Silver Anniversary Memories - Kane County Cougars

During the early morning hours of April 13, 1991, the Kane County Cougars’ team bus exited onto Farnsworth Avenue off of the interstate and began the short trek north towards a pris-tine, brand-new ballpark. The Cougars team had just completed the first game in franchise history – an 8-0 shutout victory in South Bend.

It was likely a quiet trip at that hour as the bus neared the home stretch of the drive, getting closer and closer to the intersection of Kirk Road and Cherry Lane.

New broadcaster Dave Wills, only a few months into a new position with a new franchise, noticed something unusual as the bus approached the new ballpark. Needless to say, there was a lot of “new-ness” as the anticipation was high for a memorable Opening Day in Geneva.

“I remember heading down Farnsworth at 1:30, 2 in the morning and seeing the (stadium) lights on and thinking, ‘Boy, what a cool thing’,” said Wills.

When the bus arrived outside the ballpark, Wills exited and walked into the small office. In just a few minutes, he’d be safely inside his car and on his way home to get some much-needed shut eye.

Hold on - not so fast.

Wills was approached by General Manager Bill Larsen. Larsen, along with a few other members of what was roughly a 10-12 per-son front office staff, were busy putting up outfield fence signs as preparations for that evening’s game continued.

With a loud and echoing “Get Down Here!”, Larsen summoned Wills to field level.

“We must have been putting signs up until 4 in the morning,” recalled Wills with a laugh.

On that same bus coming from South Bend to Geneva was a young 19-year old pitcher, Joe Borowski. It had been a whirlwind last couple of weeks for him. As spring training came to a close, the White Sox farmhand was notified of a trade sending him from the White Sox organization to Baltimore. Soon after arriving at Orioles camp, a seem-ingly set-in-stone roster of first-time Kane County Cougars was slightly adjusted due to Borowski’s arrival. Borowski became part of the 25-man group assigned to Kane County to formally christen Cougars baseball.

SilverAnniversaryMemoriesTaking a look back at the Cougars’ inaugural season of 1991

By Cougars Staff Writer, Shawn Touney

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General Manager, Bill Larsen

The biting Midwest weather in April was an eye-opener. There was the challenge of find-ing an apartment near the ballpark, too.

But Borowski was feeling good, picking up the win and working a few innings of relief earlier that evening.

***Fast forward several hours later and by that afternoon, Wills and Cougars staff were still working overtime, eventually opening the gates at 2:30 PM as Cougars baseball official-ly and ceremoniously began in Geneva.

Opening Day is always a special day for a base-ball team. This one was so much more – it was the start of a franchise. It was the start of a 25-year story that continues to grow each year.

Similar to the present-day success and office

structure of the Kane County Cougars – every single individual associated with the franchise contributes to its ever-growing story. Conces-sion stands workers, front office staff, interns, parking attendants, players, coaches – everyone.

That was certainly the case in 1991 and even in years prior to the first pitch ever being thrown. Countless individuals helped put the pieces in place starting with Phil Elfstrom, the former Kane County Board chairman and president of the Forest Preserve District who had the vision and courage to bring the franchise to Chicago’s far western suburbs through a partnership with Waste Manage-ment. According to news accounts from 1991, Elfstrom began planting the seeds of a potential minor league team in Kane Coun-ty nearly six years before Cougars baseball became a reality. Newspaper clippings show

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Opening Day 1991(photo courtesy of Dale & LuAnn Klein)

Field construction, Summer 1990

that Elfstrom first met with former Midwest League president Bill Walters in August 1985 at the old Twin Door Inn in Geneva.

One of the best moments in my time here was the 2012 unveiling of commemorative plaques inside the ballpark to honor Elfstrom, who gra-ciously participated in the special ceremony that evening. You’ll see the plaques inside both Gates 1 and 3 as you leave today’s game.

***A slightly frayed and yellowed Kane County Chronicle newspaper from April 1991 tells the story on Opening Day in Geneva. No fewer than 13 photographs and a half-dozen stories were part of that day’s paper. It was certainly front-page news, to say the least.

The game itself didn’t go as hoped; South Bend returned the favor from the previous night with a 13-0 win over the Cougars to slightly spoil the mood. The game had gotten so out of hand that Cougars man-ager Bob Miscik even brought on an infielder, Manny Garcia, to mop up the ninth inning.

But all told, the day was a glowing success despite the final score. A total of 4,286 fans (486 more than the ballpark’s 3,800 seating capacity) braved the cold while enthusiasti-cally voicing their support. Accounts describe the weather, more appropriate for football than baseball, as gusty winds with gametime temperatures in the upper 40’s that dipped into the 30’s as the game moved along. Several fans brought sleeping bags as an additional outer lay-er to keep warm. Elfstrom himself led the crowd in singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh inning stretch.

Early on, fans noticed that this wasn’t Major League Baseball. But, then again, it wasn’t in-tended to be. Tickets started at just $3 as fans enjoyed between-innings promotions, great food served in front of them right off the grill and Major League affiliated baseball.

As Class-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, the Cougars were a team that Wills recalled as one that got better as the season moved along. Their final record of 68-67-1 wasn’t the truest or most meaningful statistic that stands out, 25 years later.

The one number that does is this – a total of 240,290 fans from throughout Chicagoland and beyond were curious enough to check out a new and fledgling Minor League team in its first season.

For Wills, one of the biggest challenges in that in-augural season was simply educat-ing the fans on what to expect with this new team.

“When the stadium was being built, people would drive up to the park and look at the seats. We were trying to explain to people what minor league professional baseball was,” re-called Wills. “A lot of people thought that it was where their eight or nine-year olds would normally be playing.”

Wills mentioned that despite the team’s mediocre record, the front office staff quickly noticed that the crowds

were great. Why was that? To the casual fan, the final score wasn’t the lasting memory on a great experience. What made the evening was something much simpler – enjoy-ing a barbeque pork chop sandwich or taking in the between-innings promotions such as the “Sweetheart of the Game” or the Ozzie race.

That philosophy, 25 years later, hasn’t changed one bit as fans routinely tell us, win or lose, that they had a great time as part of their Cougars experience.

Wills was the voice of the Cougars through the 1995 season before advancing upwards in the sports broadcasting industry. Wills is cur-rently with the Tampa Bay Rays, a position he has held since 2005.

“I wouldn’t be where I’m at without Kane County. It’s one of the top 5 or 10 minor league radio jobs in the country. I owe everything to the Cougars for getting my start there.”

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And for Borowski, his 1991 season could not have went much better. He pitched in a team-high 49 games and posted a 7-2 record with a 2.56 ERA.

“It was a good season because we were able to understand what baseball was like playing in front of a lot of people,” recalled Borowski dur-ing a recent phone interview. “There was an ex-citement of playing in front of so many people. It spoiled me, thinking your entire career would be like this. It was great to play there. We all thought the stadium was outstanding.”

Borowski methodically moved his way up the Ori-oles’ organizational ladder and made his major league debut on July 9, 1995, becoming the 10th former Cougar at the time to reach the big leagues. It’s now a proud list that currently holds 135 Cougars alumni who have reached the game’s biggest stage.

These days, Borowski serves as the pre and post-game analyst for Ari-zona Diamondbacks games on Fox Sports Arizona. He mentioned several team-mates from 1991 who he still stays in contact with such as fellow ’91 pitchers Dave Paveloff and Jim Dedrick.

***The Akerman family was one of more than 150 season ticket holders from the Cougars’ inau-gural season in 1991. Months pri-or to the first pitch of the Cou-gars’ existence, they had read local newspaper stories of a Ma-jor League affiliated minor league team possibly re-locating from their current home in Wausau, Wisconsin. The news eventually became a reality as preparations were made for baseball in Kane County, with the first game slated for April of 1991.

In January of 1991, they made the drive from their nearby Wheaton home to inquire about season tickets.

At the time, the only building on site was a small house on the stadium grounds that the Cougars

front office staff used to conduct daily business.

That January morning, the Akermans knocked on the door and were greeted by Cougars General Manager Bill Larsen.

Larsen provided some initial information on season ticket pricing and seating options, then encouraged them to walk towards the ballpark construction site where some of the seating ar-eas were beginning to take shape.

The trouble was, the weather was better suited for an Iditarod competition than scouting out

a baseball stadium. With a foot of snow on the ground and no concrete walkway towards the seating areas, the Akermans carefully trudged towards to the home plate area and select-ed a spot in section 108, about three rows back from the field. The absence of netting and a yet-to-be-completed ballfield gave the Akermans only an approximate guess on where their seats would be, relative to the field.

Dale and LuAnn Klein, similar to the Akermans, did not let the grip of Mother Nature prohibit them from ventur-ing over to Geneva to see the off-season progress on initial stadium construction that winter.

The Kleins are an excellent resource for every-thing associated with Minor League Baseball. The couple have seen more than 300 profes-sional stadiums dating back to their first ball-park visit in 1986 – the old Greer Stadium in Nashville. According to Dale, he and his wife

enjoy seeing the various facets of a minor league team ranging from the business side to the facility and of course, the baseball and promotions.

In early 1991, the Kleins continued a tradition of always doing something special on the fi-nal afternoon of the annual Cubs Convention. That winter, their plan was to make the drive to Geneva and see how the new Kane County Cougars’ ballpark was coming along.

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SILVER ANNIVERSARY continued from page 15.

By Cougars Radio Announcer Joe Brand

INTERNATIONAL STUDIESThey walked right in and even took a couple of photos on the field.

Those photos, along with images from Opening Day 1991, have been safely kept in a scrapbook along with various newspaper clippings, game programs and the like.

The Kleins even managed to snap a photo of the first official pitch thrown at Kane County.

In meeting with Max and Jane last month in-side our administrative office, we took the

time to go through the ’91 game program, where Max’s name is listed as an inaugural season ticket holder.

The memories are a little fuzzy (it has been 25 years, after all) when it comes down to reciting specifics on the team and individual players. However, as Max began thumbing through the program, stories and anecdotes began to quickly surface.

Max and Jane recalled Mr. Tidy, a ballpark staff member outfitted in a tuxedo who would go from section to section with a gar-bage bag so fans could dispose of their trash.

There was a newness and excitement with the first season, Max tells me, that led to big crowds and a growing buzz that extended into year 2, then year 3, and so on.

By 1994, Max and Jane’s relationship with the Cougars deepened. They began housing players through the Cougars’ host family program which pairs area families with players on the team dur-ing the season. The first player who stayed un-der their roof was Mike Redmond, who made his big league debut in 1998 with the Florida Marlins and was the first former Cougar to become a Major League manager.

These days, you’ll typically see Max in his familiar perch, sitting on a folding chair on the concourse

behind section 109. Max would be the first person to admit that he’s much less concerned about the various theme nights and promotions, and more concerned about the current state of affairs sur-rounding the team. All baseball. He was the first fan I thought of immediately following our cham-pionship win in Lake County last September.

And for Dale and LuAnn Klein, there was likely no more fitting location to celebrate their recent 35th wedding anniversary than at a Cougars game this past July.

To both families along with countless others, being at a Kane County Cougars game feels like being at home.

***Early records from 1991 refer to present-day Fifth Third Bank Ballpark as the “Kane County Events Center Stadium”. Designed by HOK

First pitch thrown in Elfstrom Stadium. April 13th, 1991(photo courtesy of Dale & LuAnn Klein)

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Sports Facilities Group and constructed by Markur Contractors, the Cougars’ stadium was built in three phases. Phase I construction started in November 1989 and consisted of the press box and concourse buildings, bleachers and main parking lot. Dugout tunnels, end bleacher sections, and locker rooms soon took shape. The final phase of construction encompassed the playing field, remote park-ing lot, field lighting and final touches. A total of 7,000 tons of concrete was used – equiva-lent to the concrete required for more than 350 homes. The playing field, built to major league speci-fications, con-tains 2 miles of drainage pipe.

There’s a cer-tain character to each ball-park and ours is no different. The “forest pre-serve” theme is evident in the area within the ballpark proper-ty. It’s a ballpark that just seems like a perfect fit, somewhat isolated from other business-es and a larger downtown area. There is no busy freeway menacingly hovering on top of the ballpark, yet both I-88 and I-90 are just short drives south and north, respectively. It’s close to everything, but it’s far enough away from everything.

Each area of the ballpark has expanded over the years from the original footprint. In 1992, three seating sections (103-105) were added on the first base side. The first of three out-field patio decks was constructed in 1993, providing large-scale group outings a great hospitality option. In 2000, sections 115-118 were added on the third base side. And the largest piece of the ballpark expansion oc-curred in 2008-2009, when an upper deck was added with hospitality suites, rooftop patio decks, a conference room and kitchen. The project also added a new administrative

office and souvenir store.

Similar to the Cougars’ franchise, the ballpark itself has grown before your very eyes. And in this season, our 25th, fans have been treated to numerous ballpark upgrades such as a new vid-eo board capable of providing instant replays, “Strike Zone” premier seating behind home plate with waitstaff service, and much more.

What will the next 25 years reveal for the Cou-gars? Sometimes it’s too distant to even predict what the next year or two will hold, let alone

a quarter of a century. In this, our 25th silver a n n i v e r s a r y season, it’s ok to look back a little while always look-ing forward. It makes you ap-preciate where we’ve been. And for more than 10 million fans, you’ve been there each step of the way for the wins, the loss-es, the great food served off the grill, the laughs, the be-tween-innings

promotions, the family gatherings and group outings, the rain delays, the picture-perfect 75 degree summer nights, the 35 degree home openers such as the very first one in 1991 – and everything in between.

To paraphrase a 1991 newspaper article from our first home game, the Kane County Cou-gars are your baseball team. Twenty-five years later, they still are.

The Kane County Cougars, Class-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, have welcomed more than 10 million fans to the ballpark since the fran-chise’s inaugural 1991 season. Special thanks to Joe Borowski, Dave Wills, Max and Jane Akerman, and Dale and LuAnn Klein for taking the time to share their stories and memories from our very first sea-son of Cougars baseball.

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