The Lake County Fielders, an independent league team owned by actor Kevin Costner, presumably got their name from the classic film Field of Dreams in which their part-owner starred. The Illinois-based organization, part of the newly formed North American Baseball League, probably would have preferred that their past weekend was like the Academy Award-nominated film.
Come Monday, Costner and his co-workers must have felt like they just endured a real life version of the Hangover, leaving the organization thinking: “What just happened?”
The story begins on Saturday night. Amid complaints by players over not getting paid, Fielders manager Tim Johnson abruptly resigned prior to the team’s matchup against the Yuma Scorpions. To show support for their ex-manager, 11 players refused to play in that night’s game.
Lake County’s hitting coach Pete LaCock, whose father is former Hollywood Squares host Peter Marshall, replaced Johnson as the manager. With a depleted roster, LaCock decided to play all available pitchers in positional spots and use position players as pitchers. Of course, that would present a huge advantage to the Scorpions, if not for their manager who decided to even the playing field and employ the same strategy — pitchers in the field, position players on the mound.
Additionally, the opposing manager, who often serves as the team’s DH, took to the mound. That pitcher? Jose Canseco, knuckleball and all. Yuma went on to win the game 8-3. Canseco allowed one run on five hits in six innings of work while also striking out three. The Fielders managed nine hits in the loss.
After the game, LaCock resigned.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Yuma general manager Jose Melendez told the Chicago Sun-Times, “And I’ve seen a lot of things I haven’t seen before with Jose and Ozzie [Canseco] aboard.”
Then on Monday, the Fielders underwent a massive roster overhaul, trading nine players and releasing 14 others. The only player left on the roster was catcher Alan Rick, who had started behind the plate Saturday despite the makeshift lineup.
“We want to start fresh,” Fielders general manager Mike Kardamis told the Chicago Sun-Times, “It’s a privilege to play professional baseball. If these guys don’t want to play here, we will find guys who want to play here. We could have put them on the suspended list, but we don’t want to ruin their careers. The players weren’t happy, and it wasn’t going to be good to make them stay. They can cash their checks tomorrow once the Bank of Waukegan opens.”
So, what’s next for the Lake County Fielders? Well, a sequel, of course.
