Photo Credit - Northwoods League Baseball
The Manitowoc Skunks will come back to life this weekend.
The Manitowoc Skunks had a short, but successful four-year run as a member of the Northwoods League from 1994 to 1997, and for one day, the Skunks will come back to life.
The Manitowoc Bandits will wear throwback “Skunk” uniforms Sunday afternoon as they travel to play an exhibition game against the Fond Du Lac Dock Spiders at Marian College in Fond Du Lac.
Juan Pierre, who played in the major leagues from 2000 to 2013, played for the Skunks in 1996. He won the league batting title that season, hitting .360 in 35 games.
Bandits Head Coach Chris Cisler tells SeehaferNews.com that he’d been in conversation with Pierre for more than two years, seeing if he could come back for a game to be honored in the town that jumped-started his path to the big leagues.
Cisler says it was close to being reality, but “He is a coach for a “Perfect Game” travelling team which his son plays on. Their team is playing in a holiday tournament this weekend or else he would have been here, and this game would have been played in Manitowoc. “
Cisler then came up with “Plan B”.
”I talked with ownership and the President of the Dock Spiders and said, ‘You know what? Your season starts on Monday. What if we come down and play an exhibition game?'” he explained. “They thought it was a great idea. They’re going to make it a “Fanfest” experience with Dock Spider players available to sign autographs after the game. The event is free and open to the public.”
As for Pierre eventually coming back to Manitowoc, Cisler noted, “Hopefully we can work something out in the future. I’ve made plenty of Skunk uniforms that are near replicas of the originals. This is something that we are going to look to do in the future.”
First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
