Detours: Minor marvel
DETOURS | Clinton, Iowa might not have the pros, but it knows what baseball fans like
In the spring of 1992 I began writing a travel column for the game program of the Kane County Cougars in suburban Geneva. The Cougars play in baseball's Midwest League.
I called the column "The Glove Compartment." The idea was to take readers on the road to Midwest baseball destinations.
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People have suggested I publish an anthology of the columns from the past 16 years. So, Midwest League Field Guide (Cougars and Snappers and Loons, Oh My!) is due out in May (State Street Publishing, $24.95).
The 170-page hardcover book contains new essays, including conversations with former Cougar Dontrelle Willis and Iowa singer-songwriter Greg Brown, who wrote a glorious song about Minor League Baseball. Former White Sox-Minnesota Twins pitcher Jim Kaat contributed the foreword.
Baseball fans and roadies always ask about my favorite Midwest destination to see a minor league game.
I send them to Clinton, Iowa, 173 miles from Chicago. They are never disappointed.
This year Clinton hosts the Midwest League All-Star Game at 7 p.m. June 23 at Alliant Energy Field (formerly Riverview Stadium). Adult general admission is only $10. There are also wacky promotions you can find only in the minor leagues, like "Going Green Night" on July 18, when Peoria (the Cubs affiliate) visits Clinton. Fans help save paper with giveaway dry-erase memo boards.
The following excerpt from Midwest League Field Guide first appeared in the August 1995 edition of the Kane County program:
The sleepy Mississippi River town of Clinton, Iowa, may be the smallest city in the Midwest League, but it has some big memories. Clinton has been a member of the heartland circuit since 1953, the longest run in the league.
Although the population of Clinton is just 28,000, there's an eclectic magic in the air. After you sit a spell on a chipped wooden green chair at Riverview Stadium, you'll understand how Clinton stands for a Midwestern kind of permanence.
You smell grain, you feel the river, you hear lonely freight trains roll by the ballpark. The previous generation did this. So did the one before that. Baseball is about passages, and the chain hasn't been broken in Clinton since 1895, when the city fielded a team in the Eastern Iowa League. Such endurance is the good news.
The bad news is that this year's Clinton LumberKings are the worst team in the league. They finished the first half of the season at the dregs of the Western Division with a 17-51 record. As of July 24, they were drawing an average of 879 fans to their 3,000-seat stadium. Only the lame duck Sultans of Springfield are doing worse.
However, at "The View," losing is like a pimple on a prom queen.
Riverview Stadium is a precious part of Midwest League history. The Roosevelt-era WPA (Works Progress Administration) built the park between November 1935 and May 1937, when the first game was played. The cinder block and brick stadium cost under $125,000 to construct. "The View" was then the home of the Clinton Owls, a Brooklyn Dodgers club in the Three-I League.
From 1959-1965, Bill Veeck had a working agreement between the White Sox and the Clinton C-Sox. Ken Berry, Buddy Bradford and White Sox's farm hand Denny McLain all played at "The View."
Most recently, when Clinton was affiliated with the San Francisco Giants (1980-94), future gems like Matt Williams and Royce Clayton blossomed at Clinton's diamond in the rough. Recently retired Dave Stewart was a Clinton MVP when it was a farm team of the L.A. Dodgers, in 1977. Stewart was a 17-4 for Clinton. Today, the L-Kings are affiliated with San Diego.
Memories of the local baseball experience moved one lifelong resident to write a poem about it. Bob Dalrymple, 70, penned "Ramblings of An Old Shortstop." In part, he wrote:
"...In those days they sewed
baseballs.
Fancy the bats when they
would break.
Screwed on some cleats, and sew a shirt.
And there's the infield yet to rake..."
Dalrymple (no relation to ex-Phillie catcher Clay) gave me his poem while sitting in his dark blue Astro van in the stadium parking lot on a Saturday afternoon before the LumberKings -- you guessed it -- lost to the Rockford Cubbies.
"Clinton used to be the lumber capital on the Mississippi River," Dalrymple said as players and staff arrived at the ballpark.
Ex-Cub Gary Matthews dropped some Cubbies off as part of his scouting assignment for the Cubs. Ironically, Sarge's 20-year-old son Gary Jr., is the starting right fielder for the LumberKings (.241, one HR, 27 RBI, 18 SB).
Dalrymple peered out at Matthews and then over the fence to another time.
"All the logs came down from up north to about 15 big lumber mills along the river here," he said. "Oh my, the lumber was stacked so high. People became very wealthy. At one time, they had a dozen millionaires in this town ... and today, I'm the last one."
That's one of Dalrymple's hit lines when he drives a tour bus around town.
A retired accountant, Dalrymple worked his way up from a member of the 1937 Clinton Owls knothole gang to president of the Clinton Baseball Club (1980-83). He served on the club's board for 25 years and ran the park's public address system from 1978-1992.
Dalrymple even played the Tigers' mascot when the CBS-TV movie " One In A Million: The Ron LeFlore Story" was filmed at Riverview Stadium. In 1973, upon release from Michigan State Prison, LeFlore joined the then-Clinton Pilots, a Detroit Tigers' farm team.
Dalrymple feels disenfranchised from today's LumberKings, which is why he is no longer involved with local baseball.
"They wanted to jazz things up," he said, remaining in his van during the hourlong conversation. "They didn't like the music I was playing over the PA system.
"Sure I liked Bix," he said, glancing to a Bix Beiderbecke Dixieland Band tape in his cassette deck. "I played old baseball music. They wanted rock 'n' roll and [I] wouldn't do it. You know, sometimes old isn't bad."
And romantics will drive the old road to Riverview Stadium.
For a real treat, take the historic Lincoln Highway Route 30 into town. Built in 1913, the Lincoln Highway was America's first transcontinental drive, winding from New York City to San Francisco. The highway intersects with Route 59 south of Naperville and goes directly into Clinton. It takes less than two hours to reach Clinton from the western suburbs.
A valuable guide is A Complete Official Road Guide of the Lincoln Highway (Patrice Press, $22.95), reprinted from the 1924 edition. Baseball roadies will learn that "Iowa Laws hold that a motor vehicle must be so driven in a careful, prudent manner as not to endanger the property of another or the life and limb of any person. Speed in excess of thirty miles an hour is presumptive that an automobile is not being so driven."
Even at a faster pace, the Lincoln Highway remains a charming drive. It snake dances by roadside motor courts and through small towns like Hinckley, Ill., site of the first Harlem Globetrotters game in 1927. Hinckley (pop. 1,862) is picture-postcard Americana with star-spangled flags hanging from light posts and groups of teenage girls walking down Main Street (Route 30) after spending a hot Saturday morning detasseling corn.
With the exception of some friendly HOGs (Harley Owners Group), the road was tranquil on a sunny July afternoon. As Merle Haggard played out of the glove compartment tape deck, the highway's white line danced across the Mississippi River Bridge into Clinton.
One certain highlight is the former Van Allen and Company Department Store, 200 Fifth Ave. South.
Built in 1914, the store was designed by Louis H. Sullivan, the Joe DiMaggio of architects. The building now serves as the Sullivan Museum and the Clinton Community Center. An exhibit contains 100 photographs of Sullivan's most noted works, many of which have never been exhibited before.
Postscript: Clinton is still my favorite Midwest League destination. The Van Allen department store and museum has closed and the historic Sullivan building is now the home of Wagner Pharmacy and apartments. You can still check out the Sullivan work of when he had few commissions. A collection of Sullivan's new construction photographs and financial documents can be found at the Art Institute of Chicago.
IF YOU GO: Highway 30 turns into Third Street across the Mississippi River bridge. Turn right on Sixth Avenue, north to Alliant Energy Field near the river. For more information, call the LumberKings at (563) 242-0727 or visit lumberkings.com
Veterans Memorial Stadium,
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
The real field of dreams.
Fort Wayne TinCaps
Parkview Field, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Brand new this year. Parkview is a local hospital and this might be the only minor league park that offers cholesterol checks and blood screenings during games. Bonus points with Fort Wayne manager/former Cub Doug Dascenzo.
Quad City River Bandits
Modern Woodman Park
Davenport, Iowa
Stunning view of the Mississippi River.
West Michigan Whitecaps
Fifth Third Ballpark, Comstock Park, Mich.
The ballpark has a Churchill Downs decor and the team has received notice this year for horsing around with a 4,800 calorie "Fifth Third Burger" that weighs 4 pounds (chili, hamburger, salsa, nacho cheese, Fritos, sour cream, etc.). Ouch.
Kane County Cougars
Philip B. Elfstrom Stadium, Geneva, Ill.
Newly remodeled with a long overdue deck. One of the best weekend getaways in the area is to combine a 1 p.m. Cougars game with the Kane County Flea Market on May 3, or June 7 when they host the Cubs Peoria affiliate, or at 6 p.m. Sept. 6.