1995

Wizards' Kekiongas Throwback Jersey

Fort Wayne has a long-lasting love affair with baseball. Organized baseball began here in 1862 with the Summit City Base Ball Club. The nation's first professional league baseball game was played here in 1871, the Fort Wayne Kekiongas versus the Cleveland Forest Citys. The Kekiongas' home field was lo-cated on the near west side of the St. Mary's River just west of downtown.

The first night baseball game played in Fort Wayne on 2 June 1883, was a contest between the Quincy Professionals, a professional team from Illinois in the Northwestern League and a local team from Methodist College. A crowd of 2,000 paid twenty-five cents a ticket to witness history. In another first, indoor double header baseball games were played in Fort Wayne on 28 November 1890 in front of a crowd of 200 people inside the Princess Rink, a roller skating facility located at the southeast corner of Fulton and West Main Streets.

More recently, the Kenosha Twins franchise was purchased by Eric Margenau in 1992 and opened play as the Fort Wayne Wizards in the new $5.6 million dollar Memorial Stadium on 19 April 1993. In their inaugural season, they drew 318,506 fans to the games. As part of the Harrison Square revitalization project, the new Parkview Field became the official home of Fort Wayne baseball at the start of the 2009 season. To coincide with the new ballpark, the team held a contest to determine a new name for the Wiz-ards, and "TinCaps" was chosen. In addition to winning a franchise-record setting ninety-four games in their new home, fans shattered the previous attendance record for the season, with 378,529 coming through the turnstiles.

During the 1995 season, the Wizards wore this replica Kekiongas uniform for every Sunday game in a "Turn Back the Clock" promotion to recognize Fort Wayne's first baseball team, the 1871 Kekiongas. It is a light grey, short sleeved, flannel baseball jersey with navy blue pinstripes and features a button-down front with six light gray-purple plastic buttons; "KEKIONGAS" is written in a navy blue felt-lettered arch across the chest and the number "20" is sewn onto the back of the jersey.