WATERLOO - Fifteen years ago, the summer sun set on an empty Riverfront Stadium.

Gone was the crack of the bat, the aroma of brats on the grill and thousands of cheering fans for whom minor league baseball was as much a part of their summer as family vacations and neighborhood cookouts.

Following the 1993 season, the Waterloo Diamonds were sold and left town. After 36 consecutive seasons of Midwest League baseball and sporadic pro ball dating back to 1895, a stadium where players like Luis Aparicio, Carlton Fisk, Clint Hurdle, Willie Wilson and Von Hayes crafted their trade on the way to the big leagues was vacant.

Not for long. While some pined over the loss of pro ball, others went to work to put a team in Waterloo that would stand the test of time.

They found an ideal fit in the Northwoods League, a summer wooden bat circuit for college-level players that began play in 1994. A year later, the Waterloo Bucks were born.

Those early years were hardly those of an unsteady toddler.

Under the initial direction of Waterloo native Eric Snider and later under Darrell Handelsman and Gary Rima, the Bucks hit the ground running and quickly became the toast of the town and the NWL.

Waterloo posted winning records the next eight seasons. The Bucks never finished lower than third in the standings. They owned the league's best overall record three times and the second-best mark in three other seasons. They reached the NWL championship series four times and won titles in 1996 and 2002.

Local fans responded. Waterloo led the league in attendance four times in those eight seasons and was second three times. Top players jumped at the chance to play for the Bucks.

"Waterloo has more hard-core baseball fans than anyplace I've ever been," said Handelsman, now the field manager and director of operations for the Fayetteville (N.C.) Swamp Dogs. "It was the best thing I've ever done. I felt like I was coaching the Yankees or something."

Since then, it's been a different story. The NWL has grown to 14 teams. Other leagues have formed and increased the competition for talent. Waterloo has lacked continuity in its coaching staff.

After posting the best winning percentage in the league (.623) during the franchise's first eight seasons, Waterloo ranked 12th from 2003-08 (.411). The Bucks haven't posted a winning record since the 2002 season. Of the 10 teams that have been in the league since 2003, Waterloo is the only one that hasn't made a playoff appearance.

Competitively, the NWL and summer-league college baseball has caught and passed the Bucks.

From a business standpoint, the Bucks remain successful. Brothers John Marso and Steve Marso, who bought the franchise in 2004, enjoy strong support from the City of Waterloo and a faithful following of fans, although the Bucks' attendance hasn't grown like it has in some NWL cities.

Still, everybody loves a winner …

Building a winner

Things fell into place like a game-winning base hit during the Bucks' early years.

The City of Waterloo embraced the new game in town and offered the club a bargain lease of $1 a year for the use of Riverfront Stadium.

With his passion for the game, his connections in college baseball and his familiarity in the community, Snider was a perfect fit for the fledgling franchise. His Bucks were talented, exciting and competitive, and went 163-90 in Snider's four seasons as field manager and general manager. Meanwhile, they gained the support of local baseball fans.

The franchise took another step forward after Butch Johnson bought it in 1997. When Snider left for a college coaching position in 1998, Johnson brought on Gary Rima as general manager and Handelsman as the field manager. They built on the foundation Snider put in place and took the club to a new level on the field and in the stands.

"Butch just let me run it and Darrell coach it," said Rima. "He didn't try to say, 'Financially, you have to do this and do that.' He just said, 'Run a good team, don't lose money and I'm going to be a happy camper.'

"He let us make it work, and we were able to build it into something I think was kind of special."

Rima said yearly profits ranged from $25,000 to $100,000 during his five seasons. They could have been higher, but that wasn't the ultimate goal. It was equally important to be an asset the community would embrace.

On the field, it started with Handelsman.

"We were fortunate to have him," said Rima. "He just knew what it took to win with a 64-game schedule in 70-some days. He was one of the best at it. Eric Snider was great at it. Those guys knew what to do.

"You don't see many first-year coaches win in this league."

Between Handelsman and Rima, with considerable assistance from Snider and other contacts, the Bucks were able to recruit outstanding players who fit well in Waterloo. One reason for that was the reputation the club developed as a summer destination.

"We did the little things," noted Rima. "When you travel, the home team houses you and feeds you. On longer road trips where our guys had to be gone for maybe six days, we sent additional meal money with them. It wasn't a lot, but it was like $20 each guy had so they could buy an extra burger or buy a pop and chips when the bus stopped on a long trip.

"There were times when our guys would be home for four or five games and we'd say, 'Tomorrow at 3 o'clock we're going to feed everybody at Bonanza.' A lot of other teams didn't do that.

"We let our guys use their game bats in practice, and they loved it. A lot of teams wouldn't do that because they'd break them. We bought more bats than any team in the league.

"We just felt little things like that set us apart at that time when we were having success.

"We spent some money we didn't have to spend, like going in with the university (UNI) to buy a new field tarp or putting up a batting cage … things maybe we didn't have to do but knowing that at the end of the year if we only showed a $50,000 profit, Butch was going to be happy with that."

During Handelsman's four seasons, Waterloo was 160-108, including the 2002 NWL championship. Attendance peaked at an average of 1,883 fans per game in 2001 and averaged 1,713 during those four seasons.

"Part of it was they were ahead of their time," said Handelsman. "Eric did such a good job getting that thing going. I was handed the keys when it was already going well. The team had a great reputation, and so did the organization."

Build it, they will come

Success on the field was only one part of the equation.

For the franchise to keep showing growth, it had to be embraced by the fans and business community.

Rima's philosophy was to put a quality product on the field, offer fans an inexpensive entertainment option and encourage the community to take ownership in the team.

"Part of it had to do with the fact that we won," said Rima. "People would come out because we won. But I also remember talking to Eric (Snider) and he said, 'Gary, it's baseball, but you've got to put on a show, too. It's gotta be an event. It's gotta be fun.'"

Rima and his staff found businesses to sponsor nearly every home game. Those businesses distributed thousands of free tickets, which drew potential customers to their stores and put people in the Riverfront stands.

"I just felt we had to get people in the stands," said Rima. "If we were gonna charge everybody $5, we weren't gonna get big crowds. If we could get them there, we felt they were gonna spend some money."

Rima used frequent postgame fireworks shows to attract younger fans, as well as occasional promotions from baseball entertainers. On-field promotions played a role, as well, especially those that encouraged participation from the crowd.

"There were always people winning stuff, and it was entertaining," said Rima. "It's what drives minor league baseball, and I always thought that's what we had to do here, too."

In turn, those fans created an exciting atmosphere at Riverfront.

"It was fun," Rima related. "When you have that many people in there (Riverfront), it's electric for the players. They love it. You help your team be successful with the big crowds.

"And the fans wanted to come back. Parents were like, 'Let's go to a Bucks game,' because it was fun."

Getting those fans to return was a key.

"If you have a six-game homestand, that's almost a sixth of your home schedule," Rima explained. "You have to make it cost-wise so they can come out two or three or four nights. That's where the sponsorship tickets really helped."

Meanwhile, the Bucks built outstanding relationships with their vendors and business contacts that translated to more support and more fans.

"Another thing I thought we did that was huge was we spent every dollar we could in the community," said Rima.

"You saw the people you did business with at the ballpark all the time. They have a lot of people who work for them, and they'll buy tickets and give them to their employees.

"On days when it was 100 degrees on a Sunday afternoon, it was those people who helped sustain you when otherwise you might only have had 100 people there."

In the end, it wasn't Butch Johnson's Bucks or Gary Rima's Bucks or Darrell Handelsman's Bucks. They were Waterloo's Bucks.

"I think people felt like we were locally owned," offered Rima. "I think Butch does that with the (Waterloo) Black Hawks, too. You feel like it's your local team, and I think that helped with our success."

By 2004, Handelsman, Rima and Johnson were gone. Waterloo wasn't willing to offer Handelsman a 12-month position and eventually lost him to the NWL's Madison franchise in 2003. A year later, Rima was replaced when the Marsos took over.

The overall front-office philosophy hasn't changed. Bucks baseball continues to provide an inexpensive entertainment option for the Cedar Valley. Riverfront Stadium has never looked better. The City of Waterloo has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into updating the facility with more improvements scheduled.

The team has simply struggled to field a winner.

Next: How has the competitive landscape changed since the Bucks' early years?