Illinois Baseball Fans Rally To Help Team After They’re Robbed

Something you will often hear about from people who live in Illinois relates to crime. It's as if people forget crime is everywhere, especially in cities with hundreds of thousands of residents. Unfortunately, a collegiate summer baseball team in Illinois experienced this firsthand.

.Rockford Rivets and the Northwoods League debuted in Rockford in 2016. Local businesses and the community heavily support the team. The league itself is a collegiate wooden bag league where unpaid players and family in the area volunteer to host the players, providing a safe place to stay when the team isn't traveling.

The team's equipment is essential, that goes without saying. It's also a league that isn't bringing in millions of dollars on a single gameday for the teams. The last thing the Rivers or any team should have to worry about is their equipment being stolen. That is exactly what happened recently. It didn't happen in Loves Park, Rockford, or anywhere in Illinois.

Last night while we were in our hotel in Battle Creek Michigan, our bus was robbed. Our gear, uniforms, and equipment was [sic] taken from all 30 guys on our team. Any donation is greatly appreciated and will help us in getting new equipment for our game tonight against the Kalamazoo Growlers and rest of our playoff run.

Somewhere in Michigan, likely the Battle Creek area has a ton of equipment and jerseys that are useless to them. Rockford, Michigan is an hour and a half north of the area of the crime. It would be the dumbest move in the world to see Rockford Rivets' gear on Facebook Marketplace but criminals aren't always smart.

Rockford Rivets launched a GoFundMe campaign.

The team shared that message on social media this weekend in hopes of raising $10,000 to replace all the stolen items. In true Rockford-area fashion, the team surpassed its $10k goal.

The team's General Manager told me they are still figuring out everything related to the stolen goods and assessing all the details.