Pinto, Veecks make a successful combination for the Slammers

Combining the most successful on-field leader in Frontier League baseball history and the first family of off-the-field fun and entertainment was bound to be combustible.

And the final Friday of May exemplified the excitement Mike Pinto and Night Train Veeck want to bring to downtown Joliet on summer nights.

Pinto, who spent a significant part of life in the Northwest suburbs, is back in the independent league game as the manager of the Joliet Slammers after an unplanned two-year hiatus. Veeck, the grandson of iconic Hall of Fame baseball executive Bill, is in his first year leading the Slammers’ ownership group with his dad, Mike, and famed actor Bill Murray.

Cary-Grove graduate Drew Stengren proved to be the Slammers’ knight in shining armor on “Princess Night” when his pinch-hit RBI single capped a 2-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning of an 8-7 victory over Lake Erie.

“I don’t remember a walk-off like that,” said Pinto, who won a league-record 770 games in 14 seasons in charge of the independent league Southern Illinois Miners.

Especially with the fireworks bursting in the air for a big crowd of nearly 4,500 at Joliet’s Duly Health and Care Field. Not a bad way to finish a night where players wore special “Prince Charming” jerseys and fans dressed as princesses with wands and tiaras got to mingle with performers and take pictures with Disney princesses.

“Of all the nights to have a fairy tale ending this was the most appropriate one,” said Night Train Veeck, who is also the Slammers’ executive vice president of sales and marketing.

Finding the right way in Joliet

Mike Pinto’s love of music actually outweighed his love of baseball when he was at Elk Grove High School, as he told legendary Daily Herald columnist Burt Constable in 2013. Music is still a big part of his life and he is the drummer in San Antonio Transit, the rock group Chicago tribute band that received the San Antonio Country and Rock Music “Best Tribute Band” Award in May.

Baseball returned to the forefront for Pinto about 40 years ago as a player and coach of his sons, Mike and Steve, in youth baseball in Schaumburg. Pinto became a successful assistant and head coach at Oakton College and got into pro ball as a coach with the then-Joliet JackHammers in 2002. That led to a two-year stint as an independent league manager in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Then came the opportunity to lead the Southern Illinois Miners in Marion, about five hours south of downtown Chicago on Interstate 57. Pinto developed “The Miners Way” that led to seven playoff trips, four division titles, a Frontier League championship and only one losing season from 2007-21.

But after the final season, the Miners’ owners wanted to retire, and with no suitable buyers the franchise disbanded. Pinto kept his eye on other opportunities from his San Antonio home with his wife, Lynne.

“I missed the dugout, the clubhouse, the guys and the relationships with the players,” Pinto said. “Relationships meant the world to me and I missed that.”

One of those relationships went back to Sioux Falls where Mike Veeck was a part-owner. Pinto was intrigued when the Veecks and Murray became majority owners in Joliet this winter.

“I knew the kind of job Mike has done and I’ve seen Night Train and what they’re trying to do down there,” Pinto said. “I wouldn’t have come back to just any situation.”

Night Train Veeck, who is named after NFL Hall of Fame defensive back Night Train Lane, had some familiarity with Pinto’s baseball background. In mid-January, Veeck had Pinto on board to build a winner not only on the field but also in the Joliet community.

“He’s the perfect guy for this,” Veeck said. “He understands both sides of the business — the on-field and baseball aspect, and off the field and what we can control outside the white lines. We needed somebody who could come in quickly and be able to build this to the team they’re at now.”

Blending fun and winning

Night Train Veeck, who worked for the White Sox for seven years, joked that the Bill Murray bobblehead giveaway for Saturday night’s home game with Evansville allows him to “finally get 1,500 of them out of my office.” Veeck said he wasn’t sure if Murray would be at the game because of his schedule.

“He has been out a couple of times and he loved it,” Veeck said.

The Slammers endured a two-week road trip in June and have played a Frontier League-low 18 home games as of Wednesday. But their attendance average of 2,499 was fifth among 16 teams and up 246 a game from last year. The Schaumburg Boomers lead the league in attendance at 4,575 a game.

Veeck is continuing the family tradition of making sure the experience brings fans back for more.

“It’s a great park and a really fun place in downtown,” Veeck said. “We just needed more people shouting from the rooftops that the Slammers are here and they’re fun. What we really have to bring in is the entertainment component.”

Pinto is doing his part on the field. The Slammers, who were 22-26 after losing to Evansville 6-2 on Thursday, inherited only five players from last year. One of them, Neuqua Valley product and pitcher Ricky Castro, was signed by the Minnesota Twins organization in late May and is 3-1 with a 4.29 ERA in six games for Class A Fort Myers.

“It’s a bittersweet thing when they go,” said Pinto, who typically had 13 to 17 players back each year with the Miners. “In the end I want to be an organization that has the reputation of developing guys and sending them along.”

So Pinto makes sure his team plays the game right and “you run a hard 90 (feet) or you’re gonna sit.” He believes they have the best analytics team in independent baseball and their pregame preparation and in-game approach mirrors major-league affiliates.

Five pitchers he managed went from the Miners to the majors — nine-year veteran Tanner Roark, Brandon Cunniff, Clay Zavada, Nick Duron and Bubby Rossman. Willowbrook graduate Chris Roycroft (Cardinals) and Tyler Jay (Mets) are Slammers alums from the previous two seasons who have pitched in the majors this year.

Pinto said he is approaching 70 players who have moved on to affiliated ball. Others are coaching professionally or collegiately or working in various capacities.

“For the players the dream is still alive in them, where you hope and pray if you do this well and dominate the league, maybe someday you could be in the big leagues,” Pinto said. “Guys still at this age come to the ballpark and they’re hungry. They come in and they aren’t jaded by the game.”

Neither is Pinto in his new chapter with the Veeck family. He described it in a way that evoked Mike Veeck’s “The Saint of Second Chances,” a Netflix documentary that profiled the twists and turns of his life and career in baseball from Disco Demolition with the White Sox to redemption with the St. Paul Saints in Minnesota.

“I’m proud to be part of it and appreciative of them,” Pinto said, “I appreciate them giving me a second chance to do my own version of Bruce Bochy.”

Bochy came back from a three-year hiatus to win a fourth World Series title last year with the Texas Rangers. Nothing would be better for Mike Pinto than making the Frontier League version happen in Joliet.