Kane County Cougars

By David Malamut

In 1991, it seemed odd (if not unwise) when a minor
league franchise moved into a major league market
one with two big league teams, no less. But the story
of the Kane County Cougars of the single-A Midwest
League has been one of tremendous successes on
the field, at the gates, and above all in the hearts of
baseball fans in Chicago s western suburbs. The team
continues to draw more than half a million fans to
Geneva s cozy Elfstrom Stadium year after year, without ever being affiliated with the Cubs or Sox in the nearby city. They have fielded some top prospects, including 2003 World Series MVP Josh Beckett and his teammate Dontrelle Willis. They have battled in the post-season several times in their brief history, and they thrilled fans by winning the 1991 Midwest League Championship. Cougar fans will enjoy this pictorial tour through the club s first 15 seasons, which provides a local view of the history of the national pastime.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: May 4, 2005
• ISBN: 9781439615348

David Malamut

David Malamut has been there from the beginning, a mainstay at Cougar home games since his youth. The team has no greater fan. Using photographs from the Aurora Historical Society, his own collection, and that of fellow fans, he tells the triumphant story of baseball in the suburbs.

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INTRODUCTION

The minor leagues are filled with stories and history. Sometimes history is made by individual players, such as Joe DiMaggio’s 61-game hitting streak with the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League in 1933; other times it is made by individual teams, such as the 1934 Los Angeles Angels, whose record of 137 wins and 50 losses place them as the best minor league team of all time, according to a recent survey by Minor League Baseball. Other times that history is made in individual games, such as the 33-inning game between Rochester and Pawtucket in 1981; or in the 1965 doubleheader when two Rocky Mount pitchers each threw a seven-inning no-hitter against Greensboro.

History has also been made by one team in the minors moving from one location to another. One of the most notable moves was when the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association moved to Toledo in 1953, to accommodate the transfer of the major league Boston Braves to Milwaukee. That, like most other moves, involved teams moving to areas not having major league baseball. However, history was also made in 1991, when a minor league team did the unimaginable and moved into an area where there were already two existing major league franchises.

That team is the Kane County Cougars, who have just completed another good season both on the field and in the stands. They have drawn over a half million fans in each of the past four seasons. On the field they have made the playoffs in three of the last five years. In those years they won only one championship but have had many exciting games.

The Cougars moved to Geneva, a western suburb of Chicago, back in 1991, after the franchise had been in Wausau, Wisconsin, and not drawing many fans. In 1990, the Wausau Timber drew only 56,434. In 1991, the inaugural season for the Kane County Cougars, they drew 240,290. That is 183,856 more fans with the transfer of the franchise to the burbs of Chicago.

How could that move make that much of a difference in attendance? That much of a difference is what some teams draw in a whole season in the Midwest League. Well, in 1990, the Kane County Forest Preserve built what would later be known as Phillip B. Elfstrom Stadium to help draw the Cougars into Kane County.

New stadiums naturally produce a big increase in attendance. In some cases it’s just a new stadium with a current franchise, but in others it’s a new stadium in a new location. Is it because of the novelty of the team, or that everyone just wants to see some professional baseball in their town?

Elfstrom Stadium is only around 40 miles west of Chicago. In Chicago there are the Cubs and the White Sox, who routinely draw in excess of five million fans a year combined. With the Cougars never being affiliated with the Sox or the Cubs, they don’t have fans coming out to see future Sox or Cubs players. That is, until their affiliates are playing in Kane County.

The Cougars have fielded plenty of top prospects over the years. From Alex Ochoa and Curtis Goodwin to Josh Beckett and Dontrelle Willis, baseball fans have seen a lot of talented kids play in Geneva. Sometimes it’s just for a couple of weeks like Ryan Dempster or Alex Gonzalez, or sometimes we all get lucky and it’s for the whole season, like with Charles Johnson.

The first few stars to come through Kane County were the Old Roman Charles Comiskey, and Casey Stengel, back in the nineteenth and the early twentieth century. There have been many more, right on through to Joe Blanton and Huston Street just recently.

In 2001, the Cougars got their only championship and have been to the playoffs regularly since 1999. They went from worst to first in their opening season of 1991, and have made it to the final game of the championship series, only too lose, twice.

The one thing that has always remained the same is that the Cougars have always had plenty of people in the stands. They have topped half a million fans for each of the past four seasons. They have been known to out-draw several major league teams head-to-head during July and August. Kane County has the Midwest League record for single-game attendance at 14,452. Fans keep coming to Elfstrom, not only to watch the ball game, but because the Cougars put on a great show between innings with contests and music. They do the usual minor league mascot race, but it’s the other stuff that makes things fun.

ONE

Before There Were Cougars

The Cougars came to Geneva in 1991, but that wasn’t the beginning of baseball in Kane County. There were local town teams going all the way back into the mid-1870s. Almost all of the Fox Valley towns had local teams. The best regarded was the 1875 Elgin team who had a star player named Charles Comiskey, the same Comiskey who would found the Chicago White Sox at the start of the twentieth century.

The first professional team in Aurora played in 1890, as a member of the Illinois-Iowa League. They played from 1890 to 1892. In 1890, they finished in fifth place. The team folded on June 16, 1891, with an 11-27 record. The Aurora Hoodoos, which came into existence after the Peoria Canaries moved to the area on May 31, 1892, took their place. The only problem was that they disbanded on July 5, with a combined 26-27 record.

The most important game was on April 20, 1891, when the Chicago White Stockings (Cubs) would play the Aurora team and lose to them, 4-3.

Not until 1910 would professional baseball creep back into the Fox Valley. The Aurora Islanders played in the Wisconsin-Illinois League. Unfortunately, they would end up that season in last place with a 43-81 record, 33 and a half games out of first place. That same year, Elgin had a team nicknamed the Kittens in the Northern Association. The team would finish in first place with a 37-20 record. The Kittens disband on July 11, eight days before the league disbanded. Fritz Maisel led the league in runs with 49. John Hopkins led the league in home runs with seven. One of the highlights of that year was a no-hitter thrown by a pitcher by the name of Boothby against Freeport in which the Kittens won the game, 7-2. Another no-hitter was thrown by a pitcher by the name of Wilson on May 30 against Freeport, again this time the Kittens won, 3-0.

The Aurora Blues came into existence in 1911 in the Wisconsin-Illinois League. They had a star center fielder by the name of Casey Stengel who led the league in hitting, with a .352 average, and in hits with 148. The Blues would finish seventh out of eight teams with a 55-67 record, 20 games behind Rockford. Season highlights were a no-hitter by LG Daniels on May 18, and another no-hitter, this time by a pitcher named Padden, both against Green Bay.

In the 1912 season the Blues finished next to last again, this time with a 54-80 record. In 1915, both Elgin and Aurora had teams in the Bi-State League. That would be the last of professional baseball in Kane County for over 70 years.

Late in 1985, a proposal was brought up to the Forest Preserve District and County Board in Kane County to build a minor league baseball stadium. In 1987, it looked good to have a new stadium built, as the Midwest League had awarded an expansion franchise to Kane County. It would’ve started play in 1987 but was held back until 1988 because the other expansion franchise in South Bend, Indiana, was having some delays in the construction of what would eventually become Stanley Coveleski Regional.

The stadium deal in Kane County fell through for the moment and the other expansion franchise would go to Rockford. It would be another two years before the Cougars officially came into existence and three years before they played their first game in Kane County.

Meanwhile, the Wausau Timbers who were playing in the Midwest League had been having attendance problems and were looking to be moved. In 1990, the team was sold to a group of investors who would move the team to the suburbs of Chicago the following year.

In 1886, the Aurora town team played a game against a team from the town of Naperville. In those days almost all of the towns in the area had teams of locals that played against each other. (Photo courtesy Aurora Historical Society, Aurora, Illinois.)

Reviews for Kane County Cougars

[joeldinda_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Disclaimer: David Malamut's a friend, and sometimes research partner.This book could have used a copy editor--David's a little sloppy about spelling sometimes--but it's a well-executed book of the minor league team history genre. As with all Arcadia Press books, it's a picture book with explanatory text, but in this case the text actually explains the photographs. That's always a good thing.The captions and introductions are factually accurate, although anyone who's not a baseball fan will likely find them pretty boring. And the book's well organized, and well laid out.Nicely done.