Thursday, June 11

June 11 is National Corn on the Cob Day, a perfect time to bring you a story about the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Welcome to the Baseball Traveler newsletter. Let's talk about Minor League Baseball.

"I live at the ballpark" is a common refrain among people who work long hours in service of Minor League Baseball, but it's not meant to be taken literally.

Unless, that is, the man talking was longtime Cedar Rapids Kernels clubhouse manager Ron "Roady" Plein, who passed away this past January at the age of 81. When the Kernels' home of Veterans Memorial Stadium opened in 2003, it came equipped with a small apartment for Roady located adjacent to the laundry room.

These living quarters illustrate the extent to which Roady lived, breathed and, yes, slept Cedar Rapids Kernels baseball. Though clubhouse managers perform many of their tasks in isolation and anonymity, Roady nonetheless became his team's most well-known character. His passing left a ballpark void that can never be filled, and this season the Kernels -- High-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins -- are paying tribute.

"'Greatest Kernel ever' is one of the common things I've been told by people," said Kernels general manager Sean Brandhorst, when asked about Roady and his impact. "[2009-10 Kernel] Mike Trout is maybe in second place in the hierarchy there."

This season the Kernels are wearing commemorative jersey patches emblazoned with "Roady" and his jersey No. 11 (yes, Roady would often suit up for games in full uniform). His nickname was short for Roadrunner, a moniker earned in the early days of his career due to his relentless, hard-charging pursuit of foul balls.

"I ran so fast," Roady told me in 2015. "You can see me run."

The Kernels staged "Roady Day" on May 31; fittingly the afternoon's opponent was Quad Cities, of the Midwest League locale where Roady began his Minor League Baseball career. Brandhorst referred to Roady Day as a "celebration of life," consisting of between-inning tributes, a mayoral proclamation and a special concession item: The Roady Dog.

"It was just a plain hot dog. He was noted for it," said Brandhorst. "So that was the marquee food and beverage item that day, just a Roady Dog at the ballpark."

Roady grew up in Dubuque, Iowa, and began his career with the Davenport-based Quad Cities Angels in 1975 as a ballpark jack-of-all-trades. He soon found his calling as a clubhouse manager, and when the Angels switched their Class A affiliation from Quad Cities to the Cedar Rapids Kernels in 1993, Roady made the change along with them. When Veterans Memorial Stadium opened 10 years later (replacing a ballpark with the same name that had stood in the same location), Roady moved in.

"When Jack Roeder was the general manager [of the Kernels], he told the owners to build a room for me," said Roady in 2015. "I don’t drive a car and I'd be doing laundry until three in the morning."

A bulletin board located near the entrance to Roady’s ballpark apartment, circa 2015.

Roady initially served as both home and visiting clubhouse manager in addition to traveling with the team. His responsibilities were reduced following a 2009 ankle injury that resulted from an on-field collision with a batboy while dashing for a foul ball, but by then his legacy was secured. In 2012, the Kernels gave away a Roady bobblehead, and in 2022 he was elected to the Cedar Rapids Baseball Hall of Fame.

"When he retired in 2017 due to health issues, he ended up going into an independent assisted living home," said Brandhorst, noting that Roady still attended nearly every Kernels game. "His room was just covered with Kernels memorabilia, and he was the life of the party there. … One of his greatest attributes was that he never lost touch with anybody. This past December, they said he still wrote over 100 Christmas cards to people from throughout his time in baseball."

Among Roady's legion of admirers was former Major League manager Joe Maddon, who got to know him while playing for Quad Cities in 1976. For Roady Day, Maddon sent along a message that was played on the videoboard.

"Roady always demonstrated tremendous quickness and speed, unbelievable, along with a total commitment to the Quad Cities Angels every night. I'm sure our batting practice benefited from the foul balls that he got, as opposed to the old worn-out soft baseballs," said Maddon. "He was a true character in our game. One of a kind. Made so many friendships and left a legacy of loving our game."

"That one word -- Roady -- is synonymous with Kernels baseball," added Brandhorst. "It makes it special."

Crooked Numbers, a monthly column dedicated to Minor League Baseball on-field oddities and absurdities, is back with a new edition. Thrill to the feats of derring-do contained within, which include but are not limited to a player who collected a hit in 12 straight plate appearances and a team that put up four seven-run innings over the span of two games.

READ THE LATEST EDITION OF CROOKED NUMBERS HERE

Minor League teams throughout the country are staging Pride Night promotions this month. The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp did so on June 4, and it was particularly memorable. David Ratz, Jumbo Shrimp vice president of promotions and special events, sent me an account of the evening. What follows is an abbreviated version:

Pride Night was, for the fourth year in a row, our most successful and highest-attended Thursday night game of the year. This year was extra special as we had a gay couple get married, on the field, during the middle of the 4th inning. The only way we were going to be able to pull it off would be to do it in the normal course of the game.

I had been working with Christopher (on the right in the above photo) about a month leading up to the game and he and his partner Zachary had been practicing their ceremony, to make sure it fit within the allotted 90-second inning break. As the final out of the top of the 4th was recorded, Christopher, Zachary, their officiant and I all popped out of the Jumbo Shrimp dugout and on to the warning track. The PA announcer did a quick intro and tossed it down to the officiant who jumped right in.

It took about 20 seconds for the crowd to realize what was going on but by the time we got to the end of the ceremony when the officiant pronounced them man and man, the stadium erupted in applause. I would be lying if I said I didn't tear up. It was one of the coolest things I've been a part of. To provide a safe space for two people to get married and to have a whole ballpark go nuts in support of their union was absolutely incredible.

Get in touch anytime via email at benjamin.hill@mlb.com and please follow me on Instagram (@thebensbiz), X (@bensbiz) and Bluesky (@bensbiz.bsky.social). Thank you, as always, for reading. 

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