Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Baseball & Bowling in Clinton, Iowa
Jerry Ramig as seen on his press pass.
Grass roots marketing is one of the joys of making independent art, whether it is books, music or paintings. That’s how I found myself across the street from Alliant Energy Field in Clinton, Ia., which hosted last week’s 45th annual Midwest League All-Star Game. I was signing copies of my new book “Cougars and Snappers and Loons (Oh My!)—A Midwest League Field Guide.”
It was 97 degrees when the session began at 4 p.m.
I sat at a table with my publisher George Rawlinson. He wore a leather biker’s cap and assumed the role of carnival barker in trying to get sluggish fans to come to our booth. There was no cover from the sun. We were positioned between the loud Union Pacific railroad tracks and the quiet Mississippi River. Behind us, lumberjack impersonators were at work recalling the days when Clinton was the “sawmill capital of America.” The Clinton entry in the Midwest League is the LumberKings.
I met all sorts of people in Clinton (pop. 30,000).
One woman gave me a sheet of baseball limericks she had composed. Another woman was from Cuba, via Miami, Chicago and Clinton. She bought a book and left, electing not to stay for the game. Perhaps the most wonderful character I met was long time Clinton Herald sportswriter Jerry Ramig. He looked like an elder Bob Hope on the road to somewhere. He was extremely dressed up considering the heat. Ramig wore a white sport jacket and used a cane to navigate his way through the adjacent field that was the site of the pre-game “fun fest.”
Ramig was going to take in the game, and even though he has been writing for the Herald since 1953 he complained about the placement of one of his baseball stories on page four of the sports section. Sportswriters never change.
Ramig spared no words in talking about his bowling column which was ironic because I had just mentioned to my Chicago Sun-Times colleague Mark Konkol that one way to increase readership is to bring back a regular bowling column in our working class newspaper. Konkol would cover South Side bowling alleys and I would take care of the North Side. We need help with the West Side.
I later learned Ramig was inducted into the Iowa State Bowling Hall of Fame. And for 17 years he hosted a local bowling radio show called “Sparetime.” I love that title.
Ramig was playful with this young pup. He hovered around our booth feigning apathy about my 240-page tome to the backroads of baseball. He first left without buying a copy but later returned with a $20 bill and a grandfatherly smile. Ramig enjoyed being in the spotlight as did the rest of Clinton. The all-star game brought in a roughly $1.5 milllion economic impact to the crippled Clinton economy.
The game itself was rich with memories. I cut out of the book signing session to catch future major leaguers like Peoria Chiefs (Chicago Cubs affiliate) third baseman Josh Vitters (who went 0 for 3) and Chiefs first baseman Rebel Ridling (I love that name) who won the previous night’s Home Run Derby by knocking out 12 dingers. He beat out Milwaukee Brewers 2008 first-round pick Brett Lawrie, who had 5 taters. Lawrie, who plays for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers near Appleton, is the highest ever draft pick out of Canada.
But my favorite click to pick was Dee Gordon, the starting shorstop for the East All-Stars. Gordon plays for the Great Lakes Loons, the Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate in the Midwest League. Gordon went 1 for 2 in the game and stole a base. At the all-star break he led the league with 40 stolen bases in 49 attempts. He also led the league in triples with 8.
Gordon is really fast and hustles all over the place. Even in the all-star game—-generally a laid-back affair— Gordon sped out to center field on a long pop fly and darted to his left and right while playing deep in the hole. He has superb reaction considering this is his first full professional season. Last spring Gordon, 21, attended Seminole Community College in Florida where he did not play baseball. He finished the summer at short season Ogden after the Dodgers drafted him fourth in 2008.
A 5’11, 150-pound left-handed hitter, Gordon is the son of former Cubs reliever Tom “Flash” Gordon. Ironically, his father played in the 1988 Midwest League All-Star Game in Clinton. Flash played for Appleton, then a Kansas City Royals affiliate.
A flash, a strike and then you’re home. The road trip to Clinton was supposed to be about selling some books and catching a glimpse of the future. But the gentle people of Clinton turned out to provide the moments I will most remember.
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