1.
South Bend, Indiana
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South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents, its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 318,586 and it is the fourth-largest city in Indiana, serving as the economic and cultural hub of Northern Indiana. The highly ranked University of Notre Dame is located just to the north in unincorporated Notre Dame, the area was originally settled in the early 19th century by fur traders and was established as a city in 1865. The St. Joseph River shaped South Bends economy through the mid-20th century, River access assisted heavy industrial development such as that of the Studebaker Corporation, the Oliver Chilled Plow Company, and other large corporations. The population of South Bend declined after 1960, when it had a population of 132,445. This was chiefly due to migration to areas as well as the demise of Studebaker and other heavy industry. Today, the largest industries in South Bend are health care, education, small business, remaining large corporations include Crowe Horwath, Honeywell, and AM General. Recently, the city population has started to grow for the first time in fifty years. The old Studebaker plant and surrounding area, now called Ignition Park, is being redeveloped as a center to attract new industry. The St. Joseph Valley was long occupied by Native Americans, one of the earliest known groups to occupy what would later become northern Indiana was the Miami tribe. Later, the Potawatomi moved into the region, utilizing the rich food, the Potawatomi occupied this region of Indiana until most of them were forcibly removed in the 1840s. The South Bend area was so popular because its portage was the shortest overland route from the St. Joseph River to the Kankakee River and this route was used for centuries, first by the Native Americans, then by French explorers, missionaries and traders. The first permanent white settlers of South Bend were fur traders who established trading posts in the area, in 1820, Pierre Frieschutz Navarre arrived, representing the American Fur Company of John Jacob Astor. He settled near what is now downtown South Bend, alexis Coquillard, another agent of the AFC, established a trading post known as the Big St. Joseph Station. In 1827, Lathrop Minor Taylor established a post for Samuel Hanna and Company, in whose records the name St. Josephs, by 1829, the town was growing, with Coquillard and Taylor emerging as leaders. They applied for a post office, Taylor was appointed postmaster, and the post office was designated as Southold, Allen County, Indiana. The following year, the name was changed to South Bend, probably to ease confusion, in 1831, South Bend was laid out as the county seat and as one of the four original townships of St. Joseph County with 128 residents. Soon after, design began on what would become the town of South Bend, the town was formally established in 1835 and rapidly grew
2.
Midwest League
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The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league, established in 1954 and based in the Midwestern United States. It is a Class A league that plays a full season, the Midwest League began as the Illinois State League, then became the Mississippi–Ohio Valley League. In 1956, the Mississippi-Ohio Valley League was renamed the Midwest League, today, the league has 16 teams in two divisions. The Lansing Lugnuts and Wisconsin Timber Rattlers franchises jointly have won the most league championships, the Midwest League directly evolved from two earlier leagues in the region. In 1949, the ISL changed its name to the Mississippi–Ohio Valley League after Marion moved their franchise to Kentucky, in 1954, the Mississippi-Ohio Valley League expanded, adding teams in Clinton and Dubuque, Iowa. The Mississippi-Ohio Valley League was then renamed Midwest League in 1956, mattoon is the oldest franchise in the MWL, evolving into todays Fort Wayne TinCaps, while Clinton is the oldest MWL locale. In 1960, the Davenport, Iowa based Quad City Braves joined the league as an expansion team, in 1962, Appleton, Burlington, and Cedar Rapids joined the Midwest League from the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League which folded operations when those franchises switched leagues. All those franchised remain in the league today, in 1963, the Midwest League was designated as a Class A league, after the minor league classification structure was reorganized. The 1975 Waterloo Royals, led by future MLB All-Stars Willie Wilson, the Royals finished the season 93–35. In 1976, the Midwest League contracted from ten teams to eight, as franchises in Danville, in 1982, the league expanded from 8 to 12 teams, adding the Beloit Brewers, the Danville Suns, the Madison Muskies, and the Springfield Cardinals. The Peoria Suns relocated from Danville in 1983, and acquired their current name, Peoria Chiefs, the following year. In 1988, the league began splitting its season into two halves and expanded from 12 to 14 teams, with the addition of franchises in South Bend, Indiana, and Rockford, Illinois. Kenosha, Madison, Rockford, Springfield, Waterloo, and Wausau lost teams during this decade while Battle Creek, Dayton, Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids, Kane County, the 1978 Appleton Foxes are ranked #93 on the Top-100 All Time teams by MiLB. com. Led by future Cy Young Award winner LaMarr Hoyt, the team finished 97-40, harry Chappas, Ross Baumgarten and Britt Burns were all called up to the parent Chicago White Sox at the conclusin of the MWL season. The 97 wins by the Foxes remains a Midwest League record, the Clinton LumberKings have been in one city longer than any Midwest League team, having called Clinton, Iowa, home since 1954. The Southwest Michigan Devil Rays moved to Midland, Michigan, Year by Year championship teams, List of Midwest League champions Baseball awards#U. S. minor leagues Official Midwest League website A Fans Guide to the Midwest League
3.
Chicago Cubs
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The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League Central division. The team plays its games at Wrigley Field, located on the citys North Side. The Cubs are one of two league teams in Chicago, the other, the Chicago White Sox, is a member of the American League Central division. The Cubs, first known as the White Stockings, was a member of the NL in 1876. The Cubs have appeared in a total of eleven World Series, the 1906 Cubs won 116 games, finishing 116–36 and posting a modern-era record winning percentage of.763, before losing the World Series to the Chicago White Sox by four games to two. The Cubs won back-to-back World Series championships in 1907 and 1908, the 108-year drought was also the longest such occurrence in all major North American sports. Since the start of play in 1969, the Cubs have appeared in the postseason eight times through the 2016 season. The Cubs are known as the North Siders, a reference to the location of Wrigley Field within the city of Chicago, there is a divisional rivalry with the St. Louis Cardinals and also a newer rivalry with the Milwaukee Brewers. There is also a rivalry with the White Sox. The Cubs began play in 1876 as the Chicago White Stockings, joining the National League as a charter member. Owner William Hulbert signed multiple star players, such as pitcher Albert Spalding and infielders Ross Barnes, Deacon White, the White Stockings played their home games at West Side Grounds and quickly established themselves as one of the new leagues top teams. Spalding won forty-seven games and Barnes led the league in hitting at.429 as Chicago won the first ever National League pennant, which at the time was the games top prize. After back-to-back pennants in 1880 and 1881, Hulbert died, and Spalding, the White Stockings, with Anson acting as player-manager, captured their third consecutive pennant in 1882, and Anson established himself as the games first true superstar. In 1885 and 86, after winning N. L. pennants, both seasons resulted in match ups with the St. Louis Brown Stockings, with the clubs tying in 1885 and with St. Louis winning in 1886. This was the genesis of what would become one of the greatest rivalries in sports. In all, the Anson-led Chicago Base Ball Club won six National League pennants between 1876 and 1886. As a result, Chicagos club nickname transitioned, and by 1890 they had known as the Chicago Colts, or sometimes Ansons Colts
4.
Arizona Diamondbacks
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The Arizona Diamondbacks, often shortened as the D-backs, are an American professional baseball franchise based in Phoenix, Arizona. The club competes in Major League Baseball as a member of the National League West division, since the teams inception in 1998, the franchise has played home games at Chase Field, formerly known as Bank One Ballpark. The ballpark was renamed in 2005, as a result of Bank One Corporations merger with JPMorgan Chase & Co, on March 9,1995, Arizona was awarded a franchise to begin play for the 1998 season. A $130 million franchise fee was paid to Major League Baseball and on January 16,1997, since their debut, the Diamondbacks have won five National League West titles, one National League Championship pennant, and the 2001 World Series. The Diamondbacks original colors were purple, black, teal and copper and their first logo was an italicized block letter A with a diamond pattern, and the crossbar represented by a snakes tongue. Prior to their season, they released their baseball caps. The home cap had a cream color crown with a purple visor, the road cap was black and had a turquoise visor and button. Their alternate cap had a crown with a purple visor. Depending on the cap, the A logo on the front of the cap had different color variations, in the Diamondbacks second season, they introduced a new logo which was a copper color snake in the shape of a letter D. It was used on a black cap, which in the beginning, was worn as a road cap. The franchise unveiled new uniforms and colors of Sedona Red, Sonoran Sand, the red shade is named for the sandstone canyon at Red Rock State Park near Sedona, while the beige shade is named for the Sonoran Desert. A sleeve patch was added featuring a lowercase d and b configured to look like a snakes head, the team also kept the D logo, but was slightly altered and put on an all red cap to be used as their game cap. They also kept the A logo with the new colors applied to it, a similar color scheme is currently used by the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League. The primary television play-by-play voice for the teams first nine seasons of play was Thom Brennaman, Brennaman was the TV announcer for the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds before being hired by Diamondbacks founder Jerry Colangelo in 1996, two years before the team would begin play. In October 2006, Brennaman left the Diamondbacks to call games with his father for the Reds beginning in 2007, the English language flagship radio station is KTAR. Jeff Munn is a backup radio announcer, he served as the regular public address announcer at Chase Field in the early days of the franchise. He is well-known to many Phoenix area sports fans, having served as the public address announcer for the Suns at America West Arena in the 1990s. He is also the radio voice for ASU womens basketball
5.
Chicago White Sox
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The Chicago White Sox is an American professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League Central division. The White Sox play their games at Guaranteed Rate Field. They are one of two league clubs in Chicago, the other is the Chicago Cubs, who are a member of the National League Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf. One of the American Leagues eight charter franchises, the Chicago team was established as a major baseball club in 1900. The club was called the Chicago White Stockings, but this was soon shortened to Chicago White Sox. The team played games at South Side Park before, in 1910. The White Sox won the 1906 World Series with a team dubbed the Hitless Wonders, and the 1917 World Series led by Eddie Cicotte, Eddie Collins. The 1919 World Series was marred by the Black Sox Scandal, in response, Major League Baseballs new Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned the players from Major League Baseball for life. In 1959, led by Early Wynn, Nellie Fox, Luis Aparicio and manager Al Lopez and they won the AL pennant in 2005, and went on to win the World Series. The White Sox originated as the Sioux City Cornhuskers of the Western League, in 1894, Charles Comiskey bought the Cornhuskers and moved them to St. Paul, Minnesota, where they became the St. Paul Saints. In 1901, the Western League broke the National Agreement and became the new major league American League, the very first season in the American League ended with a White Stockings championship. However, that would be the end of the season as the World Series did not begin until 1903, the franchise, now known as the Chicago White Sox, made its first World Series appearance in 1906, beating the crosstown Cubs in six games. The White Sox would win a pennant and second World Series in 1917, beating the New York Giants in six games with help from stars Eddie Cicotte. The Sox were heavily favored in the 1919 World Series, huge bets on the Reds fueled speculation that the series had been fixed. This set the franchise back, as they did not win another pennant for 40 years. The White Sox did not finish in the half of the American League again until after club founder Charles Comiskey died and passed ownership of the club to his son
6.
Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium
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Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium is a baseball stadium in South Bend, Indiana, home to the South Bend Cubs, a minor league baseball team which plays in the Class-A Midwest League. The stadium opened in 1987, and its open concourse is considered the template for many minor league ball parks built in the 1990s. It has a capacity of 5,000 spectators and is undergoing renovations in time for the 2015 season. The park is named for Stan Coveleski, the hall of fame pitcher who lived in South Bend. It is colloquially known as The Cove, Coveleski Stadium is located on South Street in downtown South Bend. Stanley Coveleski Regional Stadium was built in 1987 for $11 million under the leadership of then-Mayor Roger O. Parent, the facility is owned by the City of South Bend and managed by the South Bend Parks & Recreation Department. Stanley Coveleski was a Hall of Fame pitcher who settled in South Bend after his baseball career came to an end in 1929. The stadium is now known as The Cove. The 5, 000-seat stadium is worth an estimated $35 million to $40 million today, the stadium is home to the South Bend Cubs, a Class A minor league baseball team affiliated with the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs, for years known as the Silver Hawks. Originally affiliated with the Chicago White Sox, the team switched to the Diamondbacks in 1997, called the grandfather of the modern ballpark by BallParkReviews. com, Coveleski Stadium provided a design template for a move in recent years to bring ballparks back into City downtowns. HOK Sport Inc. original architect of Coveleski Stadium, also designed Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, on July 4,1987, the stadium held a Homerun Derby to see who could make history by hitting the first home run out of the brand new park. Norm Bogunia, a 1985 graduate of South Bends Washington High School and he was joined by five other people who also hit home runs that day. LaSalle High School baseball coach Scott Sill ran the pitching machine, two days later, on July 6,1987, Joel Reinebold hit the first home run at the stadium during a regular game. A plaque hangs in the stadium with all the names of those who hit home runs, in March 2017, construction began of a $22 million apartment complex, The Ivy at Berlin Place. The four four-story buildings will house 121 one and two-bedroom apartments overlooking the ballpark, construction is expected to be completed by opening day of 2018. On September 5,2013, it was announced that the stadium would be renamed Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium as a result of a new partnership with Four Winds Casinos. The 1901 synagogue building of the Sons of Israel Synagogue is now used as the South Bend Cubs gift shop, during the off-season, it is available to be used for weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other events
7.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
8.
Minor League Baseball
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All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses. Most are members of the organization known as Minor League Baseball. Several leagues, known as independent baseball leagues, do not have any links to Major League Baseball. Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball teams may enter into a PDC for a two- or four-year term. At the expiration of a PDC term, teams may renew their affiliation, or sign new PDCs with different clubs, though many relationships are renewed and endure for extended time periods. Minor League teams that are owned directly by the major league club do not have PDCs with each other and are not part of the reaffiliation shuffles that occur every other year, several more independent leagues operate in the United States and Canada. The earliest professional baseball association, the National Association of 1871 to 1875 and this system proved unworkable, however, as there was no way to ensure competitive balance, and financially unsound clubs often failed in midseason. This problem was solved in 1876 with the formation of the National League, with a membership which excluded less competitive. Professional clubs outside the National League responded by forming regional associations of their own, there was a series of ad hoc groupings, such as the New England Association of 1877 and the Eastern Championship Association of 1881. These were loose groups of independent clubs which agreed to play a series of games for a championship pennant, the first minor league is traditionally considered to be the Northwestern League of 1883 to 1884. Unlike the earlier minor associations, it was conceived as a permanent organization and it also, along with the National League and the American Association, was a party to the National Agreement of 1883. Included in this was the agreement to respect the reserve lists of clubs in each league, teams in the National League and the American Association could only reserve players who had been paid at least $1000. Northwest League teams could reserve players paid merely $750, implicitly establishing the division into major and minor leagues, over the next two decades, more minor leagues signed various versions of the National Agreement. Eventually, the minor leagues joined together to negotiate jointly, in the late 1890s, the Western League run by the fiery Ban Johnson decided to challenge the National Leagues position. Representatives of the different minor leagues met at the Leland Hotel in Chicago on September 5,1901, in response to the National–American battle, they agreed to form the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, called the NAPBL, or NA for short. The purpose of the NA at the time was to maintain the independence of the leagues involved, several did not sign the agreement and continued to work independently. Powers was made the first president of the NAPBL, whose offices were established in Auburn, in 1903, the conflict between the American and National Leagues ended in the National Agreement of 1903. The NAPBL became involved in the stages of the negotiations to develop rules for the acquisition of players from their leagues by the National
9.
Studebaker Silver Hawk
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The Studebaker Silver Hawk was an automobile produced between 1957 and 1959 by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana. The Hawk was also produced in 1956, there were four versions, pillared Flight Hawk and Power Hawk, and hardtop Sky Hawk and Golden Hawk. The Silver Hawk model was not produced in 1956, the first year of the Hawks, the same basic car was produced for two more years as simply the Studebaker Hawk, since from 1959 onward no other Hawk models were being sold. The Silver Hawk was the replacement for the two models in the four-model Hawk range in 1956, the Flight Hawk which carried the Champion 185 cu. in. Six-cylinder 101 hp powerplant and the Power Hawk with the Commanders 259 in³ V8, the Commander V8 was not offered in U. S. models, it was, however, the largest engine available in most overseas markets. In appearance, the Silver Hawk was somewhat plainer in appearance than the Golden Hawk, some dealers painted the fin only, and sometimes the deck lid recess and or the left and right side grills were painted in a contrasting Studebaker color. These usually matched the interior, some were Blue, Gold, for 1959, the Silver Hawk became the only Hawk model in production, largely because Studebaker dealers wanted a glamorous flagship model as a dealership draw. Those customers would more than likely walk out with Studebakers last-ditch hope, in fact, the Silver Hawk was the only non-Lark model kept. Changes for 1959 included new tailfins, with the Silver Hawk script moved to the fins instead of on the trunk lid, two-tone paint was discontinued for all U. S. orders, though it was still available for export. Under the hood, buyers could choose the newly-shrunken 90 HP169.6 cu. in, the 289 was no longer available. The 1959 model year was Studebakers first profitable year in six years, thanks mostly to the Lark, and the tide of sales lifted the Silver Hawk. For 1960, Studebaker dropped the Silver part of the name, largely unchanged externally from the 1959, internally, the major change was the return of the 289 cubic inch V8 last used in 1958. This was the engine available for U. S. orders in both 1960 and 1961, the last year of the finned Hawk. Some six-cylinder and 259 cu in V8 models were built for export markets, the 1961 models saw the limited return of a second paint color, beige, in a stripe along the base of the fin between the two lower moldings. The Hawk was replaced for 1962 by the stunningly-restyled Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk, Studebaker had a proven sales winner in the 1959 Lark, which was continued into 1960 with little change. With steel in short supply, the company chose to focus on building as many Larks as possible to ensure a supply for the companys dealers. This meant that Silver Hawk production for 1960, which had scheduled to begin in November or December 1959, was delayed. Unfortunately for Studebaker — but fortunately for Hawk buyers — sales of the Lark began to fall off in the months of 1959
