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The ISL's successor Mississippi-Ohio Valley League continued the tradition for most of its seasons. There was, however, little year-to-year format consistency. 1949 had two games, in different formats, about a month apart. In 1950 and 1951, two All-Star games were played, on consecutive nights in different ballyards. The 1952 contest was cancelled about a week before the scheduled game date.
1949 South 5, North 2 @ Paducah
All-Stars 9, Centralia 2 @ Mount Vernon
1950 South 12, North 8 @ West Frankfort
South 6, North 4 @ Mattoon
1951 South 5, North 4 @ Mount Vernon
10 innings
Paris 8, All-Stars 6 @ Paris
1952 *game cancelled by league directors*
1953 Decatur 5, All-Stars 2 @ Decatur
Wins: South 4, All-Stars 1, Paris 1, Decatur 1. One game cancelled.
The games lapsed for a decade.
The first Midwest League All-Star Game was played in 1964, and pitted teams created by arbitrarily dividing the league geographically.
1964 South 6, North 3 @ Davenport
No All-Star Game was played in 1965.
Beginning in 1966, the games returned, with a new format: The Midwest League team with the most wins in the first half of the season hosted the best players on the other teams. Predictably, the All Star team usually won these contests. This format lasted 8 seasons:
1966 Appleton 1, All Stars 0 @ Appleton
1967 All Stars 6, Wisconsin Rapids 5 @ Wisconsin Rapids
1968 All Stars 5, Quad Cities 1 @ Davenport
1969 Appleton 5, All Stars 3 @ Appleton
1970 All Stars 10, Quincy 7 @ Quincy
1971 All Stars 5, Danville 1 @ Danville
1972 All Stars 1, Wisconsin Rapids 1 @ Wisconsin Rapids
10 innings
1973 Wisconsin Rapids 4, All Stars 3 @ Wisconsin Rapids
Wins: All Stars 4, Appleton 2, Wisconsin Rapids 1. 1 tie game.
There was a new format in 1974: Our best players faced a Triple-A team. All of these games were played in Iowa ballyards. Our guys were surprisingly successful against the older players.
1974 All Stars 3, Iowa Oaks 2 @ Cedar Rapids
13 innings!
1975 All Stars 6, Iowa Oaks 2 @ Davenport
1976 Iowa Oaks 5, All Stars 3 @ Clinton
1977 All Stars 5, Iowa Oaks 2 @ Burlington
1978 All Stars 11, Omaha Royals 7 @ Waterloo
Wins: All Stars 4, Iowa Oaks 1.
Since 1979, the League has played a divisional (or regional) contest. From 1982 to 1987, and again from 1995 to 1999, the Central Division was split to make two equal geographic divisions. From 2000 to 2009 the Eastern team included members from an arbitrarily-selected West Division team.
1979 Southern Division 9, Northern 2 @ Cedar Rapids
1980 Northern 6, Southern 1 @ Davenport
1981 Southern 5, Northern 4 @ Cedar Rapids
1982 Southern 4, Northern 2 @ Davenport
1983 Southern 1, Northern 0 @ Madison
1984 Southern 5, Northern 4 @ Burlington
1985 Southern 4, Northern 2 @ Cedar Rapids
1986 Northern 4, Southern 2 @ Beloit
1987 Northern 9, Southern 8 @ Wausau
1988 Northern 5, Southern 2 @ Clinton
1989 Southern 4, Northern 1 @ South Bend
1990 Southern 10, Northern 5 @ Davenport
1991 Northern 6, Southern 6 @ Cedar Rapids
10 innings
1992 Northern 7, Southern 5 @ Peoria
1993 Northern 3, Southern 2 @ Geneva
1994 Southern 3, Northern 2 @ Fort Wayne
1995 Eastern 7, Western 5 @ Grand Rapids
1996 Eastern 10, Western 4 @ Appleton
1997 Eastern 6, Western 5 @ Lansing
1998 Western 7, Eastern 4 @ Clinton
1999 Western 1, Eastern 0 @ Lansing
2000 Western 5, Eastern 3 @ Geneva
2001 Eastern 7, Western 3 @ Dayton
2002 Eastern 6, Western 3 @ Lansing
2003 Eastern 5, Western 4 @ Grand Rapids
2004 Western 6, Eastern 3 @ Cedar Rapids
2005 Eastern 4, Western 2 @ Peoria
2006 Eastern 7, Western 1 @ Davenport
2007 Eastern 8, Western 2 @ Geneva
2008 Western 5, Eastern 4 @ Midland
10 innings
2009 Eastern 6, Western 3 @ Clinton
Wins: 6 Northern, 9 Southern, 10 Eastern, 5 Western. 1 tie game.
Where the games have been held
- Davenport 7
- Cedar Rapids 6
- Clinton 4
- Appleton 3
- Geneva 3
- Lansing 3
- Wisconsin Rapids 3
- Burlington 2
- Grand Rapids 2
- Mattoon 2
- Mount Vernon 2
- Peoria 2
- West Frankfort 2
- Beloit 1
- Danville 1
- Dayton 1
- Decatur 1
- Fort Wayne 1
- Madison 1
- Midland 1
- Quincy 1
- Paducah 1
- Paris 1
- South Bend 1
- Waterloo 1
- Wausau 1
The only clear pattern is that new parks usually host the game in their second MWL season. It's not been unusual for a single stadium to host several games in a relatively short period.
The League (and, usually, Howe SportsData) have recognized the MVP of the All-Star game since the 1982 season--and an official MVP was selected for one of the earlier games. This award has usually been called "Star of Stars." Here's the list of winners:
Year Player Pos Team Affil AB-R-H-BI (comments)
1966 Bob Von Epps C Fox Cities White Sox 3-0-0-1
1982 Mark Grant P Clinton Giants 2 IP (no baserunners)
1983 Shawon Dunston SS Quad City Cubs 4-1-1-0 (game score was 1-0)
1984 Greg Steen 2B Peoria Angels 4-2-3-2
1985 Darcy Walker DH Peoria Cubs 5-2-3-2
1986 Mark Howie 2B Madison A's 3-1-3-2
1987 Rafael Delima OF Kenosha Twins 5-2-3-3
1988 Jorge Pedre DH Appleton Royals 1-1-1-2
1989 Tom Redington 3B Burlington Braves 4-2-2-1
1990 Roger Miller 1B Clinton Giants 4-1-1-2
1991 Chris Hatcher RF Burlington Astros 4-2-3-2
1992 Tyrone Horne LF Rockford Expos 4-2-2-2
1993 Steve Sisco 2B Rockford Royals 2-0-1-1
1994 Bob Henley DH Burlington Expos 2-0-1-1
1995 Chris Allison 2B Michigan Red Sox 3-2-2-0
1996 Jeff Liefer OF South Bend White Sox 2-2-2-3
1997 John Barnes OF Michigan Red Sox 4-2-3-2
1998 Ross Gload 1B Kane County Marlins 3-1-1-2
1999 Jon Schaeffer DH Quad City Twins 3-2-2-0
2000 Matt Padgett RF Kane County Marlins 5-1-4-0
2001 T.J. Soto DH Michigan Astros 2-1-2-4 (grand slam)
2002 Steve Checksfield DH Michigan Astros 4-1-3-2
2003 Kevin Beavers ?? Lansing Cubs 3-1-3-1 (game winning RBI)
2004 Mitch Maier ?? Burlington Royals 3-1-2-1
2005 Jereme Milons CF South Bend Diamondbacks 2-0-2-3
2006 Jay Bruce RF Dayton Reds 5-3-3-2 (home run, single, double)
Vincent Bongiovanni P South Bend Diamondbacks 2 IP (no baserunners)
2007 Deik Scram DH West Michigan Tigers 2-2-1-0 (steal, walk)
2008 Tim Smith LF Clinton Rangers 2-1-1-1 (game winning HR)
2009 Sawyer Carroll CF Fort Wayne Padres 4-1-4-0
Jay Bruce's game, in 2006, was probably the best performance on this list. Beyond serious debate the best MWL All-Star performance was the 3 homer effort by Dubuque's Jim Dodders in 1967, but no MVP was selected for that game.
Most of these guys went on to play Double-A ball, and many played at the Triple-A level.
Shawon Dunston's the only major league star on the list (even that's debatable). Mark Grant and Ross Gload are the only other players who have had significant careers in the bigs, so far. A few others have made brief appearances in The Show. It's far too soon to rule out the recent winners--and Jay Bruce certainly looks promising.
The game format makes it difficult for any pitcher to win this award; it happened the first year, and hasn't happened since. In 2006 this issue was addressed by adding a second winner.
Sources:
The 1995 League Yearbook has box scores of all of the MWL games through 1994. In extremely small print. (Thanks, Jon.)
Results of more recent games are from my files.
The first ISL game is mentioned in Kevin Saldana's This Date in Minor League Baseball History. The other ISL and Valley League games are from contemporary newspaper accounts; see the pages I'm creating for those for detailed references.
Brad Seward was kind enough to report an error shortly after this page was posted on the site. Thanks.
This page originated as the June 19 and June 26, 1999, Midwest League Tidbits on the Midwest League Mailing List.
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