Mapping the path

EASTERN MIDWEST BASEBALL

Madison Mallards

We return to Wisconsin for a day in Madison, eating lunch at Everly, taking in the Chazen Museum of Art, and stopping by the state capitol building before driving to Warner Park for our game with the Madison Mallards, the national leader in collegiate summer league attendance.

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Dad had the Baja fish tacos, which looked incredible. I tried the honey mustard fried chicken sandwich with bacon, which was plenty good if a bit unwieldy. And yeah, I chose a kale salad on purpose and liked it.

We then dodged and detoured our way through construction season madness around the campus to find the entrance to the Chazen Museum of Art. I dropped Dad off at a bus stop while I circled a few blocks to park the car, delayed once again by a midwestern city tearing itself up for the summer.

When I met back up with Dad, we started walking toward the museum entrance. Dad stopped.

“I don’t have my wallet.”

Instant stress came over both of us. I checked the spot where he exited the car. No wallet. Memories of our 2023 Mid-Atlantic Road Trip — in which we both briefly lost our wallets — flooded back. I considered jogging to the garage to look around the rental car’s passenger seat, but then thought to investigate the bus stop. There, a bit hidden under the bench, was Dad’s wallet. Relief.

Built in 1969, the Chazen Museum of Art has an eclectic collection of about 25,000 works. Its range includes Medieval religious art, pieces from Moghul India, Russian Socialist Realism, modern African art, and a good variety of contemporary American works.

The collection also includes impressive displays of glass art by René Lalique, Dale Chihuly, and many others to round off a pleasant (and free!) afternoon of art appreciation.

After a quick rest at the hotel, we made our way to the ballgame along a back road. Our path was soon blocked by police cars. We did a U-turn and overheard why: President Biden was preparing to speak just a few blocks away. It was both wildly unexpected and made perfect sense — we were, after all, in the capital of a crucial swing state. But here, on this quiet road, at the moment we were passing through on our way to a ballgame? In the 100-plus hours of preparation I did for this trip, I had not planned for this particular contingency.

I reached for my phone, forced the GPS into a decent backup route, and we were back on our way to baseball.

The ballpark was bustling an hour before the game on this Friday night. Food vendors, carnival games, and inflatables lined the walkway from the entrance to the stands — a baseball festival in full swing.

A big crowd is to be expected in Madison. In 2024, the Mallards once again had the highest average attendance (6,202) of any collegiate summer league team in the country — nearly 800 fans a night in front of the second-place Trenton Thunder of the MLB Draft League and more than twice as many as their closest competitors in the Northwoods League, the Traverse City Pit Spitters.

Warner Park was built in 1982 for the Madison Muskies, who were the Midwest League Class-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics until 1993, when they moved to Comstock Park, Michigan, to become the West Michigan Whitecaps. In 1994, the Springfield Cardinals moved their franchise to Madison to become the Hatters, but that club moved on the next year to Battle Creek, Michigan (as the Battle Cats), and then to Midland, Michigan (as the Great Lakes Loons). The independent Madison Black Wolf took their place for five seasons before the debut of the Mallards in 2001.

Since joining the Northwoods League, the Mallards have won two championships, in 2004 and 2013, and have made the playoffs eight other times. Its list of alumni is led by four-time MLB All-Star and 2019 Rookie of the Year Pete Alonso. Others who have made it to The Show include All-Stars Tony Gonsolin and Jose Trevino, plus Nico Hoerner, Phil Gosselin, Alec Mills, and about a dozen others.

Madison’s reputation for big crowds and top talent may be matched by its renown as a purveyor of incredible merch, with some of the best alternate identities in baseball.

It begins with the main brand: a swooshy duck-feather “M” and cheerful throwback mascot, Maynard G. Mallard, set against a bright backdrop of sunshine yellow and sky blue, plus a little Wisconsin-cheese orange mixed in for good measure.

In 2024, Madison unleashed a foursome of alternate identities that shook the Internet, beginning with the “Motivational Speakers,” a tribute to Madison native and Saturday Night Live alumnus Chris Farley. His Matt Foley character is exquisitely depicted in a jersey resembling a tacky, disheveled suit. Hat options include a bellowing Foley and his “van down by the river.”

Next came the “Ope!” It’s a form of “oops” that folks in Wisconsin use to express surprise, give a light apology, or just to interject politely. Add some red flannel and a spotted Holstein Friesian, and you have America’s Dairyland in baseball form.

Also deployed in 2024 was the latest iteration of the “Muskallards,” which combines Muskies and Mallards in a science experiment gone good. The name is inspired by the myth of Bozho, a snake-like monster with blackish green scales and huge jaws that is said to live in Lake Mendota.

Last but not worst was the “Wisconsin Wurst,” a celebration of the meaty and dependable Bratwurst, a Wisconsin food staple.

I left the team shop as the proud owner of a cream-colored cap with pinstripes made up of actual player names. Dad added to his collection of attractive balls.

Warner Park is also home to the Madison Night Mares of Northwoods League Softball, a five-team collegiate summer league spanning the upper Midwest.

The second half of the 2024 season was just underway when we arrived in Madison. The Mallards had finished the first half just two games behind the Wausau Woodchucks in the Great Lakes West division. Madison would top Wausau in the second half and again in the first round of the playoffs before losing to the eventual Northwoods League champion, the Kalamazoo Growlers.

It was Cal Fisher Bobblehead Night at the ballpark, with the big giveaway depicting Florida State and Mallards infielder Cal Fisher, who had hit .273 on his way to the College World Series in his freshman year with the Seminoles.

Madison’s opponent on the night was the Lakeshore Chinooks, who play their home games — as advertised — on the shore of Lake Michigan just north of Milwaukee. The Chinooks had finished the first half a few games below .500 and would sink to the bottom of the standings in the second half.

Roughly 900 people threw out a first pitch during the pre-game ceremonies, with a local canine officer finishing things off and then swinging around his companion by the teeth, gripped tight around a leash. His companion, in this case, was a dog.

Just before the game began, mascot Maynard arrived, as he always does, on a zipline extending from the right field Duck Blind Club to home plate. (Watch the episode!)

The game got underway in a burst of late-afternoon sun. After a quiet first inning, both offenses came alive in the second. A solo home run to left by Chinooks first baseman Mason Schwalbach followed by a couple of hits put the visitors up 2-0, but the Mallards responded with four straight singles — including one by Fisher — to produce a three-run inning and an early lead.

I took a tour of our ballpark food options, which were plentiful: bratwurst, slow-smoked mesquite pulled pork sandwiches, smoked beef brisket sandwiches, walking tacos, loaded nachos, chili bowls with cheddar cheese, corn on the cob, chicken wings and tenders, powdered and cinnamon sugar donuts, and more.

The ballpark had a truly impressive collection of beers — more than 20 in all, most of them on tap. Serving sizes went all the way up to the colossal Das Duck Boot, 67 ounces of your favorite brew served in a plastic boot.

The soft-serve stand on the concourse was also doing an excellent business, selling ice cream in both mini helmets and (yikes!) life-sized helmets.

I had a look at the wonderfully decorated Wurst Weiner Mobile, offering brats, Chicago Dogs, chili cheese dogs, and create-your-own dogs. I ended up with the Specialty Brat of the night, a 12-pepper brat with sauerkraut, while Dad had the standard brat with Stadium mustard and relish.

An inning later, I went back for another local specialty, beer-battered cheese curds. They were unexpectedly light and crispy, perfectly hot and gooey with every bite.

Both teams scored again in the fifth. Chinooks designated hitter Jack Counsell blasted a two-run shot to give Lakeshore a brief 4-3 lead. The Mallards tied it up in the bottom half on their second run-scoring hit batter of the night.

Madison took control in the seventh with a two-out rally that put them up 6-4 as the sun set over southern Wisconsin.

There was an interesting array of entertainment between innings: a shoe-pairing relay race; kids racing dressed as fruit; a boy hitting an inside-the-park home run while Mallards players intentionally fumbled the ball around; a kid working with a Madison player to collect recyclables quickly; and Maverick the Bat Dog, who retrieved bats left by hitters, returned them to the dugout, ran three tight circles, and awaited further orders.

Late in the game, a boy walked into an inflatable money booth to catch as many dollar bills as possible in 30 seconds. But the booth was wet, and the blowers meant to swirl the cash around inside the booth were weak, so the bills merely settled at the bottom of the booth, where the kid casually scooped them up by the handful and shoved them into his pockets. (Watch the episode!)

I climbed to the top of the grandstand for the eighth inning. A section over, one of the Mallards faithful quacked the classic “Charge!” song using a duck call. The Mallards responded, batting around and forcing another Chinook to get the hook. Madison went into the ninth with a 10-4 lead.

That’s how it finished. Mallards relievers Jase Schueller and David Welch allowed no Lakeshore runners to reach base in the final three innings, and the home team got the win.

After the game, Madison players lined up to sign autographs along the walkway to the gate. It’s a way for the team to bond with the community and to give fans a little something extra on their way out. I had seen it once before in collegiate summer league baseball with the Corvallis Knights. It’s both smart and classy, a perfect way to end a winning night of hometown baseball.

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