Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK
Caitlin Clark Creates Buzz During Appearance at Iowa Cubs Game
In this story:
It’s possible that one of the best crowds the Iowa Cubs get all season will be because of a women’s basketball player and not the Chicago Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate.
Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark did a meet-and-greet for the Iowa Cubs before their game on Saturday against Columbus. The 6:05 p.m. game drew more than 10,000 people, many of which reached the stadium well before the game.
How early? According to KCCI in Des Moines, the line started assembling at 6:30 a.m. outside of Principal Park, nearly 12 hours before first pitch. The line ended up wrapping around the entire ballpark.
Some weren’t coming just to meet Clark. Some also came for the chance to get a Clark bobblehead, which featured her taking a shot while standing on a Iowa Cubs logo.
Clark, who went to Dowling Catholic before going to Iowa, greeted fans at a table inside Principal Park and signed autographs wearing an Iowa Cubs jersey, with her name and her basketball number on the back.
In between autograph sessions, she threw out the first pitch.
Why in between autograph sessions? The meet-and-greet was scheduled from 5-6:30 p.m. With first pitch set for 6:05, Clark had to race out to throw the first pitch and then race back to wrap up the meet-and-greet.
According to WHO-TV, Clark did a similar meet-and-greet after her freshman year with the Hawkeyes. It wasn’t quite as crowded.
Clark was the National Player of the Year last season in leading the Iowa Hawkeyes all the way to the National Championship Game before losing to LSU in Dallas. Clark opted to return to the Hawkeyes for another season instead of moving on to the WNBA.
