College baseball players from throughout the country spend their summers in Green Bay and other cities in the Northwoods League.

Written by

Scott Cooper Williams

Press-Gazette Media

You can ride out this long, cold winter your way, and I’ll do it my way: Waiting for baseball.

No blizzard, no deep freeze, no icy highway is too much for me to endure, as long as I know the national pastime will be back in April.

Whether it is big-leaguers on TV or neighborhood kids in a park, it doesn’t make any difference. If I can sit and watch a baseball game, I know all is right with the world.

And another winter is behind me.

That is why I worried in October when I heard that the Green Bay Bullfrogs had been sold. The team, which plays at Joannes Stadium near East High School, has been helping baseball fans like me survive long, cold winters for many years.

If you have never been to a Bullfrogs game, I definitely recommend it.

The stadium is equipped with comfortable seating options. The concession stand offers a variety of classic ballpark food and beverages, including beer. And the team’s management treats its fans to mascots, contests and other fun little extras.

If you cannot enjoy a summer night with this crowd, you are not trying.

The Bullfrogs compete in the Northwoods League, a feisty regional circuit that includes such loveable rivals as the Rochester Honkers and the Kalamazoo Growlers. Although not affiliated with any pro teams, the league brings together talented college players from all across the country.

In short, it is the best baseball that a fan can find around here.

So when longtime Bullfrogs owner Jeff Royle agreed to sell the team, I feared the worst — that Green Bay soon would be without baseball. Attendance had been lagging, and Royle struggled to find support for his proposal to build a new stadium.

But the new ownership group, Green Bay Baseball LLC, is committed to putting another team on the field at Joannes Stadium this summer. The home opener is May 27 against the Battle Creek Bombers.

I dropped by the team’s offices on Main Street recently and found employees working hard on group ticket sales, player recruitment and a few new surprises coming to the concession stand.

Liz Kern, the team’s vice president and general manager, said other improvements are planned, too, in hopes of broadening the team’s fan base during a 2014 season that will include 36 home games and 36 more on the road.

“Things are going well,” Kern said. “There’s a lot of excitement.”

Green Bay is a city known for fierce loyalty, especially toward the Packers. Earlier this month, fans rallied together and created a surge in ticket sales that helped the Green Bay Packers avoid a TV blackout during a home playoff game.

That kind of community pride is rare and commendable.

So, here is my request: Direct some of your civic boosterism this summer toward the Green Bay Bullfrogs. Go watch a game. Spend a little money. And, yes,root root root for the home team.

You will be doing your part to ensure that the Bullfrogs remain a viable enterprise here in Green Bay for years to come.

And next winter, we all will have a little something extra to keep us warm on those long, cold nights.
 
— swilliams@pressgazettemedia.com and follow him on Twitter @pgscottwilliams.