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2025 La Crosse Loggers Baseball There’ s No Place Like Copeland
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-
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