Three Low-A Midwest League teams — the Cedar Rapids Kernels, Clinton LumberKings and Quad Cities River Bandits — reached significant and victory attendance milestones over the past few weeks.
The Kernels hit 7,000 wins on July 16 with a victory over the Fort Wayne TinCaps in the 110th season of professional baseball in Cedar Rapids. That includes predecessors to the Midwest League, of course.
In Clinton, the LumberKings notched their 4,000th win on July 22 (covered here), and followed that up with a celebration of the 5-millionth fan entering Ashford University Field this past week.
In the Quad Cities, the River Bandits welcomed the 8-millionth fan to Modern Woodmen Park in the Midwest League between 1960 and 2016. After setting single-season attendance records in each of the last two seasons, the team had welcomed 7,824,000 fans through its gates through the beginning of this season. The River Bandits had welcomed 173,785 fans during the 2016 season entering Friday. With the milestone 2,215 guests away, the benchmark was reached Friday when Braeden Billings entered the gates.
“I wasn’t really expecting it, but it’s awesome and really exciting,” said Billings after being told he’s the eight-millionth fan at Modern Woodmen Park.
“We are so grateful to the people of the Quad Cities for supporting the River Bandits so strongly,” said River Bandits owner Dave Heller. “To have 8 million people pass through our gates is a tremendous milestone, and to see our attendance increasing every season makes it especially gratifying. The River Bandits and the Quad Cities are a perfect match — a championship team for a championship community.”