Detroit Softball City was a professional

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

team that played during the 1982 season in the United Professional Softball League (UPSPL). Detroit Softball City played at and was named for a large recreational softball complex on the grounds of the

Michigan State Fair The Michigan State Fair is an annual event originally held from 1849 to 2009 in Detroit, the state's largest city. In 2009 the governor declined to fund it because of other priorities. Because agriculture still has a major place in the Michigan ec ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Softball City history

Softball City opened in 1976, leasing land from the

Michigan Department of Natural Resources The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the agency of the state of Michigan charged with maintaining natural resources such as state parks, state forests, and recreation areas. It is governed by a director appointed by the Governor a ...

at the Michigan State Fairgrounds. Softball City was the first privately operated softball complex in the US. Their lease on land at the fairgrounds was not renewed in 1996 when

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

John Engler John Mathias Engler (born October 12, 1948) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 46th Governor of Michigan from 1991 to 2003. A member of the Republican Party, he later worked for Business Roundtable, where ''The Hill'' c ...

elected to pursue a plan for a return of auto racing on the land. The fairgrounds had previously been the home for the

Michigan State Fairgrounds Speedway The Michigan State Fairgrounds Speedway was a dirt oval racing track located in Detroit, Michigan. The track was built in 1899 for horse racing, and it was part of the ground purchased to provide a permanent venue for the Michigan State Fair. J ...

. Those plans never came to fruition. In 2009, Governor

Jennifer Granholm Jennifer Mulhern Granholm (born February 5, 1959) is a Canadian-American lawyer, educator, author, political commentator, and politician serving as the 16th United States secretary of energy since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she pre ...

vetoed legislation to provide funding to the Michigan State Fair, bringing the 160 year history of the fair to an end.

Detroit Softball City team history

In 1977, Mike Ilitch formed the

Detroit Caesars The Detroit Caesars were a professional softball team played in the American Professional Slo-Pitch Softball League (APSPL) from 1977 to 1979. History Prior to formalized professional play, Detroit was a hotbed for softball, with some of the top ...

in the first professional league, the American Professional Softball League (APSPL) who played at Memorial Field in East Detroit. That team won two World Series before disbanding at the end of the 1979 season.

Ted Stepien Theodore J. Stepien (June 9, 1925 – September 10, 2007) was an American businessman who owned the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1980 to 1983. Born in Pittsburgh in 1925, he became wealthy as the founder ...

, owner of the Cleveland APSPL franchise, created a rival league in 1980, the North American Softball League (NASL), and founded the

Detroit Auto Kings The Detroit Auto Kings were a professional softball team that played in the North American Softball League (NASL) in the 1980 season at Memorial Field in East Detroit, Michigan. League history Detroit was represented by the Detroit Caesars, wh ...

. The Auto Kings, who also played at Memorial Field in East Detroit advanced to the NASL World Series but lost 5-2 to the

Milwaukee Schlitz The Milwaukee Schlitz were a professional softball team that played in three men's professional softball leagues from 1977 through 1982 at Wilson Stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. History Milwaukee began play in the inaugural 1977 American Profess ...

. The team and the league disbanded at the end of the season. Many of the elite Detroit area softball players went to the Snyder's-Stroh's team the National Slo-Pitch Conference (NSPC), an amateur softball competition that was drawing significant team sponsorship and talent from the professional game. Stepien fielded the Nationwide Advertising team in the 1981 competition, keeping much of the team together from the 1980 NASL Cleveland Stepien's Competitors team together. Detroit-based Snyder's-Stroh's featured former Detroit Caesars Rick Trudeau, Gary Geister, Chuck Drewicz and local stand-out Braxton Speller, and finished 3rd behind Cleveland and NSPC champion Howard's Western Steer out of North Carolina in the 1981 NSPC. The APSPL and the NASL had merged to form the United Professional Softball League in 1981, although only Milwaukee came to the new league from the NASL. No Detroit team played in 1981 in the UPSL. In 1982, former Detroit Caesars executive, former NASL Commissioner and 1981 NSPC Commissioner Robert Brown put together a Stepien funded team yet again in the Motor City, Detroit Softball City, who played in the UPSL in 1982. The team was led by Charlie Mitchell and Braxton Speller, along with former Caesars Rick Trudeau, Doug Gerdes, Chuck Drewicz, George Birch, Gary Geister and manager Gary Vitto, along with former Auto Kings Matt Partridge and Mike Turk. Detroit Softball City finished second in the division to the

Cleveland Competitors The Cleveland Jaybirds (1977–78), later named the Cleveland Stepien's Competitors (1979–80) and finally the Cleveland Competitors (1982), were a professional softball team that played in three professional softball leagues between 1978 and 198 ...

with a record of 36–20 (.661), advancing to the playoffs against the South Jersey Athletics, winning the series 3-0 (18-11, 16-15, 18-14) in the first round, and then defeating Cleveland 3–2 in the semi-finals 3-2 (14–7, 6–11, 9–7, 0–11, 17–10). Detroit would lose in the UPSL World Series to Milwaukee 5–1 (9–8, 8–3, 7–10, 13–11, 12–7, 39–6) with the Schlitz led by World Series MVP Dick Laba (.667 BA). Dana Andry of Cleveland was the UPSL MVP (.618, 65 HRs, 128 RBIs, 125 Runs, 46-17 pitching) and Charles Mitchell (59 HRs, 133 RBIs) of Detroit made the All-UPSL team. Gary Gesiter (39 HRs, 86 RBIs) and Braxton Speller (29 HRs, 74 RBIS) contributed to the cause. Detroit Softball City and the USPL disbanded at the end of the season marking the end for men's professional softball in the US as players once again returned to amateur leagues. Softball City alumnus Braxton Speller, Jr. is a member of United States Slowpitch Softball Association (USSSA) Hall of Fame.

Detroit Softball City record

References

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External links

Detroit Caesars Online HomeDetroit Caesars on FunWhileItLasted.net ESPN First Broadcast - Journal Sentinel Softball History USA National Softball Hall of Fame
Softball teams Sports teams in Detroit Sports clubs established in 1982 1982 establishments in Michigan Men's professional softball teams Defunct sports teams in Michigan