The Cincinnati Reds are the closest Major League Baseball team to Johnson County, and they got a little closer on Thursday.
More than 600 students packed the gymnasium at Creekside Elementary School where they got to hear from players, broadcasters and a member of the Reds Hall of Fame, who answered pre-selected questions as part of a five-state tour.
Relief pitcher Amir Garrett, utility player and Indiana native Josh VanMeter, prospect Jonathan India, broadcasters Jim Day and Jeff Piecoro and Vice President of Player Development Shawn Pender all talked to students, threw out foam balls and took pictures with the crowd of children, who wore red and shrieked with delight.
Principal Mark Heiden applied for the Reds Caravan to visit Creekside after East Side Elementary School scored a visit last January. Last week, he learned Creekside would be hosting a caravan stop, he said.
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“It’s awesome to have professional athletes come by,” Heiden said.
The Reds were split into four different groups, visiting Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee between Thursday and Saturday. The group that visited Creekside will also make public appearances in Evansville, Indianapolis and Batesville over the weekend.
Day recalled the excitement of going to Reds games as a child and hoped the visit could instill some of the same excitement in the students at Creekside and entice them to go to games, he said.
“I grew up a Big Red Machine fan, and some of my earliest memories in life were going to Riverfront Stadium as a wide-eyed kid. I just idolized the players,” Day said, referring to the team’s nickname from decades prior.
“I hope it’s the same way for kids now the first time they go to Great American Ballpark.”
Indiana is special to VanMeter, who grew up near Fort Wayne. Meeting someone who plays in the major leagues may help inspire some of the students to follow their dreams, VanMeter said.
“It’s pretty cool. There’s not many guys from Indiana in the big leagues,” VanMeter said. “(I’d tell them) just to pursue their dreams and goals. When I was a kid growing up, I told everyone I wanted to be a Major League baseball player and it sounds far-fetched, but everyone can do it, just work hard and truly love what you’re doing.”
Having a positive experience meeting the Reds may make the children Reds fans for life, Garrett said.
“Hopefully they’ll be lifelong Reds fans and they’ll love us forever.”
