Baseball and Bobbleheads

A large number of Springfield baseball fans attended a ballgame in Mankato Thursday evening when the Mankato MoonDogs played the Willmar Stingers.

Springfield’s Sam Baier, the son of Randy and Amy Baier, was playing for the Willmar Stingers.

Springfield native son, Jeff Lang, aka Stunt Monkey, was selling beer.  Lang, son of Ken and Gwen Lang, is a disc jockey at Radio Station KDOG —  Hot 96.7 Mankato’s Hit Music.  He’s on the air from noon to 6 p.m. weekdays, and is Promotions and Intern Director.

And, it was Bobblehead Night.  The Mankato MoonDogs and Chris Willaert Agency were handing out those little collectible dolls with oversized heads that nod, nod and nod.   There was a Bobblehead recognizing Stunt Monkey Lang, No. 249.  (For those who wonder what is the meaning of 249 — 2 beers for $9).

 Lang had joined the Hot 96.7 FM morning show in 2007, having worked in other capacities with Minnesota Valley Broadcasting and Radio Mankato for a few years beforehand. He’d become known for doing pranks and stunts on the air, such as trick-or-treating at 7 a.m. on Halloween (which funnily enough resulted in the cops being called).

 And after all of Lang’s shenanigans, somebody called into the station and said, “How about you guys call him Stunt Monkey?”  The name stuck!

 Having been with the station 14 years, Lang now is in charge of all Radio Mankato promotions. He’s a familiar face in Mankato, including serving as the “beer man” at Mankato MoonDogs games.

The Moon Dogs continued their late-season surge with an impressive 4-1 win over the Willmar Stingers before a crowd of 1,622 in Franklin Rogers Park.  Local fans weren’t disappointed, however;  they had seen a good ballgame with some good plays by Baier, and they were there for the fun of celebrating with the Stunt Monkey.