Grand Forks Varmints

Grand Forks, ND had last been home to professional baseball in 1964 when the Grand Forks Varmints joined the Prairie League in 1996. The Varmints finished second in the northern division in both halves, going 45-34. In the second half they were only a half-game behind the Moose Jaw Diamond Dogs. In the playoffs they beat Moose Jaw in 2 of 3 games, letting them play the Minot Mallards in the finals, but they fell to Minot 3 games to 1, getting outscored 38-14. Their attendance (35,619) was second-best in the league. Co-manager of the year Mike Verdi had one All-Star, 2B Gordon Powell (.318, 20 SB). Verdi's club slipped to 33-34 in the 1997 season and again finished second in attendance (38,097) with Jim Swanson, the former Prairie League administrator (1996) as the team's general manager. The only All-Star was 1B James Wambach (.332, .567 slugging). Batting champ Dan Kopriva (.384) split the season with Moose Jaw. The club vanished along with the league after that season.

Sources: 1997 and 1998 Baseball Almanacs