Northwoods League carries on with sluggers, substitutes and a beauty of a ballpark

MANKATO — Pete Alonso put down his weapon after reaching 23 home runs, one more than Trey Mancini, his opponent in the final round of the Home Run Derby in advance of the All-Star Game.

This gave Alonso 74 home runs in three rounds while repeating his victory when the previous Derby was held in 2019.

"I've done this before and I'm extremely confident in my ability to hit the ball out of the park,'' Alonso said.

This was a week ago in Denver, although it could have been much earlier on a July night in Mequon, Wis., home of the Lakeshore Chinooks of the Northwoods League.

"Pete was our Home Run Derby champion in 2014,'' said Dick Radatz Jr., the founder of the Northwoods summer collegiate league. "And the next night he hit a three-run home run and was the MVP of the All-Star Game.''

Alonso played for the Madison (Wis.) Mallards, a franchise that had a run of insane success after it joined the Northwoods in 2001.

Mankato arrived in 1999 as the Mashers, then switched to the current MoonDogs — much better for selling T-shirts — in 2002. Curtis Granderson was a Masher and Brandon Crawford was a MoonDog among the nine big-leaguers who have played summer ball here.

Radatz and Gene McDonald both had lost jobs in Florida in organized baseball in 1993. The Cape Cod League was the famous collegiate league and there were others that would come and go around the country.

"We needed something as jobs, and Gene and I thought a college league might work,'' Radatz said Tuesday. "It had to be in the North. I had enough experience with summer heat in the South.

"I averaged 463 fans a game running a team in Winter Haven and was the Florida State League's executive of the year.''

Radatz and McDonald started the Northwoods in 1994 with five franchises: Minnesota-Rochester; Wisconsin-Kenosha, Manitowoc, Wausau; and Iowa-Dubuque.

Twenty-seven years later, Radatz, 62, remains the chairman of the board for what's now a 22-team league. There are 10 teams in the Great Plains Division, with half from Minnesota: Mankato, St. Cloud, Willmar, Rochester and Duluth.

The Rochester Honkers play at the well-worn Mayo Field and the Duluth Huskies at gothic Wade Stadium, although with artificial turf.

Willmar is the second-smallest city in the league, ahead of Wisconsin Rapids, but resolute in maintaining a team since 2010. The St. Cloud Rox have Joe Faber Field and no complaints.

And then there's ISG Field here in Mankato. Wow-za.

Chad Surprenant from ISG, an engineering firm located in Mankato, and another businessman, Kyle Smith, led an ownership group that bought the MoonDogs in January 2018.

A turf field, a large video board and a deck for fans above the home dugout were added for that season with the help of a city sales tax. Two weeks ago, the MoonDogs unveiled a two-deck structure in right field – below for club suites and the all-important deck for thirsty fans above.

A tremendous upgrade in stadiums in the NFL will get you another Super Bowl. An impressive ballpark upgrade in the Northwoods gets you an All-Star Game.

That took place on Tuesday night, one night after Matt Higgins made himself a hero to MoonDogs fans by pulling out a Great Plains victory in the Home Run Derby.

The home All-Stars, Great Plains, defeated Great Lakes 7-3. St. Cloud Rox second baseman Otto Kemp homered, had two RBI and was named "Star of Stars'' for the game. The announced crowd of 2,854 was the largest-ever for a Northwoods game in Mankato.

Higgins, an outfielder from Bellarmine University in Louisville, played two summers for Rockford, Ill., in the other division.

"I'm having the time of my life here this summer,'' Higgins said. "The Mankato fans are into it, the ballpark is outstanding and the competition is so strong in this league.''

About that Home Run Derby, once won by Pete Alonso?

"There were nine innings, with nine hitters from each team,'' Higgins said. "I had the bottom of the ninth and hit the 10 needed to win.''

Pitcher Duke Benge is a 2019 Lakeville South graduate and headed into his third year as an Air Force Academy cadet. He was home on a three-week break and pitched for the "Mud Puppies,'' a traveling team assembled to fill road dates for Thunder Bay, unable to operate due to Canada's COVID restrictions.

Benge received permission from high-ranking officers to be home for the All-Star Game – in on Monday, back on Wednesday.

"We almost made the NCAA tournament this season,'' he said. "We beat LSU, we beat Arizona, we won two of three against Dallas Baptist.''

Benge pitched only 10 innings as a sophomore, but for the Mud Puppies … he was the ace against loaded Northwoods lineups.

"We were mostly a group of Minnesota kids living at home with our parents,'' Benge said. "We hung in there for many of our games."

So, Duke made the quick commute from Colorado to Mankato to demonstrate Mud Puppies pride?

"Exactly,'' he said, with a nod.