Mapping the path

EASTERN MIDWEST BASEBALL

Great Lakes Loons

Dad and I head up to Midland, Michigan, for a Sunday doubleheader at Dow Diamond with the Great Lakes Loons, the High-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Afterwards, we drive to Traverse City, home of the world’s largest cherry pie pan!

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But the event that left the most lasting impression on Midland was the founding of the Dow Chemical Company in 1897. Dow’s headquarters remain in town, employing about 5,000 workers in the Midland area; the city itself has a population of just 43,000. Thus, in addition to the chemical plant and other supporting buildings in town, you have Dow High School, Dow Gardens, the Alden B. Dow Home & Studio, and today’s ballpark, Dow Diamond.

As we approached downtown Midland, we passed by Santa House, built in 1987. Each year, Santa takes up residence at the house around Thanksgiving and leads the town in holiday cheer through Christmas.

Next to Santa House is the Midland County Courthouse, which also looks like it’s the set of a fairy tale. It was designed by architect Alden B. Dow and built in 1958. It’s the only Tudor Revival-style courthouse in the United States.

Main Street was set up for fun — outdoor restaurant seating, cornhole boards, a miniature golf course that wound along the sidewalk — but there wasn’t a soul in sight on this Sunday morning.

We prepared to shoot some video outside the ballpark and heard the starting lineups being read by the public address announcer. Then came the National Anthem. The game was getting underway an hour early! I did a quick lookup on my phone and realized that the Loons were playing a doubleheader — two seven-inning games — due to a rainout earlier in the week. I typically watch for rainouts and schedule changes during our road trips, but my brain had been steamrolled by the many logistics of our journey, and I missed it entirely. We hustled into the ballpark.

The Loons franchise began in 1982 as the Class-A Springfield Cardinals. They relocated to Madison, Wisconsin, and played as the Hatters in 1994. The following year, they moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, and settled on a brave and colorful name: the Battle Creek Golden Kazoos. But due to a trademark dispute (and a decidedly negative reaction from fans), the club was forced to change it to the Michigan Battle Cats. In 2004, their affiliation with the New York Yankees meant they would play as the Battle Creek Yankees. When that affiliation switched to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the team became the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays — a name that defies all geographic and oceanographic logic.

The franchise was sold in 2006 and moved to Midland in 2007, becoming the Great Lakes Loons and a Dodgers affiliate, a relationship that lasts to this day. Many Dodgers greats of this century — Clayton Kershaw, Julio Urías, Corey Seager, Alex Verdugo, Walker Buehler, Gavin Lux, Dustin May — have come through Midland.

The Loons averaged a little over 3,000 fans per game in 2024, eighth-best in the 12-team Midwest League. The current incarnation of the franchise has won one league title, in 2016.

Great Lakes was taking on the Quad Cities River Bandits of Davenport, Iowa, the High-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The Loons had finished the first half with a record of 34-32, good for second place in the East Division of the Midwest League. The River Bandits had put up a 30-35 record in the first half, fourth best in the West.

Neither team scored in the first as I got a quick look down the right-field line, where families had spread out blankets on the lawn seating near the kids play area.

I came back into the covered concourse to pay a visit to the Loon Loft, the team store.

In addition to the merchandise featuring their sharp and classy primary logo, the Loons have a nice variety of alternate identities, including the Great Lakes Camels (an allusion to a Rally Camel named *ahem* Rall E. Camel, who occasionally appears late in games), the Great Lakes Pontooners (with the vibes of yacht rock at sunset), and Los Pepinillos Picantes del Norte (the team’s Copa de la Diversión personality, celebrating spicy pickled gherkins, a signature crop cultivated by local Hispanic migrant farmers).

I bought the classic home hat and picked up a logo baseball for Dad. We were just beginning to settle in.

But first, it was time to sort out our lunch for the afternoon. As I perused the concession stands, I passed the Loons organist, playing to the action of the game from the concourse.

There were plenty of good options to choose from: beef and chicken tacos, pulled pork, chicken sandwiches, and all sorts of sausages — Polish, Italian, Andouille, plus dogs and brats.

I had the Bar-B-Combo with shredded beef brisket and a side of macaroni and cheese. I loved it. Dad asked me to get the andouille sausage with creole mustard and a sweet and spicy slaw. An older man working the stand looked up at me and said, “Are you sure?”

“Well, it’s for my dad, and that’s what he ordered,” I shrugged.

He served me up. “It’s very spicy. If he doesn’t like it, you can bring it back.”

Back at our seats, Dad took a confident bite. I watched him closely. He nodded. “It’s pretty spicy!” I could tell it was too much, but he decided to deal with it.

The River Bandits put up two runs in the top of the second on an error by Loons second baseman Jordan Thompson. The Loons didn’t get on the board until the fourth, when Kyle Nevin — son of former major leaguer and Los Angeles Angels manager Phil Nevin — hit a towering homer to center field, making it 2-1 River Bandits.

Loons mascot Lou E. Loon — said to be “born on the shorelines of Lake Huron near Tawas Point” — worked to keep the crowd engaged. There was also a slingshot burrito-catching competition and some between-inning baseball trivia.

But the day’s entertainment was dominated by Tyler’s Amazing Balancing Act, a series of increasingly absurd balancing feats performed by Tyler Scheuer, who tours Minor League ballparks and other venues around the country. Every couple of innings, Tyler came onto the field to balance a tall pole, a chair, an ironing board, random objects from the crowd, and finally, a wheelbarrow and a ladder. (Watch the episode!)

The fun did not extend to the game on the field for the home crowd. The River Bandits scored three runs in the fifth off one Loons reliever, then two runs in the sixth off the next arm from the Great Lakes bullpen. They took the first seven-inning game 7-1.

Game 2

During the break, I went down the right-field line near the kids play area (dubbed Lou E.’s Lookout) to watch Loons Game 2 starter Jackson Ferris warm up. The second-round pick of the Chicago Cubs in the 2022 draft, Ferris would finish the season with the Double-A Tulsa Drillers, starting seven games and posting a tidy 2.54 ERA.

Ferris and his Quad Cities counterpart, River Bandits starter Oscar Rayo, held the offenses scoreless in the first. I took a walk around the quiet outfield for some additional views.

I circled around the party-free party deck and past The Road to the Show, a display of former Loons who have made it to Major League Baseball.

The teams failed to score in the second and third innings. Ferris would go on to complete six innings of work, allowing no runs on two hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.

But we would not get to see it all. We needed to be in Traverse City, Michigan, in time for dinner, and the doubleheader schedule change meant we would need to miss the last few innings of Game 2.

We certainly didn’t miss any offense: As we learned later, the clubs went into an extra eighth inning in a 0-0 tie. Finally, with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Nevin came to the plate, fouling off five straight pitches against reliever Chase Wallace before striking out on a fastball ball right down the middle. But the pitch somehow got away from Quad Cities catcher Omar Hernandez, and the winning run sprinted home. The Loons took the second game 1-0.

On our way, we stopped at the World’s Largest Cherry Pie Pan, which in 1987 was used to bake (what else?) the world’s largest cherry pie during the National Cherry Festival, held each year in Traverse City. There had been a bountiful cherry crop that year, and the Chef Pierre Bakery — now a subsidiary of Sara Lee — put that bonus fruit to use to break the record. The finished pie was 17 feet, 6 inches wide, weighed 28,350 pounds, and was consumed by the combined efforts of about 35,000 spectators. We’d get to try the local cherries the next day.