By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

NORMAL, Ill. — Though the Normal CornBelters’ Frontier League baseball team lost its home opener at their newly-constructed, $12 million “Corn Crib” stadium last Tuesday, the night was still considered a victory for and by Illinois corn producers. A sold-out crowd of some 6,000 baseball fans from central Illinois and beyond were on hand to receive the message the Illinois Corn Marketing Board (ICMB) wanted to convey when the Bloomington-Normal-based organization agreed to pay the team for the naming rights to the stadium last year.

ICMB chairman Jim Rapp, a corn producer from Princeton in Bureau County, represented the ICMB at the CornBelters’ June 1 inaugural game and threw out a ceremonial first pitch – sort of.
Though his delivery bounced up to the catcher, Rapp was more concerned that the ICMB’s pitch for the attention of those unfamiliar with modern corn production would be a perfect strike.
“Our goal is to explain the story of corn to an urban population that may not know the facts,” Rapp said before his errant throw. “With the ‘food versus fuel’ issue, a lot of information has come out against corn production and ethanol that is inaccurate, and our goal is to set the record straight. Our facts are indisputable and verified by third parties, and we’re going to use this an opportunity to bring the truth to the public.” 

The group of investors that own the team had already decided they would like to honor the area’s farmers by fielding an agriculture-themed ball club before they contacted the ICMB with an offer to bring the organization on board. The board of directors of the ICMB put together a proposal for the CornBelters that included naming rights to the stadium and established special promotion nights throughout the season designed to turn the spotlight on corn as well as other agricultural commodity groups and agribusinesses.

“I thought it was kind of an out-of-the-box idea, but the more I thought about it the more it became apparent that this would be a great opportunity for corn growers to tell the story of corn right here in the heart of the Corn Belt,” said Rapp, adding that when the team plays road contests against teams such as the Windy City Thunderbolts and the Traverse City Beach Bums, the story of modern corn production travels with them.

Tricia Braid-Terry, director of communications for the ICMB and Illinois Corn Growers Assoc., said that corn being grown in terraces beneath the stadium’s modern, center-field scoreboard will provide the setting for players who will enter the stadium from clubhouses still being constructed beneath the scoreboard, which displays an advertisement sponsored by Illinois corn growers. The team’s entrance will be augmented by dry ice, effecting a “Field of Dreams” type aura – once the corn grows tall and the clubhouses are completed.

“We partnered with a local FFA chapter, the Tri-Valley FFA, who have grown corn to six feet tall in their greenhouse. We will also use this corn for demonstration and educational purposes,” said Braid-Terry. “We certainly appreciate the cooperative nature of everyone who has helped out here at the Corn Crib. We’ve also worked with Syngenta, Pioneer Hybrids and other ag commodity groups, and all will have an opportunity to promote their agendas at the Corn Crib.”

Ag commodity groups and ag-related businesses sponsoring promotional nights at the Corn Crib include the Illinois Pork Producers Assoc., which will host a “Salute to Pork” at the ballpark on Aug. 5, the Illinois Beef Assoc. (date unknown), and Prairie Farms Dairy with an “Ice Cream Night” (date unknown).
In addition, a “Farmers Tribute Night” featuring a “Touch a Combine” promotion for kids and adult city-dwellers is scheduled for July 26.

“This is about more than just corn, it’s about all of agriculture” Braid-Terry said of the opportunities the ICMB’s alliance with the CornBelters presents. “The common theme is that we all realize we need to talk to a different group of people than we are used to talking to, and this is a great opportunity to do that.”

The CornBelters lost their debut to the ThunderBolts, 3-2.
The Frontier League is comprised largely of players who were cut from major league tryout camps or were not drafted by major league teams out of college.