Bill Murray, Terry D'Arcy Go To Prison And They're Smiling: 14 Photos From Joliet's Big House Ballgame

JOLIET, IL — Hollywood film star and co-owner of the Joliet Slammers Bill Murray made the rounds on Thursday afternoon participating in one of Joliet's greatest events ever: the Big House Ballgame. The Joliet Slammers played the Gateway Grizzlies of St. Louis in a Frontier League preseason game at the world-famous Old Joliet Prison, the same setting as the 1980 movie, "Blues Brothers."

Murray posed for countless photos with fans young and old throughout the afternoon and he was his typical jovial self. As you can see in the photo above, moments before Joliet Patch captured his photograph with Joliet Mayor Terry D'Arcy, Murray turned his beer koozie for Joliet State Representative Larry Walsh Jr. upside down.

Murray was not the only celebrity in the house. Lockport native and Chicago Cubs radio broadcaster Ron Coomer was on hand, talking baseball with the broadcasting team for the Joliet Slammers contest. Coomer was also the featured speaker at January's Will County Old Timers Baseball Banquet.

Despite steady rains that arrived about an hour into the game, the game continued. Thursday's Big House Ballgame was conceived by Joliet Slammers executive Night Train Veeck and Greg Peerbolte of the Joliet Area Historical Museum to coincide with the 100-year anniversary of Historic Route 66.

The Big House Ballgame featured musical performances from Billy Branch and Cheryl Youngblood and Youngblood also performed the National Anthem.

"This is a big day. This is going to be another big thing putting us on the map," Joliet Mayor Terry D'Arcy told Patch's editor. "We were one of five cities chosen to kick off the 100th anniversary of Route 66. You know, people all over the world are going to recognize that we're really on that train to go see it so. And sometimes, I'm walking through the city and I run into people from Germany, Italy and Poland and they're here to visit on Route 66. But this is really big for Joliet, it's exciting for the community. Everybody came together, volunteers, the historical museum, the Slammers, it's just been really good for the city."

Joliet Patch asked if D'Arcy ever thought Joliet would be the setting for a professional game inside the Old Joliet Prison in 2026. "Some of the volunteers here said they played softball against them 45 years ago, so it's really cool to bring it back."

D'Arcy said he his thrilled with the new ownership team of Mike Veeck, Bill Murray and Nighttrain Veeck for the Joliet Slammers. This begins their third season in Joliet.

"They've just brought so much energy to the team and community and just having Bill Murray walking around here among us, he's a cool guy," D'Arcy remarked.

As for the importance of Thursday's Big House Ballgame at the Old Joliet Prison, Mayor D'Arcy had this to say: "When you take a look at the revitalization of this part of the prison property, those small revitalizations are happening all over the community. You look at City Center Square and things like this, so we continue to grow on doing new things."