Gary Evans mashes his way into CBU stardom
September 28, 1996 – The Wisconsin Cheese defeated the Redbank Bandits 8-3. The Cheese were led by Philadelphia native Gary Evans who crushed his record setting 55th home run of the season. Evans became the first player in the 3-year history of the CBU to finish a season with more than 50 home runs in a season.
Evans was picked in the 15th round of the inagural draft as a 24 year old minor league wash out.
“I started to look for jobs elsewhere outside of baseball. I felt like I could play, but despite all of my efforts, I was not getting call to the big show.” Gary Evans
Evans decided to give up on the Major League dream and took the money offered by the CBU to enter their inaugural baseball selection draft. The Cheese got what they wanted out of Evans right away, he hit for power. Evans’ 1994 campaign was highlighted by a 41 home run season, an all-star selection, and some votes for MVP.
Evans had finally found his power stroke that MLB scouts once saw in him. However in 1995 set backs killed what was hoped to be a very promising season. In May of 1995 Evans strained his groin causing him to miss 8 weeks of baseball. After his return in July, Evans was involved in a brawl after a teammate was hit by a pitch, and got suspended for 5 games.
Later that month Evans fractured his thumb diving back to a bag causing him to miss out on another 6 weeks of baseball. For what promised to be a season of growth, Evans managed to play just 66 games and hit just 11 home runs. The Cheese choose to tender him another contract and asked him to return for the 1996 season.
In 1996 a refocused Evans took the league by storm. Evans collected three Landis League player of the week awards and was the August player of the Month. In July Evans recieved his second All-Star selection birth. Evans put up MVP like numbers that blew 1994 out of the water. .316 batting average, 55 home runs, 150 runs-batted-in, he had video game like numbers and finished 3rd in the MVP voting.
The Wisconsin Cheese rewarded Evans’ campaign with a $30,000,000 deal to stay with the Cheese for the next four seasons. Evans has already become one of the most popular players in Wisconsin, and is becoming recognizable across the country.
