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Kevin Waldron

In-Depth FeatureIowa Cubs

Iowa CubsWebsite

Referencebaseball.comJake Samo

Randy Wehofer

Eric HammesDollie Pinegar

Deene Ehlis

Baseball: an American tradition; Field of Dreams: an Iowa tradition; Iowa Cubs: a

Des Moines tradition; life would not be the same for a select few. Those few, are not the

Marines, or superheroes; they are ordinary people trying to make dreams come true at

Principal Park in Des Moines.

The crowd echoes with excitement as they enter the field. A big burly man is

yelling, PEANUTSSSS, CRAKERJACKS. Fans file in before the first crack of the bat.

A boy with an oversized glove sits in the cheap seats with his father as they yell to the

players on the field to throw them a ball. Nearly 3,000 people now sit in the park ready to

see magic happen.

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Scenes like those wouldnt happen without the help of a team lined up ready to

bat at every game. During the game stadium workers are busy making things run

smoothly these are their stories.

Zoom, the first pitch flies by the batter. People are still filing into the park, and a

friendly face still sits behind the class window at the ticket booth. Workers are in the

booth throughout the game. Eric Hammes, assistant ticket manager, is one of those faces.

He said besides helping people get into the park, before the season and games, the

staff is coming up with ways to get families to come to Iowa Cubs game.

We do a lot of planning meetings; once or twice a week; brainstorming, and

looking for new ideas. We look back at past season and see what needs to be fixed, what

worked, and what didn't, Hammes said.

A guy runs by on his two-way radio; he is Jack Samo, operations manager at

Principal Park. Samo has been laboring for nearly six months to see the first home game

of the season. During the game, Samo is running around the park communicating to his

staff on his radio. But, it wasnt long ago when Samo was on the field rather then off.

I was fortunate to come here and play in the state tournament in high school and

now its kinda come full circle. It has become a reality for me a little bit. I get to see all

the hard work and sweat that goes into it (the stadium), Samo said.

Throughout the park, the hard work can be seen in layers of paint. Whether on the

turf or the man behind Cubbie Bear they all are sweating toward a common goal.

Randy Wehofer, director of media relations said, Its kinda minor league

baseballs mission is to entertain no matter what your on field product is. Because the

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thing we have in common or factors to our success we dont control is, the weather, and

the talent.

The 2012 Iowa Cubs season outlook looks much better this year than last year;

with unpleasant record of 66-77 overall and placed last in the Pacific Coast League

according to Iowa Cubs website. The Iowa Cubs are a feeder team for the Chicago Cubs,

which means they bring up or bring down players from each ball club.

Wehofer has been around the minor leagues for years, previously working for the

Springfield Cardinals. He understands how managing a team in the minor leagues works.

If we are good we can't keep the guys from getting called up to the big leagues.

If we are bad we can't have them send us anybody else necessarily, Wehofer said.

Regardless of the situation on the field, workers at the stadium try to make the

experience fun for the non-diehard fans, too, he said.

Even if the game turns out not to be an instant classic, we have promotions like

the fireworks, acts and all the stuff we do on the video board. They are all designed in

case we are losing 13 - 1 or winning 131. You still leave here with a smile on your

face, Wehofer said.

Working behind the scenes on game day is not so glorious as one might think.

There is no time to sit and watch the game.

Samo said, We do everything from fixing urinal, to promotions, to fixing the

scoreboard.

In the offseason management is working on the stadium to make sure it doesnt

freeze over, literally.

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Our main obstacles include freezing pipes. Fortunate this winter we didn't have

much of a problem with it being to cold. Weather cooperated, so we didn't have major

breakdowns, Samo said.

It is the middle of the seventh inning. Just as fans start to doze off in the

springtime-sun, Take Me Out To The Ball Game starts to blare in the park. Fans stand up

to stretch and sing along in unison.

The man sitting behind the music is Deene Ehlis, director of broadcast operations.

As Ehlis sits in his front row press-box-seat, he looks happy. Ehlis grew up in the age of

Kirby Puckett, Sparky Anderson, and Rod Carew, all of which he got to interview. He

started broadcasting for the Cubs in 1990 and has been consistent with his play calling

ever since.

Ehlis said the greatest game he broadcasted was, game seven of the American

Association Finals in 1993. The Iowa Cubs verse the Nashville Sound. The game went to

extra innings and Karl Rhodes hit a walk-off homerun to end the game.

Ehlis said, Its a dream job, you have 140 days at the ballpark, but then its

challenging to get up every day and be motivated to call the best game of your career that

night.

Wehofer works right a long side during games and even jokes around On-Air

when the moment is right he said.

Its fun to work with someone that you get along with. We both do our

homework and are prepared and want to be there, Wehofer said.

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This year, two Grand View students got in on the baseball joy ride. Jon Kelly,

digital media senior, and Dollie Pinegar, undecided senior, both are media interns for the

Iowa Cubs.

This is Pinegars second year with the team and is looking to gain experience in

managing media. She gets to take in the games through the lens of a camera.

With a smile, Pinegar said, I love doing video work. I see myselfdoing this full-

time someday.

One part of Pinegars job is to show fans faces up on the giant video board. In

between innings birthday and anniversary wishes are displayed on the panel. Adam and

Michael Kaduce are sharing their 25th

birthday at the park. Pinegar is right there, showing

their smiling faces as they get a special wish.

The games are broadcast on Mediacoms channel 22. One perk to the job is they

always get food catered to them before the games in the media room she said.

I never go hungry, Pinegar said.

Nine innings of baseball have come and gone. The game is over. The Cubs have

won. Fireworks rocket into the air, as fans ooh and ahh. Families, drunken fans and Little

League teams are all smiling as they leave the stadium. There is Samo still at work. He is

cleaning up fans buckets of peanut shells spread across the cement floor. Sweat runs

down his face after three hours of laboring. But, his day is just getting started. His team is

getting ready for tomorrows game. The hundreds of workers are ready to host the 150

plus games at the park. The lights go out on the field.