As a community newspaper sportswriter in New England, I see a lot of baseball. High school ball in the spring then basically nothing but baseball in the summer – collegiate leagues, American Legion ball, Connie Mack, Little League all-stars. I have probably covered 800 baseball games. Maybe more.
I have never seen anything like this.
To be fair, no one has.
The Kenosha Kingfish hosted the Northwoods League Home Run Derby on the shores of Lake Michigan, and it was as wild as you’d expect. Players standing on a pier, blasting home runs into the lake, and thousands of fans packed in to watch.
The Northwoods League and Kenosha’s ownership group have never been afraid to try something new. Their annual promotions calendar is a wonder to behold. But even for them, this was new territory.
League president Dick Radatz Jr. tends to be a baseball purist, but he had no complaints.
It was a perfect summer night with thousands of fans watching home runs fly.
What could be more pure than that?