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Wichita Wind Surge
The Wichita Wind Surge is the Double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. You’ll see top Major League Baseball prospects competing at the Double-A level, the second-highest of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Riverfront Stadium from April to September.
After more than a decade without affiliated baseball in the city, the Wind Surge debuted on May 11, 2021. In its first two seasons, the team captured division championships and played for Texas League titles. While the Surge lost those title games, the team finished both seasons with the best record among the Texas League. The 2022 ballclub had four players named Texas League All-Stars.
Catch 69 regular season home games at Riverfront Stadium against opponents including the Arkansas Travelers (affiliated with the Mariners), Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Royals), Springfield Cardinals (Cardinals), Tulsa Drillers (Dodgers), Amarillo Sod Poodles (Diamondbacks), Corpus Christi Hooks (Astros), Frisco Roughriders (Rangers), Midland RockHounds (Athletics) and San Antonio Missions (Padres).
Upcoming Games
experience the season
Expect more than baseball when you attend a game. Weekly promotions include Thirsty Thursdays and Family Sundays. There's fun for all ages, including a kids play area and a splash pad; creative food and drink concessions with a local flare; as well as suites, club level, group seating and party areas.
A variety of seating options are available, from berm seating for $4 for youth and $8 for adults to reserved seating ranging from $10 to $19. A family of four comprised of two adults and two children can experience a Wind Surge game for as low as $24.
Credit: Drone-tography
Stadium
The team’s home field is Riverfront Stadium, a state-of-the-art facility completed in 2020 along the west bank of the Arkansas River in downtown Wichita, the same site where Lawrence-Dumont Stadium stood from 1934 to 2018. The $75 million stadium seats 6,500 plus 3,500 more on berms and picnic areas.
Fan comfort is built into the stadium, from drink rails to spacious concourses and wide rows in the seating bowl. Team management also schedules additional events each year beyond baseball games, including football games, concerts, festivals and more.
The administration building at the stadium also is home to the Wichita Baseball Museum, free and open to the public 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Wichita Baseball History
pastime in the heartland
Photo Credit: WSU Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives
From ballfields in Riverside Park in the 1800s to games in the early 1900s at Island Park in the middle of the Arkansas River on what was then Ackerman Island, baseball has been a part of Wichita’s history.
Wichita had a minor league team from 1908 through 1933, when the stadium on Ackerman Island burned. The city of Wichita built a new stadium in 1934 to launch a national tournament organized by sporting goods salesman Raymond “Hap” Dumont. Similar tournaments had failed on both coasts, but Dumont secured Satchel Paige – considered the greatest pitcher of the day – who came in and struck out 60 batters while winning four games. That brought national attention to the tournament and Wichita.
The National Baseball Congress World Series remained at the stadium – eventually named Lawrence-Dumont Stadium for the tournament founder and Wichita’s mayor when the stadium was built, Charles S. Lawrence – until the stadium was demolished in 2018. The tournament is still played in Wichita and each year brings top collegiate and amateur players to compete for a national championship. More than 800 NBC World Series players have gone on to play Major League Baseball, including league MVPs, Cy Young Award winners and Hall of Famers.
Part of Wichita’s baseball history is the prominence of the Wichita State University baseball program, which claims Joe Carter, Mike Pelfrey and Darren Dreifort as notable alumni. The Shockers made five trips to the College World Series in six years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, bringing home the national championship in 1989.
Professional baseball team history in Wichita:
- Wichita Wingnuts, Wichita’s independent league baseball team playing in the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball from 2008-2018
- Wichita Wranglers, Wichita’s Double-A team playing in the Texas League from 1989 to 2007
- affiliated with San Diego Padres (1989-1994), Kansas City Royals (1995-2007)
- Wichita Pilots, Wichita’s Double-A team playing in the Texas League from 1987 to 1988
- affiliated with San Diego Padres (1987-1988)
- Wichita Aeros, Wichita’s Triple-A team from 1970-1984
- affiliated with Cleveland Indians (1970–71), Chicago Cubs (1972–80), Texas Rangers (1981), Montreal Expos (1982–83), Cincinnati Reds (1984)
- Wichita Braves, Wichita’s Triple-A team from 1956-1958
- affiliated with the Milwaukee Braves
- Wichita Indians, Wichita’s Triple-A team from 1950-1955
- affiliated with St. Louis Browns (1950), Cleveland Indians (1951-1952), St. Louis Browns (1953), Baltimore Orioles (1954-1955)
- From 1905 through 1933, Wichita’s minor league baseball team switched names frequently between the Wichita Jobbers, Wichita Witches, Wichita Izzies, Wichita Larks, Wichita Aviators and Wichita Oilers.