By Mark Gregory
Editorial Director
@Hear_The_Beard
mark@buglenewspapers.com
In America, the average commute for someone to get to work is 26 minutes.
Joliet Slammers infielder Riley Krane found a way to shave off 25-and-a-half minutes off that average.
First-year Slammer Riley Krane lives in a trailer in the parking lot of DuPage Medical Group Field. (Photo by Mark Gregory)
That is because Krane lives at the ballpark.
Nestled in a parking lot on the first base side of DuPage Medical Group Field among the cars of the team management and the visiting umpires is a chrome and red trailer backed into a spot just off of Jefferson Street that Krane calls home.
“I have been in the league and have been in the apartments and the host families and that is all great, but I know myself and I like my own space and like doing my own thing, so I was like lets do this,” he said. “It has been great so far. If we have a 7:45 bus, I wake up at 7:35 and life is good.”
While he knew he wanted to live on his own this season, he wasn’t planning on living at the ballpark.
“The Slammers have been great. I didn’t even propose to stay here,” Krane said. “I was asking about camp sights near by or somewhere I could stay and they recommended that I stay at the stadium and I was on board for that. It has been fun. The guys come by and we hang out there in the parking lot. If you are playing ball, why not live here.”
Krane has been in the Frontier League for a couple years and is in his first season with the Slammers after being traded from the Windy City ThunderBolts in December.
This season, he is second on the team in average, hitting .270 for Joliet in a team-high 122 at bats in 31 games. He has team-best 33 hits, five doubles, two home runs, a team-leading 11 RBI and 13 runs scored.
Krane, a native of Evergreen, Colorado, played his college baseball at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, where he started 165 of his 172 games for the Ichabods and posted a .325 career batting average with 156 runs scored, 25 home runs, 139 runs batted in and 30 stolen bases.
Krane led Washburn in batting average (.315), runs (45), hits (63), home runs (13), RBIs (51) and slugging percentage (.595) his senior season. Krane ranks sixth in WU history in hits (219) and is among the top 10 in several other career categories.
He is enjoying his first season in Joliet with the Slammers — the defending Frontier League Champions.
“The energy is getting there. This is a new year and new team and it always takes some time to see what kind of a team you are going to be, but I think we have a good connection,” Krane said of his team. “When I was signed by Windy City, my first game in the league was here and (Slammers manager Jeff) Isom was the first guy I met in the league and I love playing for him and this group of guys is a great clubhouse and this is a great stadium.”