Is this Heaven? No. It's Iowa! - Iowa Baseball League | 1925 Season Results

[RoughRiders99 319]

 

As everybody expected it, the Dubuque Dubs are the Kinsella Champions for the 1921 season, thanks to their core of ex-professional ball players on the team. 

 

Game 1 - The Dubs’ starting pitcher, who pitched in the 1919 World Series for the Chicago White Sox and got banned due to the Black Sox Scandal, pitched a complete game 5-hit shutout to win Game 1 of the series.

Game 2 - The game was scoreless until the eighth inning, where Boone Baseball broke through with three runs, and then added on a run in the ninth inning. The Dubs’ only runs came in the ninth inning in a valiant effort. Boone won Game 2, 4-2.
Game 3 - After getting defeated in Game 2 of the series and falling behind 4–0 in the top of the third, the Dubuque Dubs tied it with four runs of their own in the bottom half. Later on, an 8-run 7th inning highlighted by a bases-loaded triple turned the tide as the Dubs got their first state title.

[RoughRiders99 319]

11 hours ago, Steelman said:

What is the average attendance for most games?

 

I must apologize. I missed this post. 

 

In the early days of this league, I'd say the average attendance for most games would be maybe 500 people or so. More for the larger cities, and smaller for the smaller cities. But I can say that the smaller cities would have a more invested crowd, since it's the "only thing" in town.

 

---

 

Anyway, I know I just made four quick posts in a row, but that's because I had the first 3-4 seasons all prewritten out already! I'll hang onto the next season until tomorrow or Sunday. I'll still be around to have a chat if you guys want to! Thanks for reading!

[TheHealthiestScratch 120]

That Raccoons logo is my idea of the perfect “classic logo” that could hold with minor changes through time. You really went above and beyond for their identity. My favorite part is the ring tail socks, they are a great touch!

[Goran The Man 133]

The Iowa league is an interesting concept and reminds me of @Section30's Minnesota Amateur Hockey League. The natural twist makes it interesting!

[BellaSpurs 908]

15 minutes ago, Goran The Man said:

The Iowa league is an interesting concept and reminds me of @Section30's Minnesota Amateur Hockey League. The natural twist makes it interesting!

Do they exist in the same universe? Would be pretty cool if they did

[NicDB 1,136]

Definitely paying attention to this.  The Upper Midwest has a much stronger baseball history than its given credit for.

[jayjackson3 140]

This is very interesting and I look forward to seeing more of these great uniform concepts. 

[Section30 1,166]

4 hours ago, BellaSpurs said:

Do they exist in the same universe? Would be pretty cool if they did

 

That could be a cool touch that I'd be interested in as well

[RoughRiders99 319]

17 hours ago, TheHealthiestScratch said:

That Raccoons logo is my idea of the perfect “classic logo” that could hold with minor changes through time. You really went above and beyond for their identity. My favorite part is the ring tail socks, they are a great touch!

 

Thanks!! I love the socks too. In my past concept threads, there's usually that ONE team that I feel like I "belong" to, and in this case, it's the Des Moines Raccoons. In other words, the Raccoons probably would be my "baby." It's also the team that happens to be the closest to where I currently live in Iowa. 

 

13 hours ago, NicDB said:

Definitely paying attention to this.  The Upper Midwest has a much stronger baseball history than its given credit for.

 

Absolutely. When I was doing my research on this, I had no idea how deep the "town team baseball" idea was in the upper Midwest. You'll definitely see some expansion teams up in Minnesota, Illinois at some points down the road. 

 

13 hours ago, jayjackson3 said:

This is very interesting and I look forward to seeing more of these great uniform concepts. 

 

Thanks! That means a lot coming from you! I can't believe that I'm still using YOUR template for these concepts. It's the best I've ever seen. 

 

17 hours ago, Goran The Man said:

The Iowa league is an interesting concept and reminds me of @Section30's Minnesota Amateur Hockey League. The natural twist makes it interesting!

 

That's exactly where I got the idea from and I asked for his blessing before I started this thread. 

 

16 hours ago, BellaSpurs said:

Do they exist in the same universe? Would be pretty cool if they did

 

11 hours ago, Section30 said:

That could be a cool touch that I'd be interested in as well

 

Hmmmmm........................ intriguing. We'll have to PM each other for that, haha. 

[TargetToad 241]

12 hours ago, Section30 said:

 

That could be a cool touch that I'd be interested in as well

Well i know the MAHL La Crosse Brewers play in Iowa. Maybe have an eventual La Crosse team be called the Brewers too (even the same logo if that as allowed). Like New York Giants used to (Football Giants and Baseball Giants).

[RoughRiders99 319]

12 minutes ago, TargetToad said:

Well i know the MAHL La Crosse Brewers play in Iowa. Maybe have an eventual La Crosse team be called the Brewers too (even the same logo if that as allowed). Like New York Giants used to (Football Giants and Baseball Giants).

 

Uhh... La Crosse is in Wisconsin.

 

Or did I miss an MAHL team in Iowa already? 

[Section30 1,166]

21 minutes ago, RoughRiders99 said:

 

Uhh... La Crosse is in Wisconsin.

 

Or did I miss an MAHL team in Iowa already? 

 

Nope, no teams in Iowa quite yet

[RoughRiders99 319]

There were no major changes prior to the 1922 season. 

 

 

Kinsella League

The Dubuque Dubs defended their regular season title in the Kinsella League by winning 44 games, one more than the '21 season. The Cascade Ball Club shot up from fifth place to second place by an improvement of 27 wins after White Sox great Red Faber, who was born in Cascade, visited the team and taught them how to pitch more effectively after leading MLB in ERA in 1921. The Manchester Burrs finished at .500. The Maquoketa Bears struggled into fourth place after an injury struck two of their super stars. The Dyersville Dreams and the Dubuque Dubs rounded out rest of the league. 

 

Central Iowa League

Just like the Dubs in the Kinsella, Boone Baseball defended their regular season title. The Des Moines Monks and Des Moines Raccoons finally switched places and finished 2-3 respectively. In the '20 and '21 seasons, Raccoons finished 2nd while the Monks finished third. The Marshalltown Caps achieved their first winning season. The Ames Cy's were unable to find any footing since the Iowa State University now know that the Cy's are a good source to find ballplayers. The West Des Moines Tigers continue to struggle due to their small population size. 

[RoughRiders99 319]

 

Compared to the past two playoffs, the 1922 Playoffs were quite wild starting in the second round. In the first round, all teams won their games as expected. However, in the quarterfinals, both of the no. 1 seeds (Dubuque Dubs and Boone) lost to the no. 4 seeds teams (Maquoketa and Marshalltown). In the semi-finals, with their two super stars back from their injuries, the Bears were able to overcome Cascade's strong pitching to advance to the Kinsella Series. Over on the Central Iowa side, the Monks held off the Caps to make it a Bears-Monks finale. 

[RoughRiders99 319]

 

Is it really a "Cinderella" run if the Maquoketa Bears missed their two super stars for most of the season, but got them back in time for the playoffs? 

 

Game 1 - In an extremely quick game that took a crisp 1 hour, 41 minutes, with the Bears’ starting pitcher going the distance for a 4-3 win. The Bears scored four runs in the fifth inning with a pair of two-run homers from their two super stars. 

Game 2 - The Monks were about to tie the series when they led 3-2 late in the game, where the Bears rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning by putting together a series of singles and doubles to pull themselves ahead, 5-3, for the win.

 

It was the first ever "sweep" in the Kinsella Series. 

[TargetToad 241]

Liking the format. I go Racoons.

[JamHeronArk 22]

I found this after following the MAHL thread. These are the type of leagues I love. I'm from a small Minnesota town myself and was elated when the MAHL came out, hoping for a team I could cheer for. My town also has a town ball team in real life and just recently made the state playoffs. I will follow this with great interest.

[RoughRiders99 319]

During the 1922/1923 off-season, there were a few changes around the league.

 

Maquoketa Bears: The defending champions Maquoketa Bears got a new set of uniforms and caps, as they got a bigger budget with new donors thanks to their Kinsella Series win. Gone are the dark blue road uniforms, as the team complained about being too hot to play them in the summer time. Both the home and road jerseys have new thicker piping on them. The ball caps went from blank to having the bear paw logo on them as well. Click here for old uniforms. 

 

 

Cascade Reds: The Cascade Ball Club now has a nickname, the Reds. After their success in the past season thanks to Chicago White Sox great Red Faber, who was born in Cascade, returned to his hometown to give them some pointers on how to improve their pitching. Their current logo now has "REDS" on the inside of the old-style C, somewhat similar to the Cincinnati Reds' wishbone logo. Click here for old uniforms. 

 

 

 

And now for the first time in IABL history, there is an expansion team! After seeing the success IABL have so far, a bunch of people in Cedar Rapids, the fourth largest city in Iowa at the time, wanted to join the action. So they asked around and came across an old supply of minor league uniforms from the team that used to be in town, and they became the Cedar Rapids Rabbits. With a large population with over 100 players already intersted in playing and good resources readily available, the Rabbits are a sure bet to make some noise in their first season. They will be joining the Kinsella League and bring the total teams in the league to 7. Central Iowa League will remain at 6. I found out about the old Rabbits team here. Also, I based the jerseys on these 1929 Cedar Rapids BUNNIES jersey. I was unable to find pics of the old Rabbits jerseys, so I'm working under the assumption the Rabbits/Bunnies had similar looks. 

 

[Section30 1,166]

Cedar Rapids looks great, probably my new favorite team

[EJaws 38]

Id love to see Knoxville get a team with references to its Sprint Car racing heritage at some point