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2024 La Crosse Loggers Baseball There ’ s No Place Like Copeland
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1999 1999 would see the first Alumni of the NWL reach the big leagues , Jeff Weaver . Weaver , a former Dubuque Mud Puppy pitcher , would make his start for the Detroit Tigers on April 14 , 1999 against the Minnesota Twins . 1999 would bring about a name change in one founding team member . The Wausau Woodchucks would become the Wisconsin Woodchucks , representing the only NWL team in the entire state of Wisconsin . Another year would see the appearance of a new franchise and another founding member would stop operations . Entering the league would be the Mankato Mashers and the Kenosha Kroakers would close their doors . The annual All-Star game would find a preeminent home in St . Cloud with the St . Cloud River Bat team playing host to the event the next several years . 1999 would see the third championship crown going to the Rochester Honkers . The Honkers and the River Bats would meet in a rematch of the ’ 98 Championship Series , with the Honkers winning the series 2 games to 1 .
2000 The new millennium , 2000 , would bring more slight changes for the league and another former NWL player would make his debut with the Colorado Rockies . Juan Pierre , former outfielder for the Manitowoc Skunks would suit up for the National League Team . The league would continue to shift with the Austin Southern Minny Stars moving to Minot , ND and become the Minot Greenheads . With the increased miles for each team to travel every NWL would travel by coach buses during the summer months . The St . Cloud River Bats would defeat the Waterloo Bucks two games to none to claim their second title . Overall the league would continue to see growth as more than 217,000 fans would witness NWL baseball and five of the eight teams would set new record attendance marks . By the end of the season , the NWL had more than 160 alumni that were either active or that had played professional baseball over the course of the last seven years .
2001 The 2001 NWL season would bring some great changes for the league . The Grand Forks Channel Cats and the Minot Greenheads would cease operations , while two new exciting franchises would open in Alexandria , MN and Madison , WI . The Madison Mallards would represent the largest city to host a NWL team , while the Alexandria Beetles would become the smallest . The NWL All-Star Game would see a change , as they would host Team USA in St . Cloud , MN . The All-Stars of the NWL would down Team USA 1-0 in 10 innings . It was the first time Team USA had been shut out by a team from the lower 48 states and their only loss to a team from the lower 48 states in 2001 . The Wisconsin Woodchucks , one of two remaining inaugural NWL teams , would claim their first NWL Championship . The Woodchucks would defeat the St . Cloud River Bats 2 games to 1 in the best of three championship series . League attendance would continue to raise as more than 263,000 fans attended NWL games , more than any other summer collegiate baseball league at 1,082 per game .
2002 The 2002 NWL season saw single-season league records shattered , a long-time manager earn a Championship and attendance records fall by the wayside . The NWL saves record was broken by Wisconsin ’ s Steve Grasley ( Creighton ) who racked up 19 breaking the old record of 15 set by Wisconsin ’ s Tim McNabb ( Indiana ). NWL Champion Waterloo ’ s Adam Boeve ( Northern Iowa ) broke the stolen base record by swiping 43 bases sliding by the old record of 42 on the last day of the regular season . Two NWL teams broke the team ERA record of 3.04 set by the 2000 St . Cloud squad . Brainerd ’ s team ERA was an impressive 2.73 , but not to be outdone the Wisconsin Woodchucks posted a remarkable 2.53 team ERA . Long-time Waterloo manager Darrell Handelsman won his first NWL title by leading the Bucks to a 2-0 series win of the Brainerd Mighty Gulls . League attendance continued its unsurpassed growth by ballooning to another record of over 337,000 . Average attendance grew from 1,082 in 2001 to 1,365 this past summer .
2003 The 2003 season saw a growth spurt with three new teams entering the circuit , bringing the League to 10 mem-