West Michigan Whitecaps

West Michigan Whitecaps Founded in 1994 Comstock Park, Michigan
Team logo Cap insignia
Minor league affiliations
Class	High-A (2021–present)
Previous classes	Class A (1994–2020)
League	High-A Central (2021–present)
Division	East Division
Previous leagues	Midwest League (1994–2020)
Major league affiliations
Team	Detroit Tigers (1997–present)
Previous teams	Oakland Athletics (1994–1996)
Minor league titles
League titles (6)	1996 1998 2004 2006 2007 2015
Division titles (6)	1996 1998 2004 2006 2007 2015
Team data
Name	West Michigan Whitecaps (1994–present)
Ballpark	LMCU Ballpark (1994–present)
Owner(s)/ Operator(s)	Lew Chamberlin and Denny Baxter
General manager	Jim Jarecki
Manager	Brayan Peña

The West Michigan Whitecaps are a Minor League Baseball team of the High-A Central and the High-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Comstock Park, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids, and play their home games at LMCU Ballpark.

Franchise history[]

The Midwest League came to the Grand Rapids area in 1994 upon the arrival of the former Madison Muskies. The Whitecaps were brought to West Michigan by local businessmen Lew Chamberlin and Dennis Baxter. The Whitecaps were affiliated with the Oakland Athletics before they joined the Tigers' farm system in 1997.

Their home ballpark is LMCU Ballpark in Comstock Park. Before the 2002 season it was known as Old Kent Park; the name was changed when the park's title sponsor, Old Kent Bank, was purchased by Fifth Third Bank. Before the 2021 season, the Lake Michigan Credit Union renamed the venue "LMCU Ballpark". The team's official mascots are Crash the River Rascal, Roxy the River Rascal and Franky the Swimming Pig.

The franchise's attendance record of 547,401 was set in 1996.

Several league and team records were set during the 2006 season. The team posted the second best record in franchise history, going 89–48, including going 23–6 in July. Michael Hollimon hit 3 home runs in one game. Cameron Maybin hit 2 grand slams in the season. Michael Hernandez became the first person ever in the history of the Midwest League to hit for the cycle twice. The Whitecaps went on to defeat the Kane County Cougars in four games to win their fourth Midwest League Championship.

In 2009, the team drew the attention of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine after a 4-pound (1.8 kg), 4,800-calorie hamburger called the Fifth Third Burger was placed on the menu of the team's concession stand. It was so named in part for the ballpark sponsor and part for its 1.6666 (or 5/3) pounds of meat. The Committee requested that the team put a label on the burger indicating that it was a "dietary disaster".^[1] To date, more than 100 fans, or about a half of the people who have attempted the challenge, have conquered the burger and earned a commemorative T-shirt. On July 15, 2009, Travel Channel's "Man v. Food" and its host Adam Richman came to Fifth Third Ballpark to attempt to conquer the burger in an episode of the popular show. The episode aired on September 30, 2009, wherein he successfully met the challenge. In 2012, The Whitecaps installed a new scoreboard and high resolution video display screen which was installed by TS Sports out of Dallas, Texas.

On January 3, 2014, a fire started in one of the suites. It spread and caused extensive damage, close to one half of the suites and 1st base concourse were destroyed.^[2] Thanks to extensive work, the park was restored and up and running by opening day.^[3]

In conjunction with Major League Baseball's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Whitecaps were organized into the 12-team High-A Central.^[4]

Regular season[]

Season	W	L	Pct.
1994	74	65	.532
1995	67	69	.492
1996	77	61	.557	MWL Champions
1997	92	39	.702
1998	83	57	.593	MWL Champions
1999	68	72	.485
2000	88	52	.629
2001	65	72	.474
2002	83	57	.593
2003	67	73	.478
2004	69	70	.496	MWL Champions
2005	73	70	.510
2006	89	48	.649	MWL Champions
2007	83	57	.593	MWL Champions
2008	73	76	.532
2009	83	57	.593
2010	62	77	.446
2011	70	69	.504
2012	72	68	.514
2013	69	70	.496
2014	82	58	.586
2015	75	64	.540	MWL Champions
2016	71	65	.522
2017	91	45	.669
2018	69	70	.496

Postseason[]

The Whitecaps won the best-of-five Midwest League championship six times in six opportunities. They defeated the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in 1996, the Rockford Cubbies in 1998, the Kane County Cougars twice (2004 and 2006), the Beloit Snappers in 2007, and the Cedar Rapids Kernels in 2015. West Michigan is 55–32 all-time in playoff games.

Oakland Athletics affiliation[]

Year	Record	Results	Opponents
1994	0–2	Lost in First Round	Rockford (0–2)
1995	3–3	Lost in Second Round	Kane County (2–1), Michigan (1–2)
1996	7–2	Won Championship	Lansing (2–1), Rockford (2–0), Wisconsin (3–1)

Detroit Tigers affiliation[]

Year	Record	Results	Opponents
1997	0–2	Lost in First Round	Fort Wayne (0–2)
1998	7–2	Won Championship	Michigan (2–1), Clinton (2–0), Rockford (3–1)
2000	1–2	Lost in First Round	Dayton (1–2)
2002	3–2	Lost in Second Round	Dayton (2–0), Lansing (1–2)
2004	7–3	Won Championship	Lansing (2–1), South Bend (2–0), Kane County (3–2)
2005	2–2	Lost in Second Round	Fort Wayne (2–0), South Bend (0–2)
2006	7–2	Won Championship	Fort Wayne (2–1), Lansing (2–0), Kane County (3–1)
2007	7–2	Won Championship	Lansing (2–0), South Bend (2–0), Beloit (3–2)
2014	1–2	Lost in First Round	Fort Wayne (1–2)
2015	7–3	Won Championship	Fort Wayne (2–0), Lansing (2–1), Cedar Rapids (3–2)
2016	3–3	Lost in Second Round	South Bend (2–1), Great Lakes (1–2)
2017	1-2	Lost in First Round	Dayton (1-2)
2018	2-2	Lost in Second Round	Great Lakes (2-0), Bowling Green (0-2)

Managers[]

Since 1994, the Whitecaps have had nine managers. In 2007, former Tigers' third baseman Tom Brookens became the fifth manager in the history of the Whitecaps.

Listed here is each manager and their won/loss record:

Detroit Tigers affiliation[]

• Bruce Fields 1997–2000 (331–220)
• Brent Gates 2001 (65–72)
• Phil Regan 2002–2003 (150–130)
• Matt Walbeck 2004–2006 (231–179)
• Tom Brookens 2007 (83–57)
• Joe DePastino 2008–2010 (215–201)
• Ernie Young 2011–2012 (142–135)
• Larry Parrish 2013 (69-70)
• Andrew Graham 2014–2016 (228-187)
• Mike Rabelo 2017 (91-45)
• Lance Parrish 2018-2019
• Brayan Pena 2021

Roster[]

West Michigan Whitecaps roster

• v
• t

Players				Coaches/Other
Pitchers 36 Austin Bergner 28 Michael Bienlien 26 Sandel De La Cruz -- Wilkel Hernandez -- Zac Houston 14 Chance Kirby 11 Andrew Magno 32 Chris Mauloni 12 Keider Montero 16 Jack O'Loughlin -- Franklin Pérez 39 RJ Petit 34 Angel Reyes -- Hugh Smith  9 Bryce Tassin 31 Jared Tobey 29 Brendan White 21 Adam Wolf		Catchers  7 Eliezer Alfonzo 10 Cooper Johnson  8 Cole MacLaren Infielders 33 Isrrael De La Cruz 24 Jake Holton  6 Colt Keith 15 Jimmy Kerr  4 Jose King 23 Wenceel Perez 19 Zac Shepherd 27 Gage Workman Outfielders 30 Ulrich Bojarski 17 Parker Meadows 13 Austin Murr -- Bryant Packard 35 Reynaldo Rivera  5 Austin Schultz		Manager 55 Brayan Peña Coaches -- Vacant (pitching) 37 Kevin Guthrie (developmental) -- Vacant (hitting) 7-day injured list * On Detroit Tigers 40-man roster ~ Development list # Rehab assignment ∞ Reserve list ‡ Restricted list § Suspended list ± Taxi squad † Temporarily inactive list Roster updated September 21, 2021 Transactions → More rosters: MiLB • High-A Central → Detroit Tigers minor league players

Former Whitecaps in the majors[]

Below is a list of West Michigan Whitecaps who have played in the major leagues.

Broadcasting[]

In February 2019, the Whitecaps extended their broadcasting contract with Cumulus Media, but switched radio frequencies to air games on the newly-launched "The Ticket" for the 2019 season with radio simulcast on four stations: 106.1-FM and 1340-AM in Grand Rapids, and 99.1-FM and 1490-AM in Muskegon.^[5] Select games are aired in Holland, Michigan, on WHTC on 1450-AM and 99.7-FM. Dan Hasty is the Voice of the Whitecaps and also serves as the Host of the Detroit Tigers' Road to Detroit podcast,^[6] as well as serving as radio voice of Men's Basketball for the University of Detroit Mercy.^[7]

In popular culture[]

B-Roll footage of a game between the Whitecaps and South Bend Silver Hawks at Fifth Third Ballpark, was aired in Champ's Whammy! home runs scene in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. Officials with the West Michigan Whitecaps were unaware they would be featured in the movie and only found out after the movie was released in December 2013.^[8]

See also[]

• Category:West Michigan Whitecaps players

References[]

Notes

Sources

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to West Michigan Whitecaps.

• Official website
• Statistics from Baseball-Reference