The Cedar Rapids Kernels are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and play their home games at Veterans Memorial Stadium. They were founded in 1949 as the Cedar Rapids Rockets and originally played in the Central Association and the Three-I League. The Kernels are owned by Cedar Rapids Ball Club, Inc. (also known as Cedar Rapids Baseball Club, Inc.).
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Cedar Rapids baseball history
Professional baseball has been played in Cedar Rapids since 1890. Cedar Rapids teams have been a member of various leagues preceding the current franchise. They have been a member of the Western League (1934–1937), Mississippi Valley League (1922–1932), Central Association (1913–1917), Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League (1901–1909, 1920–1921, 1938–1942), Western Association (1896–1899), Eastern Iowa League (1895) and the Illinois–Iowa League (1890–1891). Cedar Rapids teams also had numerous nicknames prior to the current franchise: Cedar Rapids Raiders (1934–1942), Cedar Rapids Red Raiders (1963–1964), Cedar Rapids Bunnies (1904–1932), Cedar Rapids Rabbits (1896–1903) and Cedar Rapids Canaries (1890–1891).
The current Cedar Rapids franchise was founded in 1949 as a member of the Class C Central Association, and was called the Cedar Rapids Rockets. The moniker of "Rockets" was chosen via a name-the-team contest. After the 1949 season, the Rockets moved to the Three-I League to replace the Springfield, Illinois team that the league had just dropped.
Cedar Rapids played in the Three-I League until it folded after the 1961 season, at which point they moved to the Midwest League along with the Fox City Foxes and the Burlington Bees.
When Cedar Rapids entered the Midwest League in 1962, the franchise switched back to the Red Raiders (1962–1964) nickname. Subsequently, the team used the name of the major league franchise it affiliated with: the Cardinals (1965–1972), the Astros (1973–1974), the Giants (1975–1979), and the Reds (1980–1992). The team adopted the current "Kernels" nickname before the 1993 season. On the field, the franchise won Midwest League championships in 1988, 1992, 1994, and 2023.
In conjunction with Major League Baseball's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Kernels were organized into the High-A Central. In 2022, the High-A Central became known as the Midwest League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization.
Ballpark
The team's first home ballpark the original Veterans Memorial Stadium, which opened in 1949. In August 2000 voters approved a referendum to build a new ballpark adjacent to the old one, which was demolished after the 2001 season. The new Veterans Memorial Stadium was completed in time for the opening of the 2002 season, and the Kernels set a franchise attendance record of 196,066 in the new park's inaugural year.
Notable alumni
Lou Boudreau (1938) Inducted Baseball Hall of Fame, (1970)
Trevor Hoffman (1991) Inducted Baseball Hall of Fame, (2018)
Joe Mauer (2014) Inducted Baseball Hall of Fame, (2024)
John McGraw (1891) Inducted Baseball Hall of Fame, (1937)
Ted Simmons (1967) Inducted Baseball Hall of Fame, (2020)
Barney Pelty (1903)
Bill Wambsganss (1913)
Bill Zuber (1932)