Full Text of HR0840 99th General Assembly
HR0840 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives wish to congratulate the Kane County Cougars on | 4 | | 25 years of playing in Geneva; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, The Kane County Cougars are a Class A minor league | 6 | | baseball team, playing in
the Midwest League; their home games | 7 | | are played in Geneva, approximately 35 miles
west of Chicago; | 8 | | and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, The Midwest League came to Kane County in 1991 | 10 | | after a franchise that was previously
based in Decatur | 11 | | (1952-74) and Wausau, Wisconsin (1975-90) relocated; since | 12 | | moving to Kane County, the team has been known as the Cougars; | 13 | | they
were affiliated with the Baltimore Orioles in 1991 and | 14 | | 1992, the Florida
Marlins from 1993 to 2002, the Oakland | 15 | | Athletics from 2003 to 2010, the Kansas City Royals for the | 16 | | 2011 and 2012 seasons, and the Chicago
Cubs for the 2013 and | 17 | | 2014 seasons; for the 2015 season, they joined the Arizona | 18 | | Diamondbacks organization; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, As a Marlins farm team, some of the key | 20 | | contributors to the 2003 World Series championship
team played | 21 | | for the Cougars on their way to the big leagues; 2003 World | 22 | | Series MVP Josh
Beckett played for the Cougars in 2000 and |
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| 1 | | Dontrelle Willis had the league's best
winning percentage and | 2 | | earned run average in 2002; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, The Cougars play their home games at Fifth Third | 4 | | Bank Ballpark, built in 1991; the
franchise attendance record | 5 | | of 523,222 was set in 2001 and they are perennially
among the | 6 | | league leaders in attendance; on July 20, 2013, the Cougars | 7 | | became the first
Class A team to attract 10 million fans; in | 8 | | 2015, the Cougars finished in the top 30 across all Minor | 9 | | League Baseball clubs in
terms of attendance and their overall | 10 | | attendance of 408,449 fans was second-best in the
16-team | 11 | | Midwest League; Nancy Faust, after 40 years with the Chicago
| 12 | | White Sox, is the stadium organist for selected home games; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, In addition to welcoming more than 400,000 fans | 14 | | during the organization's 25th
anniversary season, this year's | 15 | | Cougars team went 84 and 54 (third-best record in franchise
| 16 | | history) while winning the Western Division second half | 17 | | championship; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, The 2015 season was the first year of the | 19 | | Cougars's affiliation with the Arizona
Diamondbacks; they were | 20 | | led by former Major League Baseball player and first-year | 21 | | manager
Mark Grudzielanek; more than 130 former Cougars have | 22 | | reached the Major Leagues; numerous former Cougars are | 23 | | currently involved in the Major League Baseball
postseason, |
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| 1 | | including 2014 Cougar Kyle Schwarber, who has helped lead the | 2 | | Chicago
Cubs to the National League Championship Series; | 3 | | therefore, be it
| 4 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 5 | | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 6 | | congratulate the Kane County Cougars on 25 years of playing in | 7 | | Geneva and we wish them many more successful years; and be it | 8 | | further
| 9 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 10 | | presented to the Kane County Cougars organization as an | 11 | | expression of our esteem and respect.
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