Making The Dream A Reality

MAKING THE DREAM A REALITY Familiarity seems to suit the West Michigan Whitecaps. Sure, the names on the back of the uniforms may have changed over the years, and Fifth Third Ballpark

has

enjoyed

a

number

of

renovations, expansions and technological improvements, but when the Whitecaps opened the 2018 Midwest League season, fans were treated to largely the same welcome sights, smells and sounds that have greeted crowds since Minor League Baseball finally returned to the area.

Many of the faces also will be recognizable. Thousands of people – many of whom have grown up with the team, maybe attending games with their parents before taking children of their own – once again packed the concourse when the Whitecaps hosted the South Bend Silver Hawks (now the Cubs) in the home opener on April 5 and there, somewhere in the middle of that throng, were the two of the most familiar individuals associated with the Whitecaps and baseball in West Michigan.

There’s a good chance you’ve already crossed paths– and perhaps exchanged

pleasantries – with Whitecaps owners and

existence. Of course, Grand Rapids is also

founders Denny Baxter and Lew Chamberlin.

well-known for the Chicks of the All-American

It’s not been unusual to see them strolling

Girls Professional Baseball League and “A

through the ballpark, munching on popcorn

League of Their Own” movie fame, but that

or a hot dog, during one of the Whitecaps’

league disbanded in 1954 and left West

more than 1,700 home games.

Michigan without a professional team for four long decades.

As the team celebrates its 25th season,

there isn’t much the duo hasn’t already

It might have stayed that way if not for a

seen. Sure, another championship would

series of columns written by Corky Meinecke

be nice and the fan experience is extremely

of The Grand Rapids Press in 1980 that

important, but the thing they were really

posited a simple question: If Minor League

hoping for on Opening Night was warm

Baseball can work in Evansville, Indiana

temperatures and maybe a little sunshine.

- then the home of the Detroit Tigers’

(As most everyone knows, spring in

AAA affiliate - then why couldn’t it here?

Michigan can be a tad unpredictable and

Chamberlin read those stories and had

recent experience is no exception.)

the same question. As it turned out, so did Baxter.

That request seems downright quaint compared to the hoops and hurdles Baxter

Over

and Chamberlin were forced to navigate

Chamberlin and Baxter separately began

the

next

couple

of

years,

more than 30 years ago just to bring the

pursuing the idea of bringing Minor League

franchise to life.

Baseball back to West Michigan. Neither one had a clue what the other was doing at

The Whitecaps may have made their

the time. They were working parallel tracks

home debut with a 5-2 win against the

with the same vision, but progress was

Burlington Bees on April 12, 1994, but

painfully slow and frequently frustrating.

the seeds for a franchise located in West

Their paths might have never crossed if

Michigan actually were planted way back in

not for another article in The Grand Rapids

1980 - if not before even then.

Press, this time written by Greg Johnson, who linked Baxter to efforts to bring a team

Professional baseball in Grand Rapids

to Wyoming near Lamar Park.

dates back to the 1880s, when a number of teams came and went during the turn

of the century with nicknames like the

his family’s business at Alro Steel, wasn’t

Furnituremakers and Ganzfelds, with the

exactly thrilled to learn someone else was

Great Depression generally wiping out their

Chamberlin, who was then working for

pursuing the same project at first. Rather

copying my notes. My jaw hit the table. He

a baseball stadium, they realized that

than dwell on the prospect, however, he

gets it, this guy gets it! He knows it all!”

another path would have to be found. For

took some sage advice from his then wife, Bettegail Shively.

the record, Chamberlin says the committee

Chamberlin will be the first to admit that

he doesn’t know it all, but he did quickly

was “absolutely right” to make those its top two priorities.

“When I saw the articles, I was

discover that the pair shared a vision for

crestfallen,” Chamberlin said. “Here it was,

a new team and his legal background

somebody doing exactly what I wanted to do.

complemented Baxter’s as a Certified

that if we really wanted to get it done in

But my wife said, ‘Before you give up, why

Public Accountant. “The classic tale of two

our lifetime we were going to have to do it

don’t you just call the guy and see what’s

heads are better than one,” Chamberlin

another way,” Chamberlin said. “That other

up?’ And that’s what I did; I called the guy.“I

said.

way was to go out and raise the money

didn’t even know what I was looking for.”

“We pretty quickly came to understand

from investors, get them to understand and Chamberlin then contacted a friend

share your vision. That’s what we did.”

Baxter, meanwhile, had performed a

from his law school days to draw up the

significant amount of initial work, investing

contract

Michigan

Eventually, they were able to secure

in preliminary architecture plans and a

Baseball Development, Inc. and “away we

26 limited business partners and together

couple marketing studies. He’d also made a

went.”

they purchased a vacant piece of land just

that

formed

West

few phone calls of his own, including one to

off highway U.S. 131 in Comstock Park,

Pacific Coast League President Bill Cutler,

There was only one issue: Without a

where one of the only professional baseball

who had ties to the Grand Rapids area and

stadium, they were having trouble finding a

stadiums constructed strictly with private

seemed legitimately excited by the prospect

team that could relocate to West Michigan.

funding now stands.

of baseball returning to the area.

Conversely, minus a team willing to move

to West Michigan, building a new baseball

“We literally went out and found it brick-

Baxter had plenty of conversations with

stadium was going to be a tricky proposition.

by-brick. We stuck our necks out there,

curious individuals on the topic, but the

“We’ve always described it as a chicken

reputation-wise,” Baxter said. “It’s not like

project seemed to be spinning its wheels.

and egg issue,” Chamberlin said. “How

it was two guys dropping a million dollars

Nothing clicked until he answered the

could you get the county or the state or

each into this project.”

phone and Chamberlin was on the other

whoever to build you a stadium if you can’t

end.

guarantee them a team that will play here?

Of course, there was still the matter

That hour-long phone conversation led

And how can we go out and find investors

of finding an actual team to play in this

to another, which eventually led to a sit-

or somebody who’s willing to sell us a team

new facility. Fortunately, in the fall of

down meeting at a restaurant in Hudsonville

unless we can honestly say we have a place

1992, Baxter and Chamberlin had started

where the fantasy of Grand Rapids Minor

to for them to play? We were stuck. We had

negotiations with the Madison Muskies of

League Baseball started to take shape.

to pick either the chicken or the egg. “So we

the Midwest League. Finally, in February

picked the egg, which was the facility, and

1993, it was announced that the Muskies

went to work on it.”

would relocate to West Michigan and

“It was thrilling. I knew from the beginning that not many people knew me

construction of a 5,700-seat stadium that

and I meant nothing in this town,” Baxter

said. “I didn’t have money, I don’t have a

countless time and energy toward finding

For the next six years, the pair devoted

would originally be known as Old Kent Park

business reputation. I’m not (local baseball

a way to publicly finance a stadium, which

legend) Bob Sullivan, I’m not Fred Meijer,

is what the overwhelming majority of minor

I’m not Rich DeVos. Who was going to listen

league franchises did at the time. They also

selling air and in some sense perhaps so

to me? I was desirous of connecting with

worked with the not-for-profit Grand Vision

because we didn’t have the stadium and we

some people.

Committee, which was founded in 1991

didn’t have the team,” Baxter said. “But we

and is now known as Grand Action, to find

had a pretty good case to talk about what

“But nobody really came across as

a way to construct a stadium, perhaps in

Minor League Baseball in West Michigan

someone who would really dive in and do

Wyoming or Byron Township. Unfortunately,

could look like and mean to this community.

this. When I got the call from Lew, I was

when the committee chose to prioritize an

Fortunately, we were able to sell that.”

really looking for that. I needed someone to

arena – which eventually would become

help me get this off the ground. So he came

Van Andel Arena - and convention center -

out and we talked and it was like he was

DeVos Place – for public dollar use before

began that spring.

“I always joked that we were out there

“What we learned over the course of those six or seven years is that we didn’t have a lot of credibility. We had a great idea, we had the numbers to back it up, we had a plan, but we didn’t have much credibility,” Chamberlin said. “The reason we’re here now is because that was the plan all along.

Our vision was that it would always become a tradition in West Michigan and a part of

Looking back, it’s hard to believe it took this long for Minor League Baseball to find its way back to West Michigan. If not for an out-of-the-blue phone call from Chamberlin to Baxter, it may still be only a pipedream instead of an annual destination for hundreds of fans located throughout the state.

the fabric of our community.”

talking to fans, sharing memories and,

once again walking along the concourse,

That tradition now includes six Midwest

League championships, 9 million fans – and counting - and a successful long-term relationship as the Class A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers.

naturally, cheering for the Whitecaps.

“The passion remains,” Baxter said. “We’re as big of baseball fans now as we were back then. It hasn’t gone away. The vision lives on.”

Through it all, Baxter and Chamberlin have

As a result, it won’t be hard to find them

maintained

a

partnership

and

friendship built on a mutual love of the sport. Their personalities may differ slightly – Baxter describes himself as being a little brasher, while Chamberlin is more methodical – but the foundation of trust has never wavered. “There’s not a better

“It’s one thing to have a dream. It’s quite another thing to turn that into reality,” Chamberlin said. “We still haven’t seen enough baseball games. I’m not done watching baseball.

“I probably never will be.”

person on the planet,” Baxter said. “It’s been the biggest blessing of my life.”

Said Chamberlin: “We’ve never been at crosshairs. Ever.”

A

mutual

leap

of

faith,

a

little

stubbornness and a firm belief that they had the right plan has led to what is now inarguably one of the most successful franchises in all of baseball.

“We always said, going back all the way

to the early 80s, that this was not a bad idea, it was a good idea, just bad execution,” Chamberlin said. “If it’s a good idea, then it’s worth pursuing until somebody actually drives a nail through the coffin. And nobody could ever do that.”

“Believe me, working through this project, there were a lot of folks who would literally say to my face, ‘You’re crazy.’ ” Baxter said. “People did not think that this was going to work. People look at it today, after 25 years, and think it makes perfect sense. Not so much in 1984, 85, 86 ...”

Top: Crash the River Rascal 1994 Middle: Line for Opening Day tickets downtown Grand Rapids in March1994 Bottom: Old Kent Park1994