Editing Midwest League

The '''Midwest League''' is a class A (class D before 1963) minor league which has operated since 1956.  The MWL currently has teams in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio; in 2010 the league will add a Kentucky team.  Historically the MWL and its predecessors were centered in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, with occasional outliers in Indiana; the league's eastward expansion began in 1988.  The Midwest League is the successor to the [[Illinois State League]] (ISL) and the [[Mississippi-Ohio Valley League]] (MOV), whose records are considered part of the league history.

==Notable Midwest League Alumni==

{| class="prettytable" align="right"
|+'''Midwest League Presidents'''
|1947
|1948
|[[H.V. Millard]]
|- 
|1949
|1962
|[[Red Hoffman | Dutch Hoffman]]
|- 
|1963
|1964
|[[Walter Wagner]]
|- 
|1965
|1965
|[[Jim Gruenwald]]
|- 
|1966
|1973
|[[Jim Doster]]
|- 
|1974
|1985
|[[Bill Walters]]
|- 
|1986
|1986
|[[Ed Larson]]
|- 
|1987
|2009
|[[George Spelius]]
|}



Current major leaguers [[Alex Rodriguez (rodrig006ale)|Alex Rodriguez]], [[Albert Pujols]], [[Johan Santana]], [[Jake Peavy]], and [[Josh Beckett]] all played in the Midwest League, as did recent retiree [[Greg Maddux]]. Hall of Fame players [[Orlando Cepeda]], [[Juan Marichal]], [[Carlton Fisk]], [[Goose Gossage]], [[Bruce Sutter]], and [[Paul Molitor (molito002pau)|Paul Molitor]] are all alumni of the Midwest League or its predecessors.  [[Earl Weaver]], elected to the Hall as a manager, also played in the MWL predecessor Illinois State League.  Two Hall of Fame players have managed MWL teams: [[Travis Jackson]] and [[Ryne Sandberg]].

==Notable Careers, Notable Seasons==

[[Moe Hill]], who won the league's triple crown in 1974 and played five MVP-caliber seasons, is usually cited<ref>{{cite-web| url=http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060301&content_id=44473&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp | year=2009 | month=6 | day=14 }}</ref> as the best player in league history, though fans who'd seen [[Butch McCord]] play generally favored him<ref>{{cite-web | url=http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060225&content_id=43565&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp |year=2009 |month=6|day=14}}</ref>. Hill spent nine seasons in the league, mostly at Wisconsin Rapids in the Twins organization, and for many of those summers was the MWL's best hitter. Negro League veteran McCord was at the peak of his game during his seasons with the independent Paris team, and was clearly the best player in the (then) Mississippi-Ohio Valley League for both seasons.

There's no similarly-remarkable pitching career. [[Chuck Hawley]], who pitched and managed in the ISL and MOV from 1947 to 1954, holds all the pitching longevity records but was never an overwhelming pitcher.

Though McCord's 1951 and 1952 seasons rank with Hill's best years among the league's best single-season hitting performances, at least a half-dozen other hitters have had similar seasons, most recently [[Brian Dopirak]] in 2003. [[Deacon Jones (first baseman) | Deacon Jones]] holds the league mark for batting with a .409 average in his 1956 MVP season. The league's RBI record is still held by McCord's 1952 teammate, [[Jim Zapp]], at 136, while the home run record was set at 42 by [[Jeff Jones (jones-005jef)|Jeff Jones]] in 1982. [[Joey Meyer]] won the Most Valuable Player trophy with the circuit's second triple crown season in 1984.

The best single-season pitching performance in MWL history is probably [[Juan Marichal]]'s 1958 season at Michigan City (Giants), when he led the league in wins (21) and ERA (1.87) while finishing second in strikeouts (246). Five pitchers  won 22 games in the MOV or MWL: [[Gene Pisarski]] (1950), [[Kenneth Gohn]] (1952), [[Jack Bumgarner]] (1954), [[Arturo Miro]] (1956), and [[Joel McDaniel (mcdani001joe)|Joel McDaniel]] (1959). The MWL strikeouts record is held by [[Danny Morris]] (274 in 1965) and the ERA record by [[Vern Geishert]] (1.12 in 1966). Three pitchers have lead the MWL in wins, ERA, and strikeouts: [[Robert DeLong]] (1967), [[Salomon Torres]] (1991) and [[LaTroy Hawkins]] (1993)--all of whom tied for the wins lead.

<references/>

== External links ==
* [http://www.midwestleague.com Midwest League Website]
* [http://www.mwlguide.com A Fan's Guide to the Midwest League]

{{Midwest League navbox}}

[[Category:Professional Leagues]]
[[Category:Touched pages]]