Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) -Warm days, clear skies, a cold beverage, and a few hotdogs! Summertime Baseball is back! Jamie Toole, Chief Storyteller of the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes, stopped by the WTAX Morning Newswatch to discuss the upcoming season, and also the acquisition of the Decatur Bean Ballers team.

With two new teams being on the horizon in Illinois, one in Decatur, and one in Springfield. What’s the goal?

“I think from my perspective, trying to create efficiencies in travel costs when we lost Quincy a couple of years ago, that was really devastating to a lot of teams that commute to Quincy. Summer ball is really better for commuter trips and not those long bus trips and overnights and, you know, I saw several shoes fans over last night at Decatur, and I anticipate when they come here, you’ll see Decatur fans come into Springfield. So, we enjoy it. You know, we’ve said, our mission statement is baseball’s our platform, not our purpose, the purpose is to use baseball to bring people together, having a good time, cold beverages, warm hot dogs. Maybe forgetting all the things that divide us and focusing on some of the things that bring us together.”

We’re in the opening week of both teams, what’s the process like? are you stressed?

“Summer ball is kind of like three different time periods. There’s the first week where everybody is figuring out who actually showed up from the roster they signed. In that first seven to ten days, is where you get acclimated to what you have, and then that next 30 days is, if you could try to win the first half and get a home playoff, that would be the win-win scenario. But about 10 days in, you know what you have, and I really love our manager this year. He’s back from 2024. I know our kids are going to play hard and they’re going to compete, and that’s a fun feeling. “

With the process of finding a team that mends together and plays well together, what are all things that have changed of the process?

“Some of the things like NIL and the transfer portal, they’ve led to a lot of summer roster turnover in the old days, 10 years ago, you sign with the summer ball team, you played the whole season, and you went back to school. Now you might have a guy for a week or ten days or, you know, even less, because a lot of the kids are looking to get into four-year schools and some of the kids that are in the portal are looking to find a new home, and when they find that home, it’s not like, hey, I’ll see you in August. They want them on campus immediately.”