The Madison Hatters were a minor-league

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

team based in

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, in 1994. A Class A minor league baseball affiliate of the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, they were a member of the

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

. The team played its home games at

Warner Park Warner Park is a community park on the northeast side of Madison, Wisconsin near Lake Mendota. Warner Park is also the home to the Madison Mallards baseball team, a member of the Northwoods League. Its stadium, nicknamed the "Duck Pond", was ...

. Following the departure of the

Madison Muskies The Madison Muskies were a Class A minor league baseball team that played in the Midwest League from 1982 to 1993 in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1993, the team relocated to Comstock Park, Michigan and became today's West Michigan Whitecaps. The Mu ...

after the 1993 season, the

Springfield Cardinals The Springfield Cardinals are a Minor League Baseball team based in Springfield, Missouri. They compete as a member of the Texas League's North Division. The Cardinals began play in 2005. The team is owned by the 11-time Major League Baseball ...

franchise moved from Springfield, Illinois to Madison and became the Madison Hatters. The team never intended to stay in Madison for more than one season, and at the end of the 1994 campaign they moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, where they became the

Michigan Battle Cats The Michigan Battle Cats were a Minor League Baseball team which began playing in the Midwest League in 1995 and called C.O. Brown Stadium in Battle Creek, Michigan, home. The franchise had previously been located in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1994 ...

. The team again relocated for the 2007 season to

Midland, Michigan Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Michigan. The city's population was 42,547 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Midland Micropolitan Statistical Area, part of the larger Saginaw-Midland-Bay City Com ...

, and they are now known as the

Great Lakes Loons The Great Lakes Loons are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are located in Midland, Michigan, and play their home games at Dow Diamond, which opened in April 2007. Histor ...

Team history

After the 1993 season, the Madison Muskies, which had represented Madison in the Midwest League from 1982 to 1993, moved to

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

, which had constructed a new stadium, to become the

West Michigan Whitecaps The West Michigan Whitecaps are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League 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 Ballpa ...

. As a replacement, Madison obtained the Springfield Cardinals franchise, which was renamed the Madison Hatters. The team played well during the first half of 1994, finishing in second place in the seven-team Southern Division with a 37–33 record, just one game behind the Springfield Sultans. In the second half, however, their performance dropped off as they finished in fifth place with a 29–40 record. Joe Cunningham was the manager. Two players—outfielder

Joe McEwing Joseph Earl McEwing (born October 19, 1972) is an American former professional baseball player who spent most of his career with the New York Mets, where he played from through . Nicknamed "Super Joe", he was the prototypical utility player who ...

and pitcher Jay Witasick—were named to the league's post-season all-star team. McEwing hit .324 with 4 home runs and 47 runs batted in, while Witasick went 10–4 with a 2.32 earned run averaged and 141 strikeouts. Jeff Matulevich led the league with 30 saves. Attendance was weak for the Hatters, with total attendance for the season of 69,060 (11th in the 14-team league), down from the 101,219 attending the Muskies' games the previous season. By September, the city of Battle Creek had committed to stadium improvements to bring the Hatters to their city, and the Midwest League departed from Madison.

References

{{Midwest League Defunct Midwest League teams Sports in Madison, Wisconsin St. Louis Cardinals minor league affiliates 1994 establishments in Wisconsin 1994 disestablishments in Wisconsin Professional baseball teams in Wisconsin Defunct baseball teams in Wisconsin Baseball teams disestablished in 1994 Baseball teams established in 1994