DES MOINES, Iowa — It has been a busy off-season for the Iowa Cubs. The old turf was ripped up and a new field was installed.

“We took the field out just as soon as the season was over, went down a couple feet re-leveled and repacked and re-did some drainage, re-did some irrigation work,” said Sam Bernabe, I-Cubs General Manager. “It was a big process, it went longer than I would’ve liked or planned, we were still placing sod in December so it was a little delayed from, from what we cared, but it worked out all right.”

The team had to special order drainage sand and outfield track material two years in advance. Now, the I-Cubs are ready to go.

“It’s the culmination of a lot of months of hard work for my staff and grinding to get through the winter and get snow off the field, and get the dust off the seats,” said Bernabe. “It’s a chance to wake the building up again and it’s just an exciting time for us.”

The team has a new radio play-by-play announcer. Jason Kempf comes to Des Moines after working several years as a play-by-play announcer for the Charleston SC River Dogs.

“This will be my 11th year and minor-league baseball just trying to chase the dream,” said Kempf. “I’ve been to the Quad Cities before here in Iowa, Dayton, Ohio, Wichita, Kansas and everywhere in between.”

Kempf said the past few years have helped him prepare to call games here in Des Moines.

“In Charleston the last few years we played Myrtle Beach, which is the Cubs Single A team so I saw a lot of the guys that are going be with us this year, two years ago when they were first getting started,” said Kempf. “They were 18 to 19 years old so when I took this job, I knew the kind of people that were going to be here.” 

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