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Volume 1 • Number 27
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Minor league, major fun Historic Simmons Field has new life as home to Kenosha Kingfish By Sandra Landen Machaj CORRESPONDENT
SUBMITTED PHOTO Hi-Liter
A Kenosha Kingfish pitcher delivers the first pitch during a Northwoods League baseball game at historic Simmons Field last season. The minor league team features some of the top college players in the nation.
Play ball! These magic words can be heard echoing in the air at this time of year as baseball, the American sport, sends its teams to the field to begin the summer season. Throughout the nation baseball bats, gloves and balls are pulled out of storage as potential baseball stars find their way out to practice their skills. Little League teams choose up members, semi-pro and professional teams prepare for their season opener while baseball fans make their way to the ball field to watch their favorite team. In the early 1900s many manufacturing companies sponsored a baseball team to promote camaraderie among workers and to encourage company pride. The Simmons Bedding Company was one such company that not only encouraged their employees to play ball, they even built their own stadium, Simmons Field on Sheridan Road. With a seating capacity of 7,000, Simmons Field opened in 1920. It was here that the Simmons Bedmakers made their home. They played teams from other companies including their rivals from the nearby Nash Motor Company. The opening season began with the Chicago White Sox agreeing to come to Kenosha and play a game against the Bedmakers. This was the Chicago White Sox team that lived in infamy and became known as the “Black Sox.” This highly publicized game was not to be played at the beautiful new Simmons Field as the wooden grandstand was destroyed by fire in that first 1920 season. The Bedmakers continued to play ball and in 1924 won the Midwest League Championship. By then interest in the city’s baseball teams had begun to decline and by 1947 the Simmons Company sold the field to the City of Kenosha. Make room for women The Kenosha Comets, a team in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, moved from
SUBMITTED PHOTO Hi-Liter
A girl enjoys her time at the ballpark by dancing to music between innings.
the lakefront stadium to make Simmons Field their home. The team continued to play at Simmons from 1948 to 1951, its final year in the league. The league itself disbanded three seasons later. Time went on and Simmons field became home to Little League games, amateur leagues, and exhibition games. It is said that Warren Spahn, Bob Feller, and Satchel Paige pitched games here but no team made the field its permanent home. The Kenosha Pirates, a local semi-pro team, played at the field for a time. With the march of time and no permanent tenant providing sufficient revenue to maintain the stadium, it began to fall into disrepair. Enter Bob Lee, a Kenosha native and a former minor league pitcher who purchased the Minnesota Twins Single A Minor League affiliate and moved the team to Simmons Field. He also provided $350,000 worth of improve-
See KENOSHA KINGFISH, Page 7
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