Nokomis prepares for baseball season with chili warmup

March 25, 2024 90

Nokomis prepares for baseball season with chili warmup Jake Leonard

NOKOMIS — With the 2024 MLB season closely approaching, the Bottomley-Ruffing-Schalk Baseball Museum (BRS Museum) in Nokomis held its annual Chili Warm-Up event on Saturday, March 23 at the museum.

Earlier in the morning before the event, radio station WSMI AM-FM out of Litchfield was present to broadcast its Sports Saturday program live from the museum. WSMI news director Shawn Balint and Sports Saturday host Tim Mize were present for the entirety of the program. During the program, they interviewed biographer Kent Krause, who released a biography about one of the namesakes of the museum, “Sunny” Jim Bottomley.

An archive of the WSMI Sports Saturday broadcast is below:

During the event, board members of the museum dished out bowls of chili and side dishes while discussing the upcoming season with those in attendance.

The museum sold entries for the museum’s daily calendar drawing fundraiser as well as its home run contest.

Krause was also on hand to sign copies of his Bottomley biography, Sunny Jim Bottomley: A Biography of a Hall of Fame First Baseman. The book was published last summer.

Also in attendance was 2019 Hall of Fame inductee Dave Kane, a long-time sportswriter who covered many Nokomis Redskins athletic competitions, including the back-to-back championship campaigns of the Lady Redskins basketball team in 1998 and 1999.

Nokomis Krause Balint Mize baseball — JAKE LEONARD/HEARTLAND NEWSFEED Earlier in the morning prior to the Chili Warm-Up, WSMI news director Shawn Balint (center) and co-host Tim Mize (right) hosted their Sports Saturday show from the Bottomley-Ruffing-Schalk Baseball Museum in downtown Nokomis. At left, Kent Krause talks to Balint and Mize during two segments of the show about a biography he published this past summer about one of the namesakes of the museum, “Sunny” Jim Bottomley. The name of the biography is Sunny Jim Bottomley: A Biography of a Hall of Fame First Baseman, and copies of the book will be available for sale at the museum. They can also purchase the book via Amazon or the author’s website at kentkrause.com. In the background is a map of all the major leaguers that came from central and southern Illinois. The entire WSMI Sports Saturday broadcast will be available on the station’s website.

Nokomis Stauder Kane — JAKE LEONARD/HEARTLAND NEWSFEED Scott Stauder, a board member of the BRS Museum, strikes up a conversation with retired State Journal-Register sportswriter and 2019 Hall of Fame inductee Dave Kane during the Chili Warm-Up at the museum on Saturday, Mar. 23. In the background, treasurer Steve Johnson is assisting an attendee with some fundraiser items available at the event.

Nokomis Balint Krause — JAKE LEONARD/HEARTLAND NEWSFEED During the Chili Warm-Up at the BRS Museum, WSMI news director Shawn Balint conducts a second live interview, this time on Facebook, with “Sunny” Jim Bottomley biographer Kent Krause.

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Jake Leonard

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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.