‘It’s a new tradition’: Hot Stove Social helps Quincy Baseball Club build buzz for summer return

QUINCY — Jamie Toole could feel the buzz.

“It’s the energy, the smiles, the baseball stories,” Toole said.

All are signs the Quincy Baseball Club, which will play its inaugural season in the Prospect League this summer, is on its way to a successful, fun-filled first season.

The franchise hosted its first-ever event Tuesday — a Hot Stove Social featuring special guest Pat Hughes, the Chicago Cubs radio play-by-play voice for the last 29 years — at the Dick Brothers Brewery in Quincy, where the 93 attendees were treated to a meet-and-greet with Hughes complete with autograph and photo opportunities, dinner and a Q&A session with Hughes that lasted an hour and a half.

“For our first event, I was so proud to have a full house, a good venue,” said Toole, the president and chief storyteller for Golden Rule Entertainment, Quincy Baseball Club’s parent company. “It’s hard to top Pat Hughes, too. I was thinking about that while he was talking, like, ‘Who are we going to get next year?’ It’s a new tradition, and that’s one of my favorite things, too. We get to start new traditions that people will look forward to.”

Among those in attendance were lifelong Quincy native Jim Cramsey, who brought along his grandsons Mason and Maddux, the latter of whom is named after Baseball Hall of Famer and former Cubs pitcher Greg Maddux.

“They’re both true Cubs fans,” Cramsey said of his grandsons. “We’ve been to spring training a couple times out in Arizona, so we’ve met Pat Hughes a time or two. He’s never dry. He’s always got a story, and we love to listen to him speak.”

Cramsey is optimistic about the Quincy Baseball Club’s ability to establish a foothold in the community.

“I’m very much looking forward to the success of this endeavor,” Cramsey said. “We’re really excited baseball is coming back to Quincy. We’ll be at the games.”

Cramsey’s connection to baseball in Quincy dates back to the 1960s when his brother, Jeff Cramsey, was a bat boy for the Quincy Cubs, the Chicago Cubs’ Class A affiliate that played in the Midwest League from 1965-73 at what was then called Q-Stadium  — now QU Stadium, where the Quincy Baseball Club will call home.

“Quincy is just a good baseball town,” Cramsey said.

Quincy Baseball Club manager Brad Gyorkos, also a lifelong Cubs fan, thoroughly enjoyed hearing Hughes’ stories from more than 40 years as an MLB announcer.

“He’s the best,” Gyorkos said. “I’ve been listening to him since I first started listening to the radio. He’s a steel trap, too, isn’t he? He remembers everything. It’s unbelievable.”

Gyorkos, who is also the baseball coach at Culver-Stockton College, can sense the anticipation and excitement Quincy has for the return of summer baseball.

“It’s right around the corner,” Gyorkos said. “We’re putting the team together at the moment. It can’t get here quickly enough. We’re really excited.”

Gyorkos was the manager for the Quincy Gems in 2022 and 2023, their final seasons in Quincy before they ceased operations and Full Count Ministries of Henderson, Tenn., purchased the team. Last summer, Gyorkos was the skipper for the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes, which is also owned by Golden Rule Entertainment.

“You don’t get many opportunities to get another crack at it,” Gyorkos said. “Last time we were here, we lost a championship game, and now here we are for a second go. It’s kind of surreal.”

During Tuesday’s festivities, the club announced Brendan Saak, a 2018 Quincy University graduate who played baseball and football for the Hawks, as its general manager. After graduating with his bachelor’s degree in sport management, Saak was a graduate assistant in the QU athletic communications department before becoming the department’s director in July 2020, where he stayed until Dec. 2021.

After working at Catawba College, Saak took a position at Davidson College as the assistant director of athletic communications. Saak will officially join the Quincy Baseball Club in March.

“(Saak) is extremely organized,” said Tim Hoker, a 2000 QU graduate who runs the Quincy Baseball Club and is a member of the Golden Rule Entertainment team. “He’s got a social media mind. He’s ready to blow it up on social media and help us organize and make sure we’re getting out to all the demographics. He’s a leader, too. He’s over there at Davidson College, and he’s got 15 people working for him, and he’s doing a fantastic job. We’re excited to bring him here.”

Toole was equally excited about bringing Saak on board.

“He’s a great guy, good energy,” Toole said. “To get a guy who has some institutional knowledge of QU, cares about Quincy, lived here, went to school here, those are special ingredients. If you come in and you don’t really know, it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, this is a cool town. They’ve got a river, they’ve got this, they’ve got this,’ but these guys have lived here. It’s super helpful.”

The team also announced it will have a retail and office space at 2636 Broadway St — next to Little Caesar’s — with an unveiling and ribbon cutting coming in the near future.

“We’ll be here and active with the office space,” Toole said. “I’ll be here weekly. Tim will be here a significant amount. There will be a lot more movement that happens over the next couple weeks.”

The addition of Saak and the office and retail space are more pieces of the puzzle that is starting to come together in a clear, beautiful picture.

“I can tell you right now, the perception from Quincy has been off the charts, way more positive than we ever imagined, and that’s awesome because we kind of know what’s coming next, and I think it’s going to resonate really well,” Toole said.

Hoker can feel the momentum building, too.

“We’re taking off,” Hoker said.