These people are behind the scenes at Cedar Rapids Kernels games but very important

CEDAR RAPIDS — Part of the allure, the mystique of professional baseball are the stories. All the stories.

You remember that player?

You remember that team?

You remember that night?

You remember that game?

You remember what happened after that game?

Shane Severson and Steve Meyer love giving you stories. The Cedar Rapids men have been behind-the-scenes, off-the-field helpers for the Cedar Rapids Kernels since the late 2000s, early 2010s.

They have been official scorers, they have been scoreboard operators. They have been those things and “stringers,” typing in each pitch and the results of an at-bat to serve as live, in-game updates on minor league baseball’s website, MiLB.com.

They distribute official boxscores to each team’s clubhouse postgame and ask if either manager or any of his coaches have questions on hit/error rulings.

“Getting to meet guys like Joe Mauer, Jake Mauer, Tommy Watkins, Paul Molitor, that’s something,” Meyer said. “Watching Paul Molitor destroy Shane one night after a game.”

Here comes one of those stories. Hall of famer Molitor was in town as a roving instructor for the Minnesota Twins one night, sitting in the manager’s office when Meyer and Severson walked in to hand off boxes.

“Shane tells him ‘It’s not every day you get to meet somebody who played 19 years in the big leagues,’” said Meyer, with a wry smile. “Molitor shoots right back at him ‘It was 21.’ And I mean, it was immediate.”

They both laugh at that memory.

“Luis Arraez is the only player who learned Steve and mine’s names,” said Severson, referring to the Miami Marlins second baseman whose batting average was hovering right around that magical .400 mark going into the weekend. “When he was going for the Midwest League batting title here (in 2016), he’d be like ‘Steve and Shane. Hit or error? Hit or error?’ And he barely spoke English at that time.”

More laughter. This is a fun job, after all, an unnoticed job.

The Kernels employ people who float around and perform these necessary tasks: scorer, stringer, scoreboard operator and pitch-clock operator. That latter one is a new position, as Major League Baseball (which runs the minor leagues) has instituted a pitch clock into games to make them go quicker and smoother.

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Pitchers must throw a pitch in a certain amount of time depending if there are baserunners on or not, and hitters must be in the batter’s box and ready to hit in a certain amount of time. The time between innings also is closely monitored.

Violations are officially recorded.

“It was a little difficult at first, but I did watch an instructional video which helped,” said Brian Martin of Cedar Rapids, one of the pitch-clock guys. “Yeah, the first couple of times were a little rough. But I’d talk to the umpires before and after games, and they’d give me comments that would help.”

Communicating with umpires is done during games via a walky talky. If the pitch clock needs to be reset or something like that.

Martin and his fellow pitch-clockers, if you will, visit with umps before and after each game.

“Before the game, it’s usually about if there are any changes that night. To maybe try and smooth any potential rough edges,” Martin said. “Things that maybe other people do differently. After the game, it’s talking about the game, and if there was anything they saw.

“I’ll record it, write it down if there were penalties or anything, then I’ll file a report at the end of the night via my phone.”

Metro Studios of Cedar Rapids is in charge of the in-game scoreboard video presentation. They’ve been around since the newer Veterans Memorial Stadium was built and opened in 2002.

The scoreboard operator works with Metro to make sure lineups are correct and player statistics are constantly updated on the scoreboard as the game progresses, things like that. MLB has split up the scorer, scoreboard and stringer duties this season, meaning there are three people co-habitating in the scorer’s booth instead of two.

The pitch-clock person sits in the main area of the press box next to a reporter and the parent Minnesota Twins TrackMan computer system operator.

“These positions are important for a couple of reasons,” said Logan Larson, Baseball Operations Manager for the Kernels.

He is in charge of the off-field workers, making sure the four spots are filled for each game.

“First, being it helps relay information to the fans who are at the game, as well as watching from home,” Larson said. “The boxscores people rely on come from these guys. Second, the data they input the Twins use to help players get better. In today's game, you can never have enough information. Our Technology Coordinator Jeremy Miranda and our hitting and pitching coaches all use it to help our players improve.”

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“People don’t really know what all it takes to put on a baseball game,” Severson said. “There are a lot of things, just look at Metro next door. People don’t know what it takes to put on a show, because that’s basically what it is: a show. Could you play without us? Yes. But you wouldn’t have a functioning scoreboard. Could you play without Al and Amber Schmidt at Metro? Yeah. But you wouldn’t have all the entertainment, the replays, the video.”

The off-field workers get a free ballpark meal from the Kernels and nominal pay. But for most, if not all of them, it’s about something else.

Being involved in a game they adore.

“I love baseball,” Severson said. “What other sport do you have a chance to see something you’ve never seen on any given night? I’ve been here, what, 15 or 16 years, and there’s still plenty of stuff I’ve never seen.”

“This keeps me connected to the game,” Meyer said. “I’ve been involved in baseball one way or another since I was about 5 years old. From playing little league to playing through high school, then slow-pitch softball, coaching my kids through their little league years, naming my son Nolan (after Nolan Ryan). Then umpiring high school for 10 or 11 years. About the time when umpiring baseball wasn’t fun, this job opened up.

“It was like ‘That works.’”

Meyer said another perk of doing what he does is literally seeing tomorrow’s major league stars today, as the old minor league slogan states.

“It’s been a ton of fun to sit up here and watch the Byron Buxtons, the Luiz Arraezs, all the kids that we could tell when they were here were going to be somebody,” he said. “Even on the other bench, the other team, watching them play for six days in a row, watching kids like (Cincinnati Reds rookie sensation) Elly De La Cruz, you can just tell.”

“You know, there gets to be a point where you’re thinking about how many guys on my fantasy baseball team I have seen play here.”

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