I’ve worked as an arts producer for decades here at Ideastream Public Media, where I’ve shared hundreds of stories about Northeast Ohio dancers, musicians, visual artists, poets and more. My beat is the arts, and I’ve developed a profound appreciation for the incredible artists of our region.
Still, my true passion has always been Cleveland sports. I grew up going to Browns games with my dad and I’m currently a season-ticket holder for the Cavaliers. In April, I attended the Guardians Opening Day game just hours after the 2024 solar eclipse. Little did I know that I'd soon journey to a new sports universe — Minor League Baseball.
While listening to a local baseball podcast, I learned about Guardians’ pitching prospect, Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson, who struck out 15 in April for the Lynchburg Hillcats in Virginia, a Minor League Single A level affiliate of the Guardians in the Carolina League. When Tugboat got called up to the Lake County Captains in Eastlake, a High-A affiliate of the Guards, I just had to see the kid in person.
So, one night in June I traveled along Route 2 on my way to Classic Auto Group Park for a game where Tugboat would be on the mound. It was a blast. The Captains put on a great show and the team won after a strong performance by Tugboat. Afterwards, I popped into the Cargo Hold team shop and discovered several fun Captains posters created by local artists. Did I mention I also collect posters?
I’ve got dozens of concert and pinball league posters decorating my desk area at the Idea Center, so I was instantly attracted to this colorful collection celebrating America’s pastime. The posters feature all the teams that the Captains battle each week in the High-A Midwest League.
Illustrations of these teams, with such awesome nicknames as the Dayton Dragons, Lake Erie Sky Carp, Fort Wayne TinCaps, Lansing Lugnuts and West Michigan Whitecaps, were about to become part of my never-ending poster collection. It’s just like when I collected baseball cards as a kid. Actually, I still collect baseball cards.
The next day I called up the Captains and learned it was the second season of the team’s local artist series, created by Alan Miller, the team president and owner, in 2023. When he purchased the team earlier that year, one of Miller’s goals was to give young area artists a chance at a paying freelance gig. And it turned out many of these aspiring artists were either current students or recent graduates of my brother Dan’s alma mater, the Cleveland Institute of Art. I immediately texted my brothers and cousin about this, and they encouraged me to pitch the story to Ideastream's arts editor, Carrie Wise.
After she gave me the go ahead, I reached out to CIA and invited a few of the young artists to meet me at Classic Park for a Captains double header in August. A couple of them took me up on the idea and, along with Ideastream multiple media journalist Ygal Kaufman, we enjoyed a day and night of baseball between the Captains and the Lake Erie Loons of Michigan.
The result of that long day of baseball, interviews, video footage, drone videography, hot dogs and cracker jacks will air on WVIZ/PBS Ideastream Public Media during our Emmy-award winning arts and culture program “Applause,” which I produce each week. If you can’t catch it this Friday night at 8:30, you can watch it on demand for free with the PBS app.
My piece focuses on Miller and those two aspiring CIA grads, Emily Zhang and Rey Yaniga. The posters Zhang and Yaniga created, which were sold at the team shop, helped them land future illustration jobs and internships at places like American Greetings. That’s exactly what Miller was hoping would happen, so I call it an artistic home run.
I got a great story and a new passion out of it. I’ve gone to a handful of Captains games this season, and plan to go to a playoff game Thursday night versus those dastardly Dayton Dragons. I also hope to get down to Akron to see the Rubber Ducks, the Guardian's Double-A affiliate, play at Canal Park before their season ends. Next summer I’ve got the Columbus Clippers, Cleveland's Triple-A affiliate, on my travel itinerary and maybe someday I’ll journey to Lynchburg, Virginia to check out the Hillcats.
I’ll always have my finger on the pulse of the Northeast Ohio arts scene, but this unique crossover between my two passions of art and sports was a hit.
"The Cut" is featured in Ideastream Public Media's weekly newsletter, The Frequency Week in Review. To get The Frequency Week in Review, The Daily Frequency or any of our newsletters, sign up on Ideastream's newsletter subscription page.
