Midwest League Reference Pages

All-Star Games

A short history of the Midwest League All-Star Game.

The first Midwest League All-Star Game was played in 1964.

1964  South 6, North 3                  @ Davenport

No All-Star Game was played in 1965.

Beginning in 1966, the games returned, with a new format: The Midwest League team with the most wins in the first half of the season hosted the best players on the other teams. Predictably, the All Star team usually won these contests. This format lasted 8 seasons:

1966  Appleton 1, All Stars 0           @ Appleton
1967  All Stars 6, Wisconsin Rapids 5   @ Wisconsin Rapids
1968  All Stars 5, Quad Cities 1        @ Davenport
1969  Appleton 5, All Stars 3           @ Appleton
1970  All Stars 10, Quincy 7            @ Quincy
1971  All Stars 5, Danville 1           @ Danville
1972  All Stars 1, Wisconsin Rapids 1   @ Wisconsin Rapids
           10 innings
1973  Wisconsin Rapids 4, All Stars 3   @ Wisconsin Rapids

Wins: All Stars 4, Appleton 2, Wisconsin Rapids 1. 1 tie game.

There was a new format in 1974: Our best players faced a Triple-A team. All of these games were played in Iowa ballyards. Our guys were surprisingly successful against the older players.

1974  All Stars 3, Iowa Oaks 2          @ Cedar Rapids
1975  All Stars 6, Iowa Oaks 2          @ Davenport
1976  Iowa Oaks 5, All Stars 3          @ Clinton
1977  All Stars 5, Iowa Oaks 2          @ Burlington
1978  All Stars 11, Omaha Royals 7      @ Waterloo

Wins: All Stars 4, Iowa Oaks 1.

Since 1979, the League has played a divisional (or regional) contest:

1979  Southern Division 9, Northern 2   @ Cedar Rapids
1980  Northern 6, Southern 1            @ Davenport
1981  Southern 5, Northern 4            @ Cedar Rapids
1982  Northern 4, Southern 2            @ Davenport
1983  Southern 1, Northern 0            @ Madison
1984  Southern 5, Northern 4            @ Burlington
1985  Southern 4, Northern 2            @ Cedar Rapids
1986  Northern 4, Southern 2            @ Beloit
1987  Northern 9, Southern 8            @ Wausau
1988  Northern 5, Southern 2            @ Clinton
1989  Southern 4, Northern 1            @ South Bend
1990  Southern 10, Northern 5           @ Davenport
1991  Northern 6, Southern 6            @ Cedar Rapids
          10 innings
1992  Northern 7, Southern 5            @ Peoria
1993  Northern 3, Southern 2            @ Geneva
1994  Southern 3, Northern 2            @ Fort Wayne
1995  Eastern 7, Western 5              @ Grand Rapids
1996  Eastern 10, Western 4             @ Appleton
1997  Eastern 6, Western 5              @ Lansing
1998  Western 7, Eastern 4              @ Clinton
1999  Western 1, Eastern 0              @ Lansing
2000  Western 5, Eastern 3              @ Geneva
2001  Eastern 7, Western 3              @ Dayton
2002  Eastern 6, Western 3              @ Lansing
2003  Eastern 5, Western 4              @ Grand Rapids
2004  Western 6, Eastern 3              @ Cedar Rapids
2005  Eastern 4, Western 2              @ Peoria
2006  Eastern 7, Western 1              @ Davenport
2007  Eastern 8, Western 2              @ Geneva

Wins: 7 Northern, 8 Southern (9 including 1964), 9 Eastern, 4 Western. 1 tie game.

Where the games have been held

• Davenport 7
• Cedar Rapids 6
• Appleton 3
• Clinton 3
• Geneva 3
• Lansing 3
• Wisconsin Rapids 3
• Burlington 2
• Grand Rapids 2
• Peoria 2
• Beloit 1
• Danville 1
• Dayton 1
• Fort Wayne 1
• Madison 1
• Quincy 1
• South Bend 1
• Waterloo 1
• Wausau 1

The only clear pattern is that new parks usually host the game in their second MWL season. Lansing's recent habit of hosting the game every couple years is not particularly unusual.

Star of Stars

The League and Howe SportsData been recognized the MVP of the All-Star game from 1982 through 2004. Here's the list of winners:

Year  Player           Pos   Team           Affil    AB-R-H-BI (comments)
1982  Mark Grant          P   Clinton       Giants       2 IP     (no baserunners)
1983  Shawon Dunston      SS  Quad City     Cubs         4-1-1-0  (game score was 1-0)
1984  Greg Steen          2B  Peoria        Angels       4-2-3-2
1985  Darcy Walker        DH  Peoria        Cubs         5-2-3-2
1986  Mark Howie          2B  Madison       A's          3-1-3-2
1987  Rafael Delima       OF  Kenosha       Twins        5-2-3-3
1988  Jorge Pedre         DH  Appleton      Royals       1-1-1-2
1989  Tom Redington       3B  Burlington    Braves       4-2-2-1
1990  Roger Miller        1B  Clinton       Giants       4-1-1-2
1991  Chris Hatcher       RF  Burlington    Astros       4-2-3-2
1992  Tyrone Horne        LF  Rockford      Expos        4-2-2-2
1993  Steve Sisco         2B  Rockford      Royals       2-0-1-1
1994  Bob Henley          DH  Burlington    Expos        2-0-1-1
1995  Chris Allison       2B  Michigan      Red Sox      3-2-2-0
1996  Jeff Liefer         OF  South Bend    White Sox    2-2-2-3
1997  John Barnes         OF  Michigan      Red Sox      4-2-3-2
1998  Ross Gload          1B  Kane County   Marlins      3-1-1-2
1999  Jon Schaeffer       DH  Quad City     Twins        3-2-2-0
2000  Matt Padgett        RF  Kane County   Marlins      5-1-4-0
2001  T.J. Soto           DH  Michigan      Astros       2-1-2-4  (grand slam)
2002  Steve Checksfield   DH  Michigan      Astros       4-1-3-2
2003  Kevin Beavers       ??  Lansing       Cubs         3-1-3-1  (game winning RBI)
2004  Mitch Maier         ??  Burlington    Royals       3-1-2-1
2005  Jereme Milons       ??  South Bend    Diamondbacks 2-0-2-3
2006  Jay Bruce           ??  Dayton        Reds         ?-?-3-? (home run, single, double)
      Vincent Bongiovanni P   South Bend    Diamondbacks 2 IP    (no baserunners)
2007  Deik Scram          DH  West Michigan Tigers       2-2-1-0 (steal, walk)

Rafael Delima's game, in 1987, was probably the best performance.

Most of these guys played Double-A ball, and many played at the Triple-A level.

Shawon Dunston's the only major league star on the list (even that's debatable), and Mark Grant's the only other player who had a significant career in the bigs, so far. A few others have made brief appearances in The Show. It's far too soon to rule out the recent winners.

The game format makes it difficult for any pitcher to win this award; it happened the first year, and hasn't happened since. Finally, in 2006, this issue was addressed by adding a second winner.

Illinois State League All-Star Game

I'm aware of one All-Star game staged by an MWL predecessor league:

The Illinois State League played an All-Star game on August 11, 1948.

1948  All-Stars 5, Belleville 1        @ West Frankfort

There are more of these. I need to do some research, and shall report them when that is completed.

Sources:

The 1995 League Yearbook has box scores of all of the games through 1994. In extremely small print. (Thanks, Jon.)

Results of more recent games are from my files.

The ISL game is mentioned in Kevin Saldana's This Date in Minor League Baseball History.

Brad Seward was kind enough to report an error shortly after this page was posted on the site. Thanks.

This page originated as the June 19 and June 26, 1999, Midwest League Tidbits on the Midwest League Mailing List.