I’ve been a baseball fan since I was a kid growing up in the Chicago suburbs. My first exposure to the Midwest League, and Minor League Baseball in general, came in the form of the Kane County Cougars, who began playing in Geneva, Ill., in 1991.
After I moved to north central Illinois at the end of the decade, I got hooked on the Midwest League. I took in games at all the ballparks within daytrip distance of my home. I started going to Peoria Chiefs games just in time to watch a young Albert Pujols in action during his only season in the minors. Now I live in Madison, Wis., making the Beloit Snappers the nearest MWL team to home.
I’m a writer by trade, with 14 years of newspaper experience on my resume. During the summer of 2011, I traveled the Midwest League and attended games at all 16 ballparks. I went to 64 games, including the entire Midwest League Championship Series. This blog began as a chronicle of my journey; now it serves as a top fan source of MWL news, notes and photos as I continue to travel throughout the league and write about its past and present.
I can be contacted via email at mwltraveler@gmail.com. Also, you can follow me on Twitter, where I’m @MWLtraveler.
Craig – I love the site, so glad to have discovered it! I’d love to do a Q&A about your summer tour over at Bus Leagues, drop me an email!
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Craig,
How did you like the ending to the River Bandits game? It was a very exciting moment for my son and I to see Nick Longmire’s ball sail over the center field wall to put the Bandits into the Midwest League Championship Series. After the game, my son wanted to go out to the Little League diamond and hit some baseballs. This is what Midwest League baseball does for families – provides opportunites to bond and moments to share for a lifetime.
Best wishes as you write your book. It was nice talking to you today at Modern Woodman Park.
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I gave you a shout out: http://batteredemployee.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/i-interrupt-this-regularly-scheduled-blog/
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Craig, thx for all the great info, am looking forward to another year following my newly beloved Beloit Snappers. I have a question, not sure where to ask, is there a message board I’m missing? Please advise, thx, Anthony C.
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Thanks, Anthony. There isn’t a message board. You can ask questions here or on subject-appropriate posts (for example, a question about the Snappers roster could be asked on my preview post about the team), on Twitter (@MWLtraveler) or via email (mwltraveler@gmail.com).
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