Jimmy Reed’s Minor League Journal
By Jimmy Reed
July 2
Jimmy Reed, a 2013 graduate of the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, is writing about his second season pitching in the St. Louis Cardinals’ farm system. Reed was recently promoted from the Peoria Chiefs in the Midwest League to the Palm Beach Cardinals in the Florida State League.
My first half is over. I just spent the last three off days playing golf, relaxing and reflecting on my two and a half months in the Midwest before being promoted last week to the Palm Beach Cardinals — St. Louis’ high Class-A affiliate in Jupiter, Florida.
My team in Peoria in the Midwest League had me visiting nine different cities across five different states since the beginning of April.
Ohio. Indiana. Wisconsin. Iowa. Illinois. The Midwest as I know it, as I’ve said before, is a lot different than where I grew up in Gaithersburg, so close to Washington, where I was always on the move, with something to do, something to see.
Definitely was not the case in Hanna City, Illinois, which is about a 30-minute drive west of our ballpark in Peoria. It is also the definition of “Small Town USA.”
This is Hanna City in a nutshell:
- A restaurant called the HOG Trough that opens at the crack of dawn and closes at 4 pm. Cash only, of course.
- An ice cream parlor only open in the summer that closes way too early. Again, cash only.
- A post office.
- A gas station, which is surprisingly open 24 hours.
- Lots of cornfields.
I arrived in Hanna City in April at the start of the season after a family generously invited me and three other teammates to live with them for the season. Host families are a big help for minor league guys because we’re always on the go and leasing an apartment for six months is tough.
Peoria is a bit different than Hanna City.
Peoria does have a small-city feel to it. There are high rises. There are taxis. Restaurants are open past 7 p.m. It’s home to the headquarters of Caterpillar, the construction equipment manufacturer. Bradley University’s campus is located about five minutes from downtown Peoria. There is even a shopping mall.
Most importantly, Peoria really likes baseball. Last Saturday we had the fourth-largest crowd in park history, a loud 8,000-plus fans. Even for games during the week, we drew at least a few thousand fans, which for some Midwest League teams would be a sellout.
Not every team in the league drew well. The Beloit Snappers, the Oakland Athletics’ affiliate play in Beloit, Wisconsin, just over the Illinois border. In the six games we have played in Beloit, there might have been a combined 50 fans. But I will cut Beloit some slack…our first series was at the beginning of May, in arctic temperatures — not very suitable for baseball.
When on a road trip, the first thing I think about is the team hotel: Does it have WiFi? What are the food options? Of course, the ballpark and atmosphere at the games are always important.
Beloit: no WiFi in the hotel and only a few fast-food restaurants in walking distance. The saving grace is the restaurant attached to it that serves a pretty tasty breakfast all day and is ridiculously cheap.
But Fort Wayne, Indiana, home to the Fort Wayne TinCaps, the San Diego Padres affiliate, is another story. Fort Wayne is paradise. Beautiful park. At least 6,000 fans at every game we played there. Maybe best of all…a Cracker Barrel across the street from the team hotel, which, by the way, has fully functioning WiFi.
Fort Wayne a fine park in the middle of downtown Fort Wayne. I loved every single second I got to play there, even though it was probably our worst series of the year.
Baseball fans know that the Cardinals and the Cubs are rivals. So, when we go play the Kane County Cougars, the Cubs affiliate, we know we’re always going to play in front of a boisterous crowd.
Kane County was a favorite trip for a number of reasons. There is the rivalry, and the park was always filled with lots of fans. I have cousins that live about 30 minutes from the ballpark, which is just outside of Chicago. They actually got to see me pitch one game — a big deal, because being so far from home, I didn’t think any of my family would see me play this year.
While every city in the league was different, the one constant wherever we played was there were always fans wearing Cardinal red cheering for us. Including kids with their Cardinals gear at our bus after games, waiting for autographs.
More later, from the Florida State League.
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