Cedar Rapids Kernels hold a championship ring ceremony with their fans

CEDAR RAPIDS — On another wind tunnel-like day in Eastern Iowa, over 100 people were lined up at the front gates an hour before they were going to be allowed to enter Veterans Memorial Stadium.

As gate-opening time got nearer and nearer, the line grew exponentially.

It wasn’t that everyone was overly eager to take in Tuesday night’s Midwest League tilt between the Cedar Rapids Kernels and Beloit Snappers. It was just another in a long 132-game season.

This was Midwest League championship replica ring night at the ballpark, a really cool promotion celebrating the Kernels’ 2023 league title, the first for the city since 1994.

The first 1,000 fans through the stadium gates were given a ring and a circular plastic holder in which it could sit. As far as ballpark giveaways, this was about as high quality as you could get.

“As soon as we had our design, I went right to a replica dealer and ordered those in December, because we knew we wanted to do (the promotion) in early April, and you never know how long it’s going to take to get,” said Kernels General Manager Scott Wilson. “We got them in a couple of weeks ago and took a big, deep breath. They’re real metal, probably two-thirds of the weight of the real rings.

“It’s just crazy how heavy they are when you put them in someone’s hand ... It’s a beautiful piece that you could put on and wear for a while if a size 11 fits you. We give away a lot of things. Most of them aren’t something you can put on your desk for long periods of time. This should be.”

Wilson and the Kernels were allowed to design the real championship rings, of which 133 were ordered. Players, coaches, Kernels front-office staff, the club’s board of directors and other employees, as well as some front-office staff from the parent Minnesota Twins were awarded them.

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They are, in a word, beautiful. The front of the ring features the Kernels logo surrounded by white diamonds and four red ones in a baseball diamond shape.

One side of the ring has the recipient’s last name and a Kernels logo. The other side has the Twins logo, the Midwest League logo and the year 2023.

Players and coaches were given their rings in a special ceremony in early March at the Twins minor league complex in Fort Myers, Fla. that Wilson, Jessica Ferguson (Kernels Senior Director, Business Development) and Logan Larson (Kernels Baseball Operations Manager) attended.

“The real ones, it was crazy to think about designing them,” Wilson said. “But when it came down to it, you thought about a baseball diamond, one of the opportunities they put in front of us was ‘Here’s a baseball diamond.’ We looked at it, and the four red bases on ours and the replica ring are the ‘88, ‘92, ‘94 and 2023 Midwest League championships. We’ve had four Midwest League championships, so that worked out perfectly for our diamond.”

Wilson said the Kernels went through Southern Recognition Inc. of Raleigh, N.C., for the real championship rings. Success Promotions in St. Louis produced the replicas, which are heavy (though not quite as heavy as the real ones), with a Kernels logo on one side and a ‘C.R.’ logo on the other.

Success Promotions isn’t a partner of Major League Baseball, so the Twins logo could not be included.

The costs for the real rings was split. The Kernels took care of the bill for all of their employees and owners, the Twins bought the rings for the coaches and their front-office personnel.

The clubs split the cost for the rings given to the players.

“That is the fairest deal I have heard of in the Midwest League,” Wilson said. “Many teams get a small stipend from their major league club. But the Twins ... that’s a partnership right there. They paid for their own, and we split the middle.”

Cedar Rapids beat Beloit, 5-4, to begin a seven-game series between the clubs. A double-header is slated for Saturday afternoon, though potential weather has the series schedule in flux and fluid.

Pitcher Andrew Morris threw six shutout innings to get the win for the Kernels (7-8), Rubel Cespedes hit a three-run home run.

The teams will play against Wednesday night at 6:35.

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