Marathon stops in C.R.

CEDAR RAPIDS - Legions of hard-core baseball fans dream of a summer on the open road, hopping from ballpark to ballpark.

Cleveland-area married journalists Matt and Carolyn Lawell are in the midst of a 30,000-mile trek across the country to visit all 120 full-season affiliated minor league teams in their home ballparks. In one season.

They arrived in Cedar Rapids Thursday night to watch the Cedar Rapids Kernels blank the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, 4-0, among 1,779 fans on a chilly night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

“I love Iowa,” said Matt Lawell, 28.“I've always got this mental imagery of Iowa as this magical place with cornfields, and it still has small towns and the Three-I League.”

Three years ago, the couple, dissatisfied with their respective jobs, began a 40-hour process of mapping out a route that eventually began on April 5 in Jacksonville, Fla., and concludes Sept. 3 in Toledo, Ohio.

“Let's go do something from a reporting standpoint, from a storytelling standpoint, that we really want to do, that we are really proud of,” Lawell said.

The result is a website - www.aminorleagueseason.com - containing live reporting and storytelling that details their travels, mascots, oversize hot dogs, and the memorable cast of characters they've met along the way.

“Jackson Ryan, the oldest grandson of Nolan Ryan, basically runs the press box at Dell Diamond in Round Rock (Texas),” Lawell said. “And he's in elementary school I think.”

The couple cuts costs by sleeping in the back of a Honda Element but have benefited from a network of friends and family, plus a burgeoning community of followers.

“We've had wonderful people who have heard about us and reached out to us and said, ‘Hey, if you don't have a place to stay in the city, we'd love to house you,'” said Carolyn, 27.

They estimate the total cost of the trip at under $8,000. Tomorrow it's off to the Field of Dreams near Dyersville and then a game in Clinton.

Eswarlin Jimenez tossed seven innings of shutout ball last night for the Kernels, and Frazier Hall hit a towering two-run home run in the first inning. The teams conclude their series Friday night at 6:30.