–1999
- Danny Worth, Alexandria Beetles, 2006
- Ben Zobrist, Wisconsin Woodchucks, 2003
- Jordan Zimmermann, Eau Claire Express 2006
Umpiring
being a developmental league for players
and coaches, is also a developmental league for umpires. The concentrated game schedule, travel, and Minor League-like game conditions give NWL umpires a pre-professional experience. Since the League's inaugural season in 1994, 44 of its former umpires have furthered their careers in affiliated professional baseball.
The League recruits its umpires from the two umpire schools whose curricula have been approved by the Professional Baseball Umpire Corps. : The Minor League Umpire training Academy and Harry Wendelstedt School for Umpires. The umpires ultimately chosen are usually among the top school graduates who were then selected to the pre-season, PBUC sponsored Umpire Evaluation Course.
The NWL contracts with eleven three-man crews during the regular season, a six-man crew during the mid-season All-Star game, and six umpires for both the divisional playoffs and championship series.