I-Cubs honor longtime reporter

Longtime Des Moines Register sports writer and columnist Randy Peterson (no relation) was recently asked to throw out the first pitch at an Iowa Cubs game.

It was presented to him Aug. 13 as an honor for his 52-year career at the Register that began when the Des Moines native was working there as a Drake University student. In the latter part of his career, Peterson was primarily known for his coverage of the Iowa Cubs and the Iowa State University Cyclones.

Peterson had many other duties during his tenure before retiring last spring to his lake home in Okoboji. I first met him at a track meet in Ankeny that Creston was participating in during the late 1980s. Peterson moved on from covering preps to the beats of Iowa State and the Iowa Hawkeyes, often alternating with my friend Rick Brown before Brown settled in as the Hawkeye reporter and Peterson handled the Cyclone beat.

What Peterson didn’t know about the first pitch ceremony was that something special was planned beyond just throwing the pitch. To honor the decades of coverage he’s provided to central Iowa sports, the I-Cubs officially named the stadium’s press box after the longtime sportswriter. They even declared Diet Coke — Peterson’s favorite — the “official soft drink of the Randy Peterson Press Box.”

There are two Creston connections to management in the Iowa Cubs. Sam Bernabe, who played baseball at Southwestern Community College under legendary coach Bill Krejci, is the I-Cubs president and general manager. Creston native Jeff Tilley is the vice president/director of stadium operations and has supervised many interns from Creston and the surrounding area, including our son Brett.

I was pleased to see them honor Randy Peterson in this way. Randy was one of those dedicated reporters who gathered background and information by hanging out around the bullpen and clubhouse hours before the game, and typing immediate stories and follow-ups long after the final pitch in the press box now bearing his name.

An illustration of Peterson was created by Mark Marturello for Randy Peterson Night at Principal Park. It will hang in the press box.

“It’s beyond belief,” Peterson said of the honor.

In listening to some of the interviews done with Peterson in the days following the ceremony, I was reminded of how much this industry has changed in the era that we have both worked. (Randy got an eight-year head start on me when he wrote his first byline story in 1972.)

The print product was king then. That’s how people got their news. There was no internet until the 1990s, and we were well into our careers by then. We worked in film photography until digital cameras and computerized editing software was introduced in the early 2000s.

All of the developments have made the job easier, and faster. But, we now have additional duties like tweeting updates between plays and shooting video clips. I share Randy’s opinion that we have better things we could be doing, like making notes for the postgame interviews to come, or quick researching of a record pertaining to the game.

But, instant update messaging and videos or photos presented online in real time have become the norm of our instant news culture, so you adapt or you step aside.

Some things haven’t changed all that much. Readers still want a good story about the team or the players they follow. They want us to perform in the watchdog role, holding those in leadership accountable for problems that arise. They appreciate thought-provoking columns.

Randy and I both earned our stripes by learning the fundamentals of journalism from the ground up, paying dues under older mentors and working on news or legal reports to learn more about how society officiates real life.

Now, there are many online fan sites that employ kids right out of college on the major Power Five university beats without that mentorship period. I wonder if they can grow and learn as we did under some tough love in the early years.

When a coach tried intimidation tactics, outraged fans tried to hurt us with angry letters, or a parent cried foul about something in a report, we had older supervisors who had years of experience telling us how to put your head down and keep working. Let the noise roll off your back.

While so much has changed, Randy and so many others of us have loved it for a long time. “After 52 years you don’t just shut it off,” Randy said, admitting plans for some podcasting or occasional writing during retirement.

I’ve done the same, but in taking three weeks off recently I realized it would be wise at this stage to back off a bit. Health can bite you in old age and time is a valuable commodity.

I’m happy for Randy that he decided to step back and enjoy life at a slower pace. He’s earned it. Kudos to Sam Bernabe and other others at Principal Park for recognizing an icon of our industry.

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Contact the writer:

Email: malachy.lp@gmail.com

X: @larrypeterson