Introducing the Clinton LumberKings

The time has come for us to wrap up our series on the new teams the Hot Rods will face in the Midwest League. This week, our final edition focuses on the oldest team in the league, one of the charter members from the MWL's first season in 1954.

TEAM: Clinton LumberKings

MLB AFFILIATE: Seattle Mariners (2009)

LOCATION: Clinton, Iowa

FIRST SEASON: 1956

STADIUM (CAPACITY): Alliant Energy Field (4,500) 2009 RECORD: 69-68, 4th Place in Western Division; missed postseason despite finishing 4th overall

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS: MWL: 2 (1963, 1991); Overall: 4 since 1937

NOTABLE MLB ALUMNI: 220; Mike Scioscia (1977), Dave Stewart (1977), Orel Hershiser (1979), Grady Sizemore (2001), Edinson Volquez (2004)

VS. BOWLING GREEN: 3 (June 1-3 @ Bowling Green)

Despite fielding teams as far back as 1895, we begin the Clinton, Iowa baseball story in 1937. As a Works Progress Administration project, part of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, Riverview Stadium was built on the banks of the Mississippi River. (In the South Atlantic League, Savannah's Grayson Stadium was renovated with WPA dollars after a hurricane destroyed it in 1940.) This new ballpark, now refurbished and renamed Alliant Energy Field, housed several teams in several leagues over the next 17 years, but it wasn't until 1954 that baseball came to Clinton to stay.

For the 1954 season, the Clinton Pirates joined the Mississippi-Ohio Valley League. That league existed for two seasons before expansion made the name geographically incorrect. So, for the 1956 season, the name changed to the one we know today: the Midwest League.

As a charter member, the Clinton franchise obviously has the longest tenure in the MWL. Not surprisingly, it is also in the running for most names and most affiliates. Beginning in 1954 the club has been known by Pirates, C-Sox, Pilots, Dodgers, Giants, and its current moniker, LumberKings. Over that time it has had affiliate relationships with the Pirates (twice), White Sox, Seattle Pilots, Brewers, Tigers, Dodgers, Giants, Padres, Reds, Expos, Rangers, and its current affiliate, the Mariners. During the 1976 season, Clinton even had the unique experience of housing a co-operative affiliation, fielding players in the Tigers and White Sox farm systems.

As you can tell by comparing the name and affiliation lists, Clinton generally adopted the name of its affiliates for their home town team. It wasn't until 1994, no doubt after far too many uniform changes, that the team decided enough was enough. They changed the name to LumberKings. Around the turn of the 20th century (1900), Clinton was a serious lumber town. So serious, in fact, for a time there were more millionaires in Clinton than anywhere else in the entire US; those folks who turned trees to cash money were known as the Lumber Kings. Today, despite an abundance of trees, lumber is no longer a main export of Clinton. However, several companies make a base in Clinton, including Nestle-Purina, DairyPak, and Lyondell Chemicals.

Getting back to baseball, since it joined the MWL, Clinton has won just two league titles. The first came in 1963, a year after the league moved from a Class D entity to a Class A rank. Running away with the best record, the '63 team won 83 games and fielded five future major leaguers; however, none of those players went on to super-stardom in the Bigs. In 1991, after once again fielding the best regular season record, the Clinton Giants ran off a 5-0 playoff record for their second title. The 1991 club featured seven would-be big leaguers, including the MWL MVP in pitcher Salomon Torres. With the Giants, Torres won 16 games, struck out 214 batters, and recorded a 1.41 ERA; he would go on to pitch nearly 500 MLB games.

While that is where the championships end, Torres is just one of many Clintonians to make it to the game's highest level. In total, more than 220 players have gone from Clinton to various major league cities. Along the way, like most clubs do, Clinton has produced excellent hitters. But, the story year-in and year-out for Clinton, especially through the late nineties, was the pitching.

Starting with the 1954 team, which sent pitcher Earl Francis on to the Pittsburgh Pirates, pitchers have stolen the limelight from their offensive counterparts. The first big name player who brought fame to Clinton was probably Denny McLain. He won four games for the 1962 C-Sox before advancing to the Detroit just one year later. He ended up pitching ten years in Detroit, Washington, Oakland, and Atlanta, but is better known as baseball's last 30-game winner, pulling off the feat with 31 wins for the '68 Tigers.

McLain isn't even the most famous pitcher to come out of Clinton. Perhaps it's 1977 Clinton Dodger Dave Stewart, who was 17-4 with a 2.15 ERA in Clinton. He only won 20 games in four straight seasons while also snaring the 1989 World Series MVP with Oakland. How about 1979 Dodger Orel Hershiser? With Clinton, the Bulldog made his professional debut by earning a perfect 4-0 record. With the big-league Dodgers he fared just as well, winning 204 games as well as the 1988 Cy Young, Gold Glove, and World Series MVP. In today's game, some rising stars warmed up their arms in Clinton, including the Reds' Edinson Volquez, Chicago's John Danks, and the Rangers Neftali Feliz.

To ignore the hitters would be a mistake, so we won't do that. Five-time all-star Matt Williams played for the 1986 team before challenging Roger Maris' home run record in 1994. Rangers infielder Ian Kinsler tore up the MWL in 2004, hitting .402 over 59 games. Even the Expos produced some stars, including Grady Sizemore and Jason Bay, the latter of whom just signed a four-year deal with the New York Mets.

However, despite all of this aforementioned talent, perhaps it's the managerial ranks that have benefitted the most from Clinton. Angels manager Mike Scioscia was just 18 when he played for the 1977 club. Former Twins manager Tom Kelly was on the '69 team before guiding the Twins to World Series titles in '87 and '91. And last, but certainly not least, Tigers manager Jim Leyland once called Clinton home; he managed the Clinton Pilots as a Tigers affiliate in 1972, '73, and '75. The '72 team represented his first managerial job while he was just 27 years old.