THE BEGININGS

For decades a small group of friends from Robbinsdale and North Minneapolis spent summers playing baseball whenever the chance arose, from homerun derbies to pick up street games this small squad remained close throughout the years playing for different schools and teams throughout their young careers – often facing one another - but remained close off the diamond. After banging around for Community College teams and a few beer leagues, one of the members decided it was time to form a collective baseball team again…

LAKERS ARE BORN

With a solid core already intact, new manager Josh Donovan mixed a few family members and some Free Agents and named a team after the original Minneapolis Lakers (this small group of friends also played lots of basketball) basketball team and the team was born. This team of close friends already has rich history and chemistry but needs to dust some mud off the cleats to regain form.

While calling Dick Cassidy Field home its first season, the Lakers had its inaugural bumps, only winning two games which included a 15 strikeout performance by John Carr against the defending champs. But sparks of a bright future could be seen, including Ben Anderson winning the league batting title while hitting .581. The Lakers were also one of the Top Ten offensive teams in the league in its first year.

 

The following Fall Donovan literally took the team money and ran only to be seen years later playing for a different team in the league. Ben Anderson took over manager duties, the team improved in the win column, but injuries and the ever consistent problem of starting pitching did in the Lakers for another season. John Carr tied his 15 strikeout pitching performance with a clutch win in Princeton. Mike Shanor had an MVP year at the plate and on the mound and new comers Mark Von Ruden, Cans Kronberg and Mike Mickelson made quite an impression as well.

The Lakers revamped their roster adding catcher Pat Hanlon and utility man Joe Nadolney. Lars Larson took over full-time manager duties and brought some aspirin along with him. Although the Lakers were once again one of the top hitting teams in the league, they couldn't cross the plate enough to overcome their poor defense and mediocre pitching, the Lakers missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. They also moved in to Frank Quilici Field.
 

HOWL

The fourth season brought big changes, changing the name from the Lakers to the Grays. New logos, uniforms and teammates brought its most successful season to date in the franchise. New comer Kyle Krotzer joined the team for the second half of the season and finished second in the league in ERA and led the team in wins and to a playoff berth. Mike Shanor thew a no-hitter and Mark Von Ruden was having one of his best seasons before going down with a season ending injury. The bats were big as Steve Cupryna put up insane numbers to take home the MVP and Ben Anderson, Joe Nadolney and Shanor made some noise at the plate.

 

 

GAME CHANGERS

The Grays stepped up and became one of the top tier teams in the league consonantly winning eight games or more a summer and often batting for division crowns and consistently qualifying for the playoffs – which often ended in premature exits. But two new acquisitions in Jon Schlotz and Jon Widerski completely changed the future of the Grays. Widerski brought professionalism and his big bat to the lineup and in Jon Schlotz the Grays had their first sure fire ace to depend on and a solid hitting shortstop. During this time the Grays also had three league batting champions in Tom Stephney (.524) in 2014, Jon Schlotz (.645) in 2015 and Mike Shanor (.568) in 2016. From 14-16 the Wolves went 26-13 and reaching the Semi-Finals once.

STORM THE CASTLE

It was time to move on from Quilici Field in Minneapolis and move into much nicer digs, the Grays were invited to call beautiful Castle Field in Anoka home and they happily accepted. The Grays also picked up Rob Wyse which led to a solid one-two combo with Scholtz on the mound. In their first season at Castle they won ten games and reached the semi-finals. The next season 2018 was a real treat as Jon Widerski won the first ever Triple Crown in league history (.636/4/27) and they picked up cannon arm Michael Crane to add more pop to the lineup and solidify the defense in the outfield. The pups won ten games again and lost a heartbreaker in the Semi-Finals. The following season the Grays added Jack Nelson to the club and the flame thrower didn’t disappoint helping lead the Wolves to another ten win season. The #2 seeded Grays were upset in the first round of the playoffs and little did they know that was the last TCMABL game they would ever play. Numerous pups celebrated their tenth anniversary playing with the ballclub, a decade of baseball and calling the Wolves their summer family.

 

MOVE TO THE FEDERAL

 

After a delay to the 2020 season because of COVID things were up in the air, including an actual season, waiting until June for a decision, the TCMABL decided to cancel the 2020 season – being the only league in Minnesota to cancel its season – and the Grays were left holding the bat bag. GM Larson made a midnight phone call to get his team a late entrance into the Federal League so his team can continue to play, and the Grays were unanimously accepted into the Federal. The shortened season was highlighted by three new Wolves in Fritz Coyro, Joey Olson and Tony Boxwell and all there didn’t disappoint and played a huge part in the Grays winning thirteen games overall. The Grays finished second in the East Division and made its way through the tough AAA bracket of the playoffs, knocking off defending State Champion Elko and losing in the Semi-Finals to eventual State Champ Lakeville 8-6 after a ninth inning two out rally. The atmosphere, ballparks and just overall joy of playing baseball in the Federal made the Grays an easy vote to stay in the league going forward and in 2021 will play its first “full” season in the Federal. The Grays will move to the more geographically correct West Division and will change its location name as the Minnoka Grays. Minnoka is a mesh of Minneapolis and Anoka – celebrating both cities that the Wolves have called home for the last twelve seasons.