For any diehard fan of baseball, the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa, has been home to great tradition and great fun. Whether it be afternoons spent relaxing in the sun surrounded by the breeze in the corn fields, or nights filled with the hum of stadium bulbs burning bright, the Field of Dreams is home to many who love the thrill and the magic of America’s favorite pastime.

When the property known to many as the popular site for the film Field of Dreams, starring famous actors such as Kevin Costner, as Ray Kinsella, and James Earl Jones as Terence Mann, was announced to be up for sale, many were in shock. The site, including the field, the surrounding buildings, and around 190 acres of cornfields, was built in three days during the summer of 1988 for the film based upon the book “Shoeless Joe” by W.P. Kinsella, a graduate of the University of Iowa. When locations for the film were discussed, nothing seemed to compare to the rolling hills and vast pastures of the deep Iowan roots from the novel.

After the movie was released in 1989, many visitors began to arrive on the Lansing farm from near and far. Perhaps the travelers were searching to experience the rousing tale of an Iowan farmer called, quite literally, to build a field for the ghost of famous baseball player Shoeless Joe and his teammates, or maybe, the source of their journey comes from an inherent, profound love of the game.

The site has been a popular tourist destination ever since, for as they say in the film, “If you build it, they will come.” Owners Don and Becky Lansing recently spread the word that the acreage would be taken into the hands of Mike and Denise Stillman, owners of the company Go the Distance Baseball LLC. The land which had been in the Lansing family since 1906, will now be transformed into an ‘All-Star Ballpark Heaven,’ including different field complexes for baseball and softball alike, along with an indoor training facility where tournaments, skills competitions, and other events will be held.

Don and Becky Lansing knew that in order to sell the property, they needed to find a buyer that would continue to uphold the deep history of the site’s baseball heritage. The Stillman family couldn’t be happier to build upon that heritage and they fully intend to preserve and maintain the already existing property and its buildings in order to carry on the tradition.

The legacy of the Field of Dreams can only be described as Terence Mann (Jones) said to Ray Kinsella (Costner) in the film, “The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh … people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.”

A great baseball player is passionate, powerful, and athletic; he has an impressive swing, can excite the crowd, and will lead his teammates. He is patient yet eager, amiable yet an intimidating opponent, a slugger yet a defensive asset.

In other words, the characteristics of the ideal baseball player are incredibly numerous and are almost impossible to find. 

At least this is how baseball scouts have based their judgement of the players for well over 100 years. When a scout sees any combination of these qualities in a player, it comes down to what team can throw the most money at him. It is a regimen; it is a system; it is the recipe for a winning team. It is also wrong.

In the 2002 baseball season, the team with the least amount of money, the Oakland Athletics, made baseball history, exploiting the deeply flawed scouting system. “Moneyball” is about how Billy Beane, the general manager for the Athletics, constructed a team with considerably less than half of the funds that most other major league teams had—not to mention that the team lost their three top players in the off-season to wealthier teams.

Billy Beane is played inventively and stylishly by Brad Pitt. He offers a very imperfect yet likeable man who refuses to listen to the fact that baseball is an unfair game. You can have luck and strategy and spunk, but in the end the team with the most money seems to win.

Money is the problem until Beane meets Peter Brand (Jonah Hill). Brand believes that there are incredibly undervalued players who are looked over for reasons that do not truly matter. It does not matter if you have deplorable morals, stand like a penguin, or cannot field the ball. As Brand says, teams think they need to buy players when in fact they need to buy runs. In other words, all that matters are simple mathematical numbers that indicate an undervalued commodity. Putting the team together, however, is the easy part. The hard part is taking this math equation off the paper and putting it on the field.

One of the great successes of this movie is in how it delicately handles several different story dynamics. There was the team itself: the familiar yet enticing tale of a poor, ill-fated protagonist overcoming great conflict to reach incredible success. There was the unlikely friendship of a pudgy, nerdy Yale Economics grad and a washed-up, unsuccessful baseball player, turned general manager. And most importantly, the movie shows the general manager on his own terms with all the anger, loneliness and desperation festering inside him.

If you know baseball, you may know that the Oakland A’s did not win the World Series that year. Yes, they broke a major record. Yes, they revolutionized the way a team is made. But as Bill Beane knew all too well, they did not win their last game. How does a sports movie overcome that? It would be as if Dennis Quaid merely became a great minor league pitcher in “The Rookie,” or as if the 1980 US hockey team only came extremely close to beating the Soviets in “The Miracle.” But “Moneyball” does not act as a regular sports movie, just as the Athletics did not operate as a normal baseball team.

In fact, the genius and originality of it lies in how Billy Beane, a man obsessed with winning, copes with watching the last game of the 2002 season on his couch.

The baseball team has experienced its fair share of ups-and-downs this season, but time and time again, they have found a way to come back from adversity.

After losing three straight games to Iowa Conference rival Luther, the team has turned it up and won six of its last eight games.

The Duhawks showed no mercy to  non-conference schools Augustana College and Dominican University during a recent road trip.

Following a recurring theme throughout the season, the Loras pitchers brought the heat, as Augustana went down 7-1 behind an eight-inning pitching masterpiece from senior Kevin Moriarity, who improved to 4-2 on the season. Fellow senior Spencer Radabaugh relieved Moriarity in the ninth inning, closing out Augustana for the victory.

Junior BJ Juergens and senior Austin Brown combined for five runs-batted-in during the game, and first-year Walker had two hits and drove in a run.

“After the series against Luther, these guys didn’t accept the losing and really came up,” said Coach Carl Tebon. “We did nothing different, and these men were the ones who played to their potential that they all have.”

The next day, momentum would carry over against Dominican, as first-year pitcher Kendall Paluch continued his impressive freshman campaign. With a little help from his relief pitchers, he and the Duhawks shut out Dominican, 9-0.

First-years played a big role in the convincing victory. Shortstop Mike Pudlo picked up two RBIs and Walker pushed across another two runs.

“With Connor (Riley), Mike (Pudlo) and Joe (Walker), it’s the first time in my coaching career that I’ve started three freshman infielders, and with Kendall (Paluch) as a pitcher that’s almost 4,” said Tebon. “They have become much more relaxed and understand what we want them to do, and they have been out there playing their hearts out.”

After the Spring Break, the team got back to work against another Iowa Conference team, the University of Dubuque. Kendall Paluch picked up another win from the mound, pitching seven complete innings while holding the Spartans to just two runs to lead in the 9-2 victory.

The highlight of the day was senior Kyle Soeder’s performance at the plate, going-3 for-5 while driving in four runs. Sophomore right-fielder Mike Canevello added another two runs for the Duhawks.

Following that game, Loras brought it back home to Petrakis Park against Buena Vista.

The Duhawks played in a doubleheader against the Beavers, which concluded the next day. In the first game, Loras took the game into extra innings, finishing with a walk-off RBI single by senior Calvin Rea.

“These guys are coming up big and have turned it on,” said Tebon. “We need to keep this up as we approach the last few weeks of the season.

“Our bats have been getting hot and we’ve been learning to score more runs and how to drive in men,” he continued. “We have had great pitching all year and our defense has been great especially at turning double plays. These big hits have been the reason to our latest success.”

But in the second game, the Loras winning-streak came to an end. The bats again went silent, and the Duhawks were shut out, 2-0. Mike Canevello had the only Loras base hit in the game.

On Tuesday, Loras took on the University of Dubuque and split the doubleheader, winning the first game 4-1.

Loras scored two runs in the first inning, which proved to be all they needed as Kendall Paluch was throwing another gem for the Duhawks.

Paluch just allowed two hits and one unearned run during the game, improving his record 6-3 on the season.

The Duhawks were not so lucky in the second game, as senior pitcher Cole Boge lasted just two-thirds of an inning. He faced just nine hitters and gave up four runs on six hits.

Senior Kyler Laurie pitched well in relief, but the Duhawks couldn’t get their bats going. Juergens scored the a run for Loras after ripping a double to open the second inning, but that was the only run for Loras during its 8-1 setback.

The split enabled the Duhawks to push their overall record back to .500 — 18-18 — as they prepare for a crucial three-game series against conference foe Wartburg this weekend to end the regular season.

 

After losing seven straight games to Iowa Conference teams, the baseball team needed a lift.

They got a big one in the form of dominating pitching performances in back-to-back games. It’s hard to lose when you surrender a grand total of one hit over the duration of two games.

Suddenly, the Duhawks are riding a four-game winning streak.

The tide turned over the past week during a road trip. The Duhawks had lost several games by the slimmest of margins, so they easily could have been deflated by their 0-7 conference start. But Coach Carl Tebon felt the team was right on the edge of turning their defeats into victories.

“We lost several straight to all Iowa teams, but it wasn’t as if they were blowouts; they were all close games,” said Tebon. “I told the guys that our backs our up against the wall now and we needed to pick up our play.”

In the second game of a doubleheader against Coe, the Duhawks answered Tebon’s call by finally winning a close game, 6-5. Senior Cole Boge picked up the win by pitching four innings while allowing just two hits. Junior B.J. Juergens led the offense with two hits and two runs-batted in.

The team then traveled to Cornell this past weekend for a three game series. The Rams should have left their bats at home.

Loras opened up the series by ambushing Cornell en route to a 13-0 victory on Friday night. Junior Clay Henrickson and seniors Austin Brown and Calvin Rea all drove in two runs apiece while the team as a whole pounded out 19 hits.

But the star of the game had to be senior pitcher Kevin Moriarity, who hurled a one-hit, complete-game shutout.

Not to be outdone, first-year pitcher Kendall Paluch brought even more misery for the Cornell lineup the following day. Paluch fired a no-hitter during a 2-0 victory in the opening game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

“The key to this weekend was definitely the pitching,” said Tebon. “With Kevin (Moriarity) and Kendall (Paluch), that was the best pitching I’ve seen in years.”

Paluch was efficient, needing just 76 pitches to silence Cornell over seven innings. It was the first no-hitter Tebon has been part of as a coach. He could only describe Paluch’s performance as “amazing” and also something that fueled the rest of the team.

The team would end the weekend with a sweep of the Rams by winning, 6-3, behind Calvin Rea’s second home run of the season as well as what Tebon described as “patient hitting” by the rest of his lineup.

“It’s great momentum for the team, but we have to keep playing like this,” said Tebon. “We need to be perfect in the IIAC and play like we did this weekend the rest of the season.”

 

Baseball season is officially here. What could be better than a personal visit from Branch Rickey himself to get everyone back into the swing of things?

Some students had never heard of Branch Rickey before, but those who know the name associate it with one thing: the signing of the first black major-league player.

During Common Time last Wednesday, Chuck Chalberg, a history professor from Normandale Community College in the Twin Cities, portrayed the big-league owner Branch Rickey for a crowd of students and faculty. The Ballroom seemed more like a ballpark, as you were greeted by Fr. Joensen dressed in 1950s-era attire acting as a vendor passing out popcorn and Crackerjacks. On the stage sat an old wooden desk equipped with an antique telephone. The scene was set in 1955 after Rickey was fired from the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

Then “Branch Rickey” (Chalberg) walked in with a cigar in his mouth and proceeded to educate the audience about his life in baseball. Rickey was a major league baseball player, manager and, most notably, a general manager. As a general manager, he won World Series titles with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1926, 1931, 1934 and 1942, including numerous divisional and conference pennants.  He was a very smart businessman and played a huge role in the development of the major league farm system, as well as the invention of the batting helmet. As Chalberg said, “I farmed players till they ripened into money.” He was also remembered for his strong Christian faith and Republican affiliation, as Chalberg would constantly note whether a player had a “good Christian name” or not. For the most part, “Rickey” spent the majority of the time telling stories about the players he had coached, his business experiences and his methods of recruiting or managing players.

Towards the end of Chalberg’s performance, he went in depth into the story of how he came to sign Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player, to a minor league contract with the Montreal Royals in 1945. He would eventually break the color barrier in major league baseball when Rickey started him in 1947 for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Rickey secretly scouted Robinson and knew that he had to have him. Chalberg said, “He was a college boy, a good Christian and a fine baseball player all rolled up into one, the whole package.” But Branch Rickey didn’t just want to make history, he wanted to win games and make money. That’s why he made sure that Jackie could handle the racial injustices and acts of hate that he would inevitably encounter during his major league career to ensure that Rickey got his money’s worth.

After the performance, Chalberg was able to answer questions from the audience in character as Branch Rickey and as himself. His portrayal of this iconic baseball figure sparked many interesting discussions involving the game today. He said Rickey would have been disappointed that the number of black players have decreased, but would have been pleased to see the number of international players increase.

Chalberg demonstrated how deeply Rickey loved the game and the team he developed in the city of Brooklyn; as he said in his closing remarks, “Lord, make me humble, make me tolerant, and please Lord, may trees grow and pennants fly once again in the streets of Brooklyn.”

 

 

After coming back from a tournament Florida over spring free days, the baseball team was ready to start playing against their Iowa Conference rivals.

The only problem was their bats, as they struggled at the plate, dropping three straight games to Central College.

In Florida, the team was able to go 3-5 during their eight-game trip to Winter Haven and Auburndale.

They had some results that really showed just how great their pitching and hitting can be. In games against McDaniel College and D’Youville College, the Duhawks won 7-2 and 18-0, respectively. But while they celebrated victories, several defeats came Loras’ way as well.

The trip started out with a 1-13 loss to St. Norbert College, but not all the games were blowouts. In their five defeats, Loras lost by more than two runs only once.
In the first game of the double header against Central this past Saturday, pitching was a strong area for the Duhawks, as first-year right-hander Kendall Paulch gave up only 5 hits. Those hits would prove deadly, as they produced two runs.

The Duhawk hitting, on the other hand, only combined for four hits, as center fielder Austin Brown would pick up two hits in the game.

“These first few games of the season are all about getting a feel for the team and playing well with each other,” said catcher Travis Olson. “We have a long road ahead of us and we’ll just have to be prepared to come out and fight for the top of the standings.”

Later in the day, the team lost another close game to Central 8-5. This time, the hitting had the upper hand for both Central and Loras, as Duhawk pitcher Kevin Moriarity only lasted 2.1 innings  and Dutch pitcher Dirk Lindaman trucked through 2.2 innings.

Catcher Travis Olson lead the Duhawks with three RBI’s in the defeat.

The last game in Pella took place Sunday with another Central win, 4-3. Like the second game, the pitching staff struggled, as Kyler Laurie would give up 9 hits and collect the loss on the day.

The three losses by the Duhawks to Central brings their record to an early 0-3 start in the Iowa Conference, albeit against only one team.

“That’s the game of baseball, you have your ups and your downs,” said Olson. “We are just going to have to work hard and stay focused.”

On Wednesday the team played their first home game of the season at Petrakis Park, against University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

Pitcher Eric Rife struggled early in the game giving up a grand slam in the first inning. He would later settle down before giving up another 3 runs throughout 5 innings.

With the team down in the 8th inning, Austin Brown, Travis Olson and BJ Juergens brought the game to a score of 9-7, helping the Duhawks secure the victory. Spencer Radabaugh closed out Platteville’s offense in the 9th t o get the win.

“The key to baseball is never give up, there are 9 innings to be played,” said Olson. “We came to win it in the 8th and we proved to be (the) strong team that we will be the rest of the season.”

As of Wednesday, the team has six players hitting over .300, with junior B.J. Juergens leading the team with 20 hits on the season.

The team has lacked in the power numbers early in the season, only hitting two home runs. One was an inside-the-park round-tripper for outfielder Austin Brown, and the other was blast against UW-Platteville, by outfielder Kyle Soeder.

A trip to Florida saw the Loras baseball team win 3 out of 8 games over the Spring Free Days. The team’s overall record is not 5-6 early in the season.

The Duhawks began the trip against another Midwest team, St. Norbert. The Green Knights took advantage of Loras as the Duhawks would lose 13-1.

The team would then pick up their first win of the trip by defeating McDaniel College 7-2 but then would drop the next two games.

The last two days in Florida the Duhawks went .500 defeating D´Youville College and Washington and Jefferson but dropping two other games.

Loras will now begin play against rivals in the IIAC by playing three straight games against Central College on the road this weekend.

Led by strong pitching performances, the baseball team rebounded from a lopsided loss in its first game of the season Sunday by sweeping a doubleheader later in the day.

The team traveled to Jacksonville, IL, to play Augsburg and Carleton. In the past, the Duhawks opened the season with a trip to the Metrodome in Minneapolis. However, the Metrodome roof caved in under the weight of snow in mid-December.

Because of inclement weather, the team could not play Saturday and played all three games to play on Sunday. The team’s first game was a rough one, as Augsburg beat the Duhawks handily, 11-0. But the team rebounded against Carleton, sweeping a doubleheader by scores of 5-3 and 8-2.

Coach Carl Tebon believes the team had a promising start to the season, but there is still a lot to work on.

“I think we have a lot to figure out this season,” said Tebon. “But I was very impressed with our pitching this weekend. They really stepped up and threw well. Even in the first loss (to Augsburg) the team threw 11 strikeouts, and you don’t see too many games like that.”

The team’s pitching this weekend did turn up the heat in a snow-beleaguered Jacksonville, as first-year Jeremy Gerardy went four innings as did senior Kevin Moriarity in both games against Carleton. First-year Kendall Paluch came out with a win in the first game against Carleton and then Gerady posted the “W” in the second game.

Loras’ pitchers kept Carleton in check on Sunday, but Tebon would like to see more success at the plate.

“We just need to swing the bat better, especially early on,” said Tebon. “I have complete confidence that these guys can do that, but we need to be up early in the game. We began each game down and didn’t come back late into the games we did win.”

Now with the first games of the season behind them, the Duhawks will travel down to Winter Haven, FL, where they will play eight games in five days, from March 16 to 21. Although Florida might sound like a fun place to be in March, Tebon doesn’t want his players to forget why they came.

“It is going to be a grueling five days with eight games to play,” said Tebon. “We’re going to have to step up our play, and I have complete confidence in this team that they will.”

The baseball team will be back in full swing beginning this weekend as the team travels to Illinois for two doubleheaders against Augsburg and Carleton.

Coming off a 9-15 record in conference, 15-24 overall, Loras finished their 2010 campaign with a seventh-place finish in the conference, which boosts expectations for the upcoming season under Coach Carl Tebon.

“The first expectation we have will be to make the conference tournament. I feel the team is in the top 4 of the conference teams,” said Tebon. “We have eight great seniors and a good mix of young players, so we might surprise people this year.”

Two years ago, Loras won the conference title with a senior-laden team, so it would have been easy to throw out the old “rebuilding season” excuse last season.

“We lost 10 seniors from that 2009 team (that won the conference title),” he said. “We had a lot of new guys in program last year and if anyone told me we would lose nine 1-run games and four 2-run games I wouldn’t have believed it.”

Tebon will look to a handful of seniors, including outfielders Austin Brown, Calvin Rea and Kyle Soeder, as well as pitchers Kevin Moriarity and Eric Rife, to be leaders of the team and get to the top of the conference standings.

Buena Vista University finished first in the Iowa Conference last season and could have made a strong run in the NCAA regional round if they had not run into the eventual Division III champs, Illinois Wesleyan.

This season BVU again is projected to finish the season atop the IIAC.

“BV should have the title of the team to beat because they won the conference last season, but it’s how the season starts and it’s how things work from there,” said Tebon. “Big thing is getting off to a good start.”

BV’s strength is in their pitching, three all-IIAC’s pitchers will always turn some heads and make a team a favorite, but Tebon likes what Loras presents with five senior pitchers — Kyler Laurie, Kevin Moriarity, Cole Boge, Eric Rife and Greg Farrey — as well as proven sophomore hurler Ben Cottrell.

According to the Central Region preview, the Iowa Conference pegs BV as the team to beat, with Wartburg and Central vying for second place. The preview then predicts a four-team battle for the three remaining postseason playoff spots between Loras, Coe, Luther and Simpson.

“Everyone goes off of what happened last year and what they see on paper, which is fine,” said Tebon. “They are very good teams and, ultimately, it comes down to the performances against those teams.”
Loras’ season begins with four games this weekend in Illinois before it travels to Florida for a week of virtually nonstop competition. Tebon said the onslaught of games early in the season will allow him to evaluate new players in game conditions.

It also will help settle strategical questions that Tebon. to hitting and running or if they have to be a ‘small ball’ team.

Many pitchers will get innings, which will give Tebon an idea as to where and when the pitchers should be used in the season. Tebon says the play down in Florida “dictates how we will do in the conference.”