Midwest League Reference Pages

Championship Record

The 1997 West Michigan Whitecaps, led by first baseman Robert Fick in their first year as a Tiger affiliate, became the fifth MWL team with a .700 won/lost percentage.

The 1975 Waterloo Royals, who had league MVP Willie Wilson patrolling the outfield, compiled a .727 won/lost percentage and swept Quad City's Angels in the playoff; this is a league team's best single season. Three other teams have topped .700: The 1978 Appleton Foxes (.708; LaMarr Hoyt pitched for this team), the 1948 West Frankfort Cardinals (.708; pitcher Floyd Mellaire was the best player), and the 1951 Paris Lakers (.700; led by first baseman Clint McCord's exceptional season).

Notable

The Appleton/Fox Cities/Wisconsin franchise has taken home eight championship trophies, while teams representing Waterloo managed to capture seven. West Michigan ranks next with five titles, and Quad Cities and Danville have captured four championships apiece.

Not surprisingly, Appleton and Waterloo teams have the most years leading the league in win percentage, at nine apiece; West Michigan's next, again, with five. Clinton and Kane County have managed to take the wins title four times.

The official champion is that listed as Playoff Champion in the tables below, with notes to mark the seasons without playoffs. In all non-playoff seasons, the championship was awarded to the obvious team. Two playoff series were cut off by international events: The 1950 season, which had an incomplete playoff, and had no champion, while the 2001 championship round was terminated after one game.

Since the MWL usually plays a split season and has often had more than one division, the team with the best season record is not necessarily the season's champion; nonetheless, the best won/lost record is significant and interesting. Those, too, are shown below.

The league's previous names are indicated in appropriate places on the listings.

2000-07

1990-99

1980-89

1970-79

1960-69

1947-59

Much of the information on this page is also presented in a discussion of the Championship Playoff Series, also on this website. The pages have different emphases, and each contains information which does not fit on the other.

Notes

*No Championship playoff held; team with best record declared champion.
**Championship playoff cancelled before completion due to non-baseball events.

Sources

News Sources.
Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, Editors, The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd ed; Durham: Baseball America, 1997.