Last Saturday, Illinois baseball fans packed the Illinois Conference Center for the 2025 Hot Stove Banquet. In a lot of ways, the Hot Stove Banquet has traditionally been the kickoff event for the Illinois baseball season. It gives fans a chance to see who is on the team and for the players to see the support they have.
And boy, there was a lot of support! Nearly 600 supporters filled the hall in the conference center. They were introduced to each of the players and their rousing (?) version of our fight song.
Just kidding, they sounded about as good as every other squad. That’s okay. You’re there to play ball.
Attendees also heard keynote speaker Sean Casey who was a hard-hitting first baseman who had his greatest years with the Cincinnati Reds. Casey had plenty of entertaining stories to tell. I had a chance to talk to him beforehand and understand why he was named the “friendliest man in baseball”. He made the effort to come down the steps of the dais to speak with me and gave me a few minutes of his precious time.
After Casey spoke, we saw a familiar figure at the banquet. Big Mike Namoff and his crew from Mega Events facilitated a successful auction. Not only does that raise dollars for the program, Mike is quite entertaining.
Coach Dan Hartleb pulled another Hot Stove Banquet off. He did give kudos to Director of Baseball Operations Allyson O’Herron for all her help. I saw Allyson plenty of times during the evening and she was quite busy pulling things together.
My photos from the evening are up in the IBR photo gallery.
Only 17 days till opening game! Oh by the way players, don’t forget you’re here to study, too!