Casey Keown is an Evansville entrepreneur, restaurant owner, sports memorabilia collector, and community figure best known as the founder and owner of Casey’s Dugout, a baseball-themed restaurant on Lincoln Avenue.
A graduate of Reitz Memorial High School and lifelong baseball fan, Keown is particularly known for his extensive collection of memorabilia related to Evansville native and New York Yankees legend Don Mattingly. He has also collected and preserved signs and artifacts from former Evansville restaurants, businesses, and sports institutions.
Before entering the restaurant business, Keown founded and operated the Evansville lawn-care company Grass Kickers.
Early Life
Keown grew up in Evansville near Lincoln Avenue and Reitz Memorial High School.
He attended Reitz Memorial High School, where he participated in baseball, basketball, and football. Sports, particularly baseball, remained an important interest throughout his life.
Keown’s older brother, Clint Keown, became one of the most prominent multi-sport athletes in Reitz Memorial history, later playing basketball at the University of Evansville and professional baseball in the Montreal Expos organization.
Don Mattingly Superfan
One of Keown’s most recognizable interests is his lifelong admiration for Don Mattingly.
Keown grew up watching Mattingly, another Reitz Memorial graduate, become one of Major League Baseball’s biggest stars as first baseman for the New York Yankees during the 1980s and 1990s.
He began collecting Mattingly memorabilia when he was young and continued building the collection throughout his adult life.
The collection eventually grew to include baseball equipment, photographs, documents, signs, uniforms, and other items connected with Mattingly’s career.
Keown has publicly described himself as one of the biggest Don Mattingly fans in Evansville.
Much of his collection is now publicly displayed inside Casey’s Dugout.
Grass Kickers
Keown entered the Evansville business community through the lawn-care industry.
In 2015, he founded Grass Kickers, a lawn-care and landscaping company serving the Evansville area.
Keown operated the business for approximately nine years before selling it in 2024.
The sale allowed him to concentrate on a longtime goal of opening his own restaurant.
Casey’s Dugout
Keown opened Casey’s Dugout at 2900 Lincoln Avenue in 2024 with business partner Kyle Fields.
The restaurant combines several of Keown’s longtime interests: pizza, baseball, Evansville sports, Don Mattingly, and local history.
Keown grew up around Evansville pizza restaurants such as The Slice, Steve’s Una Pizza, and Turoni’s, and had long considered opening a restaurant of his own.
Casey’s Dugout was created inside a former optometrist’s office that was extensively remodeled before opening.
The restaurant’s interior is filled with baseball memorabilia, much of it from Keown’s personal collection.
Don Mattingly and Casey’s Dugout
Keown’s admiration for Mattingly eventually developed into a personal and charitable relationship.
Mattingly participated in events surrounding the opening of Casey’s Dugout and has returned to the restaurant for charitable events.
One of the restaurant’s signature pizzas, The Hitman, is named after Mattingly and features sausage, mushrooms, and extra cheese.
Keown later became a board member of Mattingly Charities, an Evansville-based nonprofit supporting educational, social development, and athletic programs for underserved youth.
Casey’s Dugout has hosted fundraising events for the organization and sold merchandise benefiting Mattingly Charities.
Evansville Memorabilia
In addition to baseball memorabilia, Keown has collected and displayed artifacts from former Evansville businesses and institutions.
Casey’s Dugout contains items connected with Mattingly’s 23, Midget Links, Paul’s Tavern, Harpole’s Main Street Exit, East Little League, and other pieces of Evansville history.
The collection has given Casey’s Dugout an informal secondary role as a display space for local memorabilia.
Sir Beef Sign
One of Keown’s most recognizable acquisitions is the enormous original sign from Sir Beef, the former Evansville roast beef restaurant on South Green River Road.
The approximately 14-foot-tall sign survived after Sir Beef closed and was eventually stored at AbyssCo in Evansville.
Keown learned that the sign still existed and purchased it in 2024.
It was subsequently mounted on the exterior of Casey’s Dugout, returning one of Evansville’s distinctive former restaurant signs to public view.
The acquisition became representative of Keown’s interest in preserving pieces of Evansville businesses that might otherwise disappear.
Community Involvement
Keown has used Casey’s Dugout as a gathering place for local sports fans and community events.
His work with Mattingly Charities has included fundraising events and promotions benefiting underserved children in the Evansville area.
Keown has also remained closely connected with the Reitz Memorial community.
Among those connections was his friendship with longtime Memorial sports supporter Sam Schulz, whose enthusiastic support of Memorial athletics made him a recognizable figure in the school’s sports community.
Evansville Connection
Keown’s public profile in Evansville combines entrepreneurship, sports fandom, community involvement, and an interest in preserving local history.
His collection of Don Mattingly memorabilia began as a childhood hobby before becoming a publicly accessible collection. His interest in old Evansville businesses similarly developed into a growing collection of signs and artifacts displayed at Casey’s Dugout.
Through those efforts, Keown has helped preserve physical reminders of several Evansville institutions while creating a business closely connected with the city’s sports culture.