Latest / Aired Out / Brian Gallagher, President and General Manager of the Vermont Mountaineers

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Brian Gallagher, President and General Manager of the Vermont Mountaineers · Aired Out

0:18
Speaker 1: The fish, which bush in which bush in the trees?
1:27
Speaker 2: Sorry, Tuesday, the twenty first and thirty one degrees right
1:32
Speaker 2: now in Barry clouds ends sunshine both for the daytime
1:38
Speaker 2: high today we're looking at thirty five. But yeah, it is.
1:45
Speaker 2: It is a beautiful morning. I'm not and I'm looking
1:48
Speaker 2: out the window right now. I'm not seeing and there
1:50
Speaker 2: might be one up there, but I'm not seeing a
1:53
Speaker 2: cloud in the sky. It is blue. It is beautiful.
1:57
Speaker 2: Thirty five though tonight for the d time high. We're
2:02
Speaker 2: gonna get up to fifty fifty for the high tonight,
2:06
Speaker 2: thirty five for the low tonight. That's what I'm trying
2:09
Speaker 2: to say. Oh my god, Thursday fifty six and cloudy,
2:14
Speaker 2: and then Friday fifty five and partly cloudy. Good morning everybody.
2:20
Speaker 2: It is a pleasure to have you on. A big
2:24
Speaker 2: thanks to Joe Edson yesterday for coming on and chatting
2:31
Speaker 2: about life and having some fun with us and talking
2:34
Speaker 2: about being a beneficiary for this year's Bikers for Beth Ride.
2:41
Speaker 2: Third weekend in the month of May, which is going
2:46
Speaker 2: to be here soon. It is Tuesday. Don't forget five dollars.
2:51
Speaker 2: Tuesdays are back at the Capitol Theater in Montpillier. Skip
2:55
Speaker 2: the line, grab your tickets ahead FGB Theaters dot com
3:00
Speaker 2: for all showings, all movies. God finally got a chance
3:04
Speaker 2: to watch the new Marios movie Mario Brothers. This guy
3:10
Speaker 2: sitting next to me is just such a legend. He
3:16
Speaker 2: is the president, he's the general manager of the Vermont
3:20
Speaker 2: Mountaineers for a long time. How many years since the
3:25
Speaker 2: very beginning Brian Gallagher, Hey, thanks, j D appreciated And
3:30
Speaker 2: this is season what twenty four? Yeah, this is going
3:33
Speaker 2: on our twenty fourth year. It's a couple of years
3:36
Speaker 2: prior to that getting started with getting it organized with
3:39
Speaker 2: the group, and it just keeps growing every year.
3:42
Speaker 3: It's been a lot of fun. Had a little more
3:44
Speaker 3: hair back when we started this thing, and you know
3:46
Speaker 3: that happens. I guess brother, you have.
3:49
Speaker 2: You've worked so hard. Kudos to in a tip of
3:52
Speaker 2: the hat to your board. This is definitely not about
3:57
Speaker 2: one guy, right and the team and the players. This
4:00
Speaker 2: is about a lot of people.
4:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's the whole community. Our board of directors works
4:04
Speaker 3: twelve months of the year, you know, we meet every month,
4:06
Speaker 3: we do league meetings. Was a lot going on behind
4:08
Speaker 3: the scenes, So tip my cap to them. We've had
4:11
Speaker 3: a lot of great board members over twenty four years.
4:13
Speaker 3: Many have come and gone, and we always recruit new
4:16
Speaker 3: ones and they work really hard at it. There's it's
4:19
Speaker 3: been a good run for sure. And volunteers in the community,
4:22
Speaker 3: the host families, the whole thing has been a big,
4:26
Speaker 3: a big success because of that group.
4:27
Speaker 2: So one of them, in particular, Tim Bevans, what a
4:32
Speaker 2: solid dude he is.
4:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, Tim's Tim's been, as I think many people know,
4:37
Speaker 3: used to have banner shop in Mopelire and back in
4:39
Speaker 3: the day. We he started making our banners back in
4:43
Speaker 3: the day with him and his wife in small garage,
4:45
Speaker 3: and then it expanded and they did T shirts and
4:47
Speaker 3: everything else. And Tim was a board member for many
4:50
Speaker 3: years and he he's not on the board now, but
4:53
Speaker 3: he was and certainly is a big supporter of us
4:56
Speaker 3: and continues to do that to this day.
4:58
Speaker 2: Sure, sure, I you know, I don't know if you
5:02
Speaker 2: know this, but because I talk about it all the time,
5:05
Speaker 2: but I collect T shirts and drives my wife absolutely insane.
5:10
Speaker 2: I have a whole bunch of befans and sons, T shirts,
5:14
Speaker 2: vintage old stuff from the old days that are just
5:18
Speaker 2: incredibly inappropriate, but I love wearing them, you know.
5:22
Speaker 3: So sens a humor. I'm sure I can imagine with
5:26
Speaker 3: some of those T shirts are pretty funny ones, right, fantastic.
5:29
Speaker 2: Yes, we have a season that is right in front
5:34
Speaker 2: of us here. We see the signs adopt a Mountaineer.
5:38
Speaker 2: I see them everywhere. Yeah, what is that about.
5:41
Speaker 3: We have a host family program, Hannah Connors in charge
5:44
Speaker 3: of doing that, and it's just a matter we need
5:46
Speaker 3: forty beds. So people come in from all over the
5:49
Speaker 3: country for the summer to play ball here and we
5:52
Speaker 3: have to house them. It's really fairly simple. They just
5:56
Speaker 3: need an empty room with a bed in it. Typically,
5:59
Speaker 3: we feed dinner every night that they have games their
6:02
Speaker 3: home or away get fed by the team. We do
6:05
Speaker 3: a lot of team events during the year. They you know,
6:08
Speaker 3: they'll get breakfast there, maybe lunch once in a while,
6:10
Speaker 3: but many times they're going out for sandwich during lunchtime.
6:13
Speaker 3: But it's pretty simple. And again, the host families keep
6:17
Speaker 3: in touch with them throughout their time here and then beyond.
6:20
Speaker 3: I mean we have people that go down and visit
6:22
Speaker 3: them at college or when they make it to the
6:23
Speaker 3: pro ball or major leagues. All of a sudden, they're
6:25
Speaker 3: going to see them at their at their games, which
6:28
Speaker 3: is pretty fun. You know, we follow their career and
6:31
Speaker 3: they become part of your family for the summer. We're
6:33
Speaker 3: still and that's happened. Yeah, yeah, it's definitely. We've had
6:36
Speaker 3: twenty five guys make it to Major League Baseball. Manymore
6:39
Speaker 3: progress up through the system. But yeah, we're about thirteen
6:44
Speaker 3: beds short out of forty forty. So we're forty players
6:47
Speaker 3: coming in. We need thirteen more beds. So if anyone's interested,
6:51
Speaker 3: go on the website and send an email. I think
6:53
Speaker 3: you have the number JD. I don't have it in
6:55
Speaker 3: front of me, but yeah, yeah, that's that phone number.
6:58
Speaker 3: Is pretty pretty quick way to get ahold.
7:00
Speaker 2: Of US four nine, five sixty two.
7:04
Speaker 3: And again, the host families, we you know, free season tickets,
7:07
Speaker 3: their kids go to baseball camp for free during the year.
7:10
Speaker 3: Really yeah, just we do events at the field, little
7:12
Speaker 3: get togethers with the host families during the season. It's
7:15
Speaker 3: just a part of the family and we really appreciate that.
7:17
Speaker 3: It's a it's a huge help.
7:19
Speaker 2: So I remember you telling me these athletes take everything
7:23
Speaker 2: that they do, including life itself, so seriously they're not
7:28
Speaker 2: stumbling in at three o'clock in the morning.
7:30
Speaker 3: No, they definitely are working, most of them around full
7:33
Speaker 3: scholarship or you know, partial scholarship, and they're really working
7:36
Speaker 3: to try to get to that next level. And they
7:38
Speaker 3: know if they do well here, they're going to get
7:40
Speaker 3: noticed by scouts and move on to bigger and better things.
7:44
Speaker 3: The ANYCBL is the number two league in the whole
7:46
Speaker 3: country for the last six years, only second to the
7:49
Speaker 3: Cape Cod League in Massachusetts for summer baseball. So you're
7:53
Speaker 3: going to see a good talent at the field and
7:55
Speaker 3: continue to watch these guys as they move up through
7:57
Speaker 3: the ranks.
7:57
Speaker 2: New England Collecick Baseball League, Yep, we have got it.
8:03
Speaker 2: Was so I gotta tell you, man, and I've been
8:05
Speaker 2: talking about this a lot over the last even a
8:08
Speaker 2: couple of months, just that we're just so excited for
8:14
Speaker 2: the warmths, the green maybe a cold beverage, a hot dog,
8:20
Speaker 2: some ice cream and just to sit back and watch
8:24
Speaker 2: some baseball.
8:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's fun. We're getting excited about it. We're at
8:27
Speaker 3: the field yesterday with five loyal volunteers to put up
8:32
Speaker 3: some banners on the dugouts and we didn't got the
8:34
Speaker 3: outfield ones up yet, but that's coming in the next
8:37
Speaker 3: week or so. And yeah, the ballpark will start to
8:39
Speaker 3: come alive here in the next couple of weeks.
8:41
Speaker 2: So how was the weather during this experience?
8:43
Speaker 3: Yesterday? It wasn't good. No, it was pretty cold and
8:47
Speaker 3: a lot of snow flurries, and we were drilling screws
8:51
Speaker 3: into wood, so holding those with bare hands trying to
8:54
Speaker 3: put the screw in wasn't exactly perfect, but you know what,
8:58
Speaker 3: it's at the end of the day, we got quite
9:00
Speaker 3: a bit done, so that was worth it.
9:02
Speaker 2: So how about National Life Man, they've been your title
9:06
Speaker 2: sponsor for how long?
9:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, since the beginning, twenty four years, and they had
9:10
Speaker 3: volunteers down there yesterday, employees that they give some time
9:15
Speaker 3: to come down and do volunteer work for nonprofits. So
9:18
Speaker 3: we were really thankful that they came down and helped
9:20
Speaker 3: us in the cold and made things go a lot faster,
9:23
Speaker 3: which was great.
9:23
Speaker 2: So twenty four years.
9:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, We've got a handful of sponsors, quite a few
9:29
Speaker 3: actually that have been on for twenty four years. And
9:31
Speaker 3: I hate to start naming them because I know I'll
9:33
Speaker 3: miss somebody, but there's a core group that have been great,
9:36
Speaker 3: and then many others that have come on, you know,
9:39
Speaker 3: even in ten or fifteen years or even this year
9:41
Speaker 3: they've come on for the first time. It's pretty exciting.
9:44
Speaker 2: Do you have a sales team that's out, that's out
9:48
Speaker 2: looking for sponsors.
9:49
Speaker 3: You know, it's in our free time. We're you know, volunteers. Myself,
9:53
Speaker 3: other board members Richard Agne and his wife Alice picked
9:56
Speaker 3: up a sponsor recently for us, and they do some
10:00
Speaker 3: chad you at there's different people out in the community
10:02
Speaker 3: that might have contacts with somebody and they'll talk it
10:05
Speaker 3: up and sign them up. You know, it's a great,
10:07
Speaker 3: great way for the local businesses to come back and
10:10
Speaker 3: be part of a team that's really all about community.
10:12
Speaker 2: Sure, you know, I was just going to say that
10:15
Speaker 2: there's so much more going on here than just playing baseball.
10:18
Speaker 2: This is so much more than just a baseball team.
10:20
Speaker 2: You guys have a different theme every single time there's
10:25
Speaker 2: a game. You give so much props to local businesses
10:30
Speaker 2: and local kids and local rock stars in our community.
10:35
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
10:36
Speaker 3: It's fun. And we have a marketing team on the
10:38
Speaker 3: board and again Richard is in charge of the marketing department.
10:42
Speaker 3: We have meetings monthly and we talk about themes and
10:44
Speaker 3: talk about what we want to do. We've got interns
10:47
Speaker 3: coming in from all over the country that are in
10:49
Speaker 3: college for media broadcasting sales, and we kind of put
10:53
Speaker 3: that team together over the summer and they show up,
10:57
Speaker 3: they show up the next year. We work them in fall,
10:59
Speaker 3: and they come in the next year. But again, they're
11:02
Speaker 3: trying to be the up and coming professionals in the industry.
11:05
Speaker 3: And to me, it's a lot of fun working with
11:08
Speaker 3: those people because they really have a passion for it
11:10
Speaker 3: and they'll start to put some of those themes together
11:13
Speaker 3: this summer for next year.
11:14
Speaker 2: You've got a broadcast team, you got a TV team.
11:19
Speaker 3: What network is that it's going Most of the games
11:22
Speaker 3: are either on ESPN plus now or they're on the
11:25
Speaker 3: ANYCBL broadcast network. Apple TV, I think is going to
11:28
Speaker 3: pick up some broadcasts this year as well. So it's
11:31
Speaker 3: kind of coming along with different different things through the league.
11:35
Speaker 3: But it's again because we've been the number two league
11:39
Speaker 3: in the country and there's not a lot of summer
11:40
Speaker 3: sports going on other than college sports, other than you know, baseball,
11:45
Speaker 3: We've been lucky to get some of those contracts which
11:47
Speaker 3: is great.
11:48
Speaker 2: So let's talk about some of these theme nights, and
11:52
Speaker 2: just glancing through, I'm seeing names like North Adams and Keen,
11:59
Speaker 2: north Shore or Sandford. There's some there's some real rivalry
12:07
Speaker 2: between some of these teams.
12:10
Speaker 3: Man, Yeah, I mean Keene was always in Sandford were
12:13
Speaker 3: always our biggest rivals for years as well. Yeah, they're
12:15
Speaker 3: closer Upper Valley of in Hartford, Vermont is a big
12:19
Speaker 3: rival because they're so closer an our way. But yeah,
12:22
Speaker 3: we always we always get excited when we play anybody,
12:25
Speaker 3: but those teams you have a little bit more of
12:26
Speaker 3: an edge. You'd like to beat them, you know, and
12:28
Speaker 3: they're in our division. So it's that rivalry back and forth.
12:31
Speaker 2: So some of these games in last summer was not
12:38
Speaker 2: the greatest season four the Mountaineers.
12:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, we struggled last year. We had sixty seven players
12:44
Speaker 3: that came and went during the year. Where a lot
12:47
Speaker 3: of this is now is guys will come up and
12:49
Speaker 3: get two or three weeks and get some stats on there,
12:52
Speaker 3: and then they get noticed by pro scouts and they
12:54
Speaker 3: shut it down and they go home for the summer
12:56
Speaker 3: and they're like, hey, my stats were pretty good. Take
12:58
Speaker 3: a look at the highlights. Track man energy. They've got
13:00
Speaker 3: clips to show and unfortunately, when you have a constant
13:04
Speaker 3: turnover like that, the chemistry's not there. You got people
13:08
Speaker 3: coming and going. So yeah, we're really working this year
13:11
Speaker 3: to try to get more people from New England that
13:14
Speaker 3: may be apt to stay longer than trying to you know,
13:17
Speaker 3: mess around with getting so many people coming in and
13:20
Speaker 3: out during the year. Yeah, we're trying to work on that.
13:22
Speaker 3: It wasn't It's not like it was ten years ago
13:24
Speaker 3: where guys would come up and stay for the summer
13:26
Speaker 3: and then hesitate to go home. They like to stick
13:28
Speaker 3: around for a little bit.
13:29
Speaker 2: Now it's just constantly on the move and your broadcast
13:33
Speaker 2: team's got to be up with that. That's a big job.
13:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, we've got a guy. We've had a really good
13:38
Speaker 3: relationship with Penn State. The last three broadcasters have come
13:42
Speaker 3: from Penn State, and they do this in the college
13:45
Speaker 3: season and then they bring their talent up here for
13:47
Speaker 3: the summer and do that as well, and they do
13:49
Speaker 3: a lot of research.
13:50
Speaker 2: You know, I'm getting a text here on opening night
13:55
Speaker 2: it is when is it? It's June seventh, June.
13:58
Speaker 3: Seventh, Yeah, June seventh will be our opener. We'll be
14:02
Speaker 3: away for the first three or four games on the road,
14:04
Speaker 3: we do a southern trip. We try to ask the
14:07
Speaker 3: commissioner to put our nice three or four games in
14:10
Speaker 3: a row and we'll play. We'll stay in a hotel
14:13
Speaker 3: down there and kind of get those longest trips over
14:16
Speaker 3: with the first two weeks, and then we pretty much
14:18
Speaker 3: play in Division the rest of the summer, which is
14:20
Speaker 3: kind of nice.
14:21
Speaker 2: So I've got the home schedule, and let's say, right now,
14:26
Speaker 2: if you're anywhere up and down North Main Street on
14:30
Speaker 2: foot or by car, get a glance over to the
14:34
Speaker 2: to the glass here, because we're gonna we're gonna get
14:36
Speaker 2: the whole home schedule right here on the on the sidewalk.
14:42
Speaker 2: Mother's Day, we're right out of the choot with a
14:44
Speaker 2: bang here. I mean, yeah, come on, I mean, what
14:47
Speaker 2: a great Mother's Day gift idea that is bring mom
14:51
Speaker 2: to the ballpark.
14:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we don't play until June, but we do
14:55
Speaker 3: have a blated Mother's Day, so we call that. You know, Yeah,
14:58
Speaker 3: the tickets, you can definitely come to the game. Mums,
15:01
Speaker 3: get mums get in free that night, Bring mom to
15:02
Speaker 3: the park, throw some go on the field after the game.
15:05
Speaker 3: Play Catch. We do the same on Father's Day in June.
15:09
Speaker 3: And yeah, it's it's just try to come up with
15:11
Speaker 3: different themes that are fun and lots of giveaways. This year,
15:15
Speaker 3: a lot of the sponsors are stepping up. I think
15:17
Speaker 3: we've got three hundred T shirts going out on Fidium
15:20
Speaker 3: Fiber Night, for example, and yeah, just just on that night. Yeah,
15:24
Speaker 3: that night, they're gonna bring a bunch of T shirts down.
15:27
Speaker 3: I think they got two nights, so they're gonna bring
15:28
Speaker 3: probably one hundred and fifty each night and throwing them
15:31
Speaker 3: in the stands. So again, people like to catch stuff
15:33
Speaker 3: in the stands or they do they roll them up
15:35
Speaker 3: like toilet paper balls and start picking people off.
15:37
Speaker 2: It's kind of fun, right. So I've heard that that
15:41
Speaker 2: Skip is has had some orthopedic issues. Is he doing okay?
15:47
Speaker 2: How is he? Is he gonna make it?
15:49
Speaker 3: I think Skip's gonna be good. I think his knees
15:51
Speaker 3: get a little beat up from rollerblading in the outfield.
15:53
Speaker 3: It's a little bit rough out there, but yeah, he's
15:55
Speaker 3: still kicking around and doing well.
15:57
Speaker 2: No wood Chuck has any business was skating on grass anywhere?
16:02
Speaker 3: What it's tough?
16:03
Speaker 2: Who the hell's idea was was that.
16:07
Speaker 3: I don't know, I don't remember, but I know that
16:09
Speaker 3: Skip's always been pretty animated over the years, jumping off
16:12
Speaker 3: dugouts and skydiving a few times with special events coming
16:17
Speaker 3: in and yeah, just not anything I'd be interested in doing.
16:21
Speaker 2: But he seems to like it getting towed behind cars,
16:24
Speaker 2: holding onto to ski ropes and what was the other thing,
16:29
Speaker 2: riding a mopad.
16:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, there's always something down there he's into.
16:34
Speaker 2: So yeah, but but Skip's okay though, He's gonna do
16:37
Speaker 2: all right, He'll be fine. Yes, he looks like he's
16:40
Speaker 2: maybe at least last summer, maybe put a few pounds.
16:45
Speaker 3: On showing his age. Too many hot dogs there, I
16:47
Speaker 3: don't know. So, uh.
16:50
Speaker 2: The for youth for for kids. You have a youth
16:55
Speaker 2: baseball and softball players night as we take on Bristol
16:59
Speaker 2: June thirteenth, Shanny kids that show up in uniform, what happens?
17:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, they bring where their jersey, they go on the
17:06
Speaker 3: field with the team for the national anthem. We'll put
17:08
Speaker 3: them on on field games, just be part of the crowd.
17:11
Speaker 3: We always find that those nights when we do little
17:13
Speaker 3: league or softball leagues most energy of the year because
17:17
Speaker 3: the kids come in, they start the chance, they start going. Yeah,
17:20
Speaker 3: fun to watch. It's good for them to see the
17:22
Speaker 3: next level up when they can strive to do. One
17:25
Speaker 3: other cool thing that's happening this year is the Red
17:27
Speaker 3: Sox Foundation is going to bring one of their traveling
17:30
Speaker 3: road shows up here on July eleventh in the morning
17:33
Speaker 3: from nine to twelve. Kids get to come for free.
17:36
Speaker 3: They get Red Sox shirts, they bring in gear, they
17:38
Speaker 3: give every kid that registers some kind of equipment and
17:42
Speaker 3: again they can come for free. They have pizza shows
17:45
Speaker 3: up and you know, it's like a fun event. So
17:47
Speaker 3: July eleventh from nine to twelve and they there's a
17:51
Speaker 3: link on our website they can sign up for that
17:54
Speaker 3: and parents can go on and just sign up and
17:56
Speaker 3: again it's completely free. They show up that day. They
18:00
Speaker 3: and UH part of the Red Sox Foundation grant, which
18:03
Speaker 3: we were one of the few teams to get in
18:05
Speaker 3: New England.
18:06
Speaker 2: So wow, I want to I want to give a
18:10
Speaker 2: tip of the hat here to some of these. I mean,
18:13
Speaker 2: look at north Star Fireworks, they do an amazing night.
18:17
Speaker 2: Fidium East Rise, Capitol Plaza, a Minute Man Press, Vermont
18:24
Speaker 2: NEA National Life Night is always always big Frank FM
18:30
Speaker 2: Night that is when July seventh, I think Cody Chevrolet,
18:36
Speaker 2: Huge Supporters, Zachary's Pizza from Monterrey Association Night, Green Mountain
18:42
Speaker 2: Community Fitness, and w c A X nighth The list
18:47
Speaker 2: goes on here, Man, I mean, this is really really
18:50
Speaker 2: this is it's really cool. But we also understand this
18:54
Speaker 2: is not something that comes together a couple of weeks
18:57
Speaker 2: before with the first pitch.
18:59
Speaker 3: No, it's a it's a from the fall to right
19:02
Speaker 3: about now is just making sure that all those nights
19:04
Speaker 3: are filled that we get you know, the sponsorship money
19:07
Speaker 3: that pays the bus bills, the umpires, the equipment, all
19:10
Speaker 3: the expenses that come along that continue to go up
19:12
Speaker 3: every year. So yeah, it's a lot of hard work
19:15
Speaker 3: from our group to do the fundraising throughout the year.
19:17
Speaker 3: But we're we're plugging along on it. And again the
19:20
Speaker 3: communities wrapped their arms around this, and yeah, we appreciate it.
19:23
Speaker 2: So Joe was saying, I remember making the first food
19:26
Speaker 2: delivery when JOCKI Hollow was the fried food when they started.
19:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, they were. Jockey Hollow was on board for
19:35
Speaker 3: many years and we've got a lot of lot of
19:39
Speaker 3: vendors down there, now and it's just continuing to grow
19:41
Speaker 3: with that.
19:42
Speaker 2: So Jordan just tuning insane. Is the organization still putting
19:46
Speaker 2: on the youth summer baseball camps?
19:49
Speaker 3: Yes, we have three weeks of camps and all that
19:51
Speaker 3: information is on the website. Yeah, three from nine to twelve,
19:56
Speaker 3: three weeks during the.
19:57
Speaker 2: Summer, So would definitely check out the dates online for
20:00
Speaker 2: that and watch your website.
20:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, the website. The social media Facebook x, Instagram, kind
20:07
Speaker 3: of we put a lot on there pretty consistently.
20:09
Speaker 2: Tell me about your hitting coach this year.
20:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, Reagan Doneham. She's she is actually gonna be. She's
20:15
Speaker 3: a former pro in double A, single A in the
20:20
Speaker 3: minor league's hitting coach. Her dad used to coach in
20:25
Speaker 3: the Red Sox organization and coach Mookie Betts and Bogarts
20:28
Speaker 3: and Pejoy and all those guys, and so she comes
20:31
Speaker 3: by it naturally, and she's been doing a great job
20:34
Speaker 3: in minor league ball. But she's working on a master's degree,
20:37
Speaker 3: so she's taken a year off of doing pro ball,
20:39
Speaker 3: coming to Vermont, working on her masters and still coaching hitters.
20:43
Speaker 3: So she's really big into analytics, stats, synergy, track man,
20:47
Speaker 3: So pretty cool, you know, She was one of hundreds
20:51
Speaker 3: of applicants for the hitting coach we had, and she
20:54
Speaker 3: was the most qualified on paper from all the experience
20:58
Speaker 3: of different minor league she worked in. So we're excited
21:02
Speaker 3: to have her on board this year. Wow, Kevin Smith
21:04
Speaker 3: is coming back as our head coach. He's been doing
21:07
Speaker 3: a ton of recruiting and work in Florida. I think
21:09
Speaker 3: our roster is going to be pretty deep this year.
21:11
Speaker 3: We've We've got a lot of hitters. They're just he
21:14
Speaker 3: keeps sending me updates every week of how many home
21:16
Speaker 3: runs these guys are hitting in college. So we're excited
21:19
Speaker 3: to see it, you know, we're looking forward to it.
21:21
Speaker 2: Speaking of Kevin, how about that guy on the microphone
21:24
Speaker 2: man just the conduit between what's happening on the field
21:29
Speaker 2: and the connectivity into the crowd. I mean, he is
21:32
Speaker 2: so he's so much fun.
21:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, Kevin's done a great job for us on the
21:36
Speaker 3: field games. He's been most of the time that we've
21:39
Speaker 3: been there. He started a year one. I think he
21:41
Speaker 3: took a year or two off at one point. He's
21:44
Speaker 3: actually gonna be not involved on the on field games
21:47
Speaker 3: this year. He's taking some time off this summer yeah,
21:49
Speaker 3: but he'll be around. I'm sure we'll see him at
21:51
Speaker 3: games and he'll he'll probably volunteer and do odds and
21:55
Speaker 3: ends at the ballpark. I'm not sure he's going to
21:57
Speaker 3: be out on the field as much as he has been.
21:58
Speaker 3: But yeah, yeah, we'll keep plugging a lot.
22:01
Speaker 2: So we are. We still putting the tennis balls in
22:04
Speaker 2: the in the in the bucket and the kids throw
22:07
Speaker 2: them at the car.
22:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Cody ball toss is pretty popular. The kids
22:11
Speaker 3: line up by the you know, fifty to one hundred
22:13
Speaker 3: kids on the sidelines throwing tennis balls through the window.
22:15
Speaker 3: And one night I forgot to put the net in. JD.
22:18
Speaker 3: I forgot to put the net in, so all of
22:20
Speaker 3: a sudden they were coming in whizzing by my face
22:22
Speaker 3: as I'm driving the car there. Oh that's true. You
22:24
Speaker 3: are the driver for that too. Yeah, that's kind of
22:26
Speaker 3: a fun little thing happening to go around and do that.
22:30
Speaker 3: And if I do put the net up, though, have
22:32
Speaker 3: you ever had a go pro strap to your head
22:35
Speaker 3: for that? I haven't. From your vantage, pretty good idea.
22:38
Speaker 3: We have had somebody in the back seat with a camera,
22:40
Speaker 3: which is kind of cool to see those tennis balls
22:42
Speaker 3: flying through windows. I can only imagine what it sounds like.
22:46
Speaker 3: It's amazing it doesn't dent the car. I mean, it's
22:48
Speaker 3: like it's like a major hailstorm coming down when those
22:51
Speaker 3: tennis balls hit that. These kids have a pretty good arm. Yeah,
22:55
Speaker 3: And then if they bounce off the car into the dugout,
22:57
Speaker 3: the players take them and try to throw a fast
22:59
Speaker 3: ball to see if they can a window, which hasn't
23:01
Speaker 3: happened yet. They're throwing pretty hard, but that's those cars
23:03
Speaker 3: are pretty durable.
23:04
Speaker 2: So I note that you don't have and maybe you
23:10
Speaker 2: do all of the you said twenty five players memorized
23:14
Speaker 2: that have come into the Mountaineers and left and gone
23:18
Speaker 2: onto the big leagues. But to some of them ever
23:23
Speaker 2: come back and get recognized out on the grass.
23:25
Speaker 3: They do, and many of them are still active, which
23:28
Speaker 3: is great for them. But when they retire from Major
23:31
Speaker 3: League Baseball or from pro ball, a lot of them
23:33
Speaker 3: do come back down and bring their families, you know,
23:35
Speaker 3: years later, twenty years after the fact. They're coming into
23:38
Speaker 3: the ballpark. And we had Rob Delaney who played was
23:42
Speaker 3: our first guy played in Major League baseball. His career
23:45
Speaker 3: ended and he came back in twenty eleven or twelve,
23:49
Speaker 3: I think, which was cool. We had a Rob Delane.
23:51
Speaker 3: He signed a ton of photos and baseballs, and this
23:54
Speaker 3: year we're going to do a reunion for our first
23:56
Speaker 3: championship team and on that team was Chris Friedrich, who
23:58
Speaker 3: was our pitcher Eastern Kentucky at the time. He was
24:03
Speaker 3: a first round draft pick, went to Major League Baseball,
24:06
Speaker 3: had a career, and he's retired now, so I'm hoping
24:08
Speaker 3: he comes back, and Kurt Smith and many of the
24:11
Speaker 3: other guys that have gone up hopefully we back this summer.
24:14
Speaker 2: So that's so incredible.
24:16
Speaker 3: It's fun to watch him go up there. You know,
24:18
Speaker 3: we've had Aj Pollock and Nick Martinez, Ben Williamson and
24:22
Speaker 3: Ty Rodgers are currently on the roster getting a lot
24:24
Speaker 3: of playing time, so it is fun to tune in
24:27
Speaker 3: and see them and watch them as they climb the
24:29
Speaker 3: ladder into pro Ball.
24:30
Speaker 2: And Ben's playing for the race.
24:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, Ben and Nick are both playing for the Rays,
24:35
Speaker 3: which is pretty cool to have two former Mountaineer players
24:38
Speaker 3: in the lineup on a regular basis. Nick is a
24:40
Speaker 3: pitcher and Ben has placed third and first. But you
24:43
Speaker 3: tune in it and you go to Fenway and you
24:45
Speaker 3: might see two former Mountaineer players playing against the Red Sox.
24:48
Speaker 2: And significant role what happened during COVID you had. If
24:55
Speaker 2: COVID didn't happen, you would have had one bad act.
25:00
Speaker 3: Pitcher Ben Rice was a Dartmouth kid that year and
25:04
Speaker 3: he actually he would have been on our team. He
25:07
Speaker 3: was signed to a contract. Unfortunately we didn't have a
25:10
Speaker 3: season that year, and so he never played in Montpellier unfortunately,
25:15
Speaker 3: so he can't take credit for him making it to
25:17
Speaker 3: the big leagues. But he's a starter for the Yankees,
25:20
Speaker 3: hit some bombs for them, and and he's just pretty
25:23
Speaker 3: fun to watch.
25:24
Speaker 2: So, yeah, what about some of the other players here?
25:28
Speaker 2: You mentioned Nick ty Rogers.
25:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, if you google ty Rodgers on YouTube, and he
25:37
Speaker 3: is probably the nastiest pitch from He throws from almost
25:40
Speaker 3: the ground. It's a submarine style pitch and his hand
25:43
Speaker 3: basically scrapes the dirt when he's delivered, so you can
25:46
Speaker 3: imagine coming from that angle how much the ball moves.
25:49
Speaker 3: And he just toys with. He's a setup guy for
25:53
Speaker 3: the Jays, so he's pretty fun to watch.
25:56
Speaker 1: So what.
25:58
Speaker 2: How does someone start pitching like this is that's just
26:04
Speaker 2: kind of their own style.
26:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's his his brothers and the majors as well,
26:09
Speaker 3: Taylor Rogers and he throws traditional overhand pitching and Ty
26:13
Speaker 3: throws the submarine. Both have been successful. They're they're twins
26:18
Speaker 3: and they just you know, it is what it is.
26:21
Speaker 3: And he's he's certainly fooled a lot of players. And
26:24
Speaker 3: even when he was up here, I mean just he
26:26
Speaker 3: wasn't quite as fine tuned at that at this level,
26:29
Speaker 3: but he got better and better as he went along.
26:31
Speaker 3: But he was still doing the submarine here in Vermont,
26:33
Speaker 3: which is pretty fun to watch.
26:34
Speaker 2: So yeah, let's give a shout out to some more
26:39
Speaker 2: of your your staff members and volunteers that make everything
26:45
Speaker 2: come together so beautifully and seamlessly, from your parking attendance,
26:52
Speaker 2: to your announcers, to your PA team. I mean, Greg Hooker,
26:58
Speaker 2: what a super guy he is.
26:59
Speaker 1: Man.
27:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, Greg's been on board for many years. He's a
27:02
Speaker 3: music guy as well as doing some broadcast PA work,
27:05
Speaker 3: and yeah, he's been a legend at WDEV for many
27:08
Speaker 3: years and he continues to come down and the volunteer
27:12
Speaker 3: at the point.
27:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly, legend for countless decades. Not to h
27:17
Speaker 2: him at all, but man, it's the real deal. And
27:21
Speaker 2: your merch staff too. I mean, there's so much happening food.
27:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's too hard to start naming individuals because you know,
27:28
Speaker 3: you start naming people, you're gonna miss about twenty or thirty.
27:31
Speaker 3: But yeah, there's so many people involved at the board level,
27:34
Speaker 3: volunteer level that are crucial, and we always need more volunteers.
27:39
Speaker 3: It's always the more this grows, even the ESPN thing.
27:42
Speaker 3: We need camera operators, people locally that can come down
27:46
Speaker 3: and operate a camera and go through the training with us.
27:49
Speaker 3: You know, we always need people. So again, reach out
27:52
Speaker 3: through the website to either myself or the volunteer coordinator
27:55
Speaker 3: and say, hey, I want to do this, I want
27:57
Speaker 3: to host a player. We definitely need the helps.
28:00
Speaker 2: So yeah again four nine eight fifty five sixty two
28:04
Speaker 2: is the phone number to adopt a mountaineered host. Families
28:09
Speaker 2: are so needed. You know the thing about you, Brian,
28:15
Speaker 2: I love it when I love to see the Scouts there, man,
28:19
Speaker 2: I love to see the girl Scouts, the boy Scouts.
28:21
Speaker 2: But it's just so so cool man and special Olympics.
28:26
Speaker 2: We just had a couple of athletes in here that
28:28
Speaker 2: we're talking about their big night coming up July eighth,
28:34
Speaker 2: ANYCBL Inclusion Night, supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
28:41
Speaker 3: And you get them out there in the field. Yeah,
28:42
Speaker 3: they go out in the field. We do a lot
28:44
Speaker 3: of introductions, acknowledgments, have them go out there for the
28:48
Speaker 3: national anthem, put them in the pregame where we do
28:51
Speaker 3: the in between inn and games on the field, bring
28:54
Speaker 3: them up to the booth, kind of do the tour,
28:57
Speaker 3: meet the players, get some autographs, go out and take
28:59
Speaker 3: pictures of players. It's a nice night and you know,
29:03
Speaker 3: unified Sports, Special Olympics. Anyone's invited around the state. Just
29:07
Speaker 3: come up and come in that night for free and
29:09
Speaker 3: anyone join us. Yeah, for sure.
29:12
Speaker 2: The beer garden is always a great experience, kind of
29:16
Speaker 2: a roped off area for that if if you want
29:19
Speaker 2: to enjoy a cold beer and a hot dog.
29:22
Speaker 3: Sure.
29:22
Speaker 2: The thing about you, though, Brian, is I never see
29:27
Speaker 2: you sitting down. It must be you're constantly on the move.
29:31
Speaker 2: And I guess you have to be as the president
29:33
Speaker 2: and general manager. But man, it's like you're you're out
29:36
Speaker 2: there moving talking to people, empty and trash cans and
29:40
Speaker 2: talking to people. At the same time you're a busy guy.
29:43
Speaker 2: You never get I'm guessing you never get to sit
29:45
Speaker 2: and watch the game.
29:46
Speaker 3: Once in a while. Sit for a couple of innings.
29:48
Speaker 3: Families they are I'll sit with them for an inning
29:49
Speaker 3: or two. But yeah, I do, I do.
29:51
Speaker 2: Really do you take the shirt off and put a
29:53
Speaker 2: fake mustache on it in a wig? No?
29:55
Speaker 3: I probably should have a wig on, but I should,
29:57
Speaker 3: But no, it's been Uh. I I'm a person that's
30:01
Speaker 3: kind of a type a personality, So I don't like
30:02
Speaker 3: to sit too long anyway, So moving is okay, and
30:05
Speaker 3: get nervous during the game, So I keep moving. If
30:08
Speaker 3: I'm standing over here and we're scoring runs, I'll stay
30:10
Speaker 3: there for a while. If we don't score, I move
30:12
Speaker 3: to another section. I kind of think a little superstitious.
30:15
Speaker 2: Is there a uh? Is there gonna be Has there
30:18
Speaker 2: been a player in the passion? Is there gonna be
30:20
Speaker 2: a player? Uh? This coming season where no matter what
30:23
Speaker 2: you're doing, you when you hear his name being called
30:27
Speaker 2: out that you're like, hang on one second, Yeah, I
30:32
Speaker 2: gotta check it. Just see I just give me thirty seconds.
30:35
Speaker 2: I gotta watch this. They're about to throw the pitch.
30:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I over the years, I've been asked
30:41
Speaker 3: out a lot, and I always am hesitant to say
30:43
Speaker 3: it because normally when I say that, it's I don't
30:46
Speaker 3: want to jinx anybody, and also like also don't want
30:49
Speaker 3: to slight anybody too, because there's so many good players
30:51
Speaker 3: that we have up here. And it's funny, JD. Some
30:54
Speaker 3: of the guys that you would expect that when you're
30:57
Speaker 3: like talking about that guy maybe never gets to major
31:00
Speaker 3: League Baseball. They get drafted and maybe move on a
31:02
Speaker 3: little bit. Some of the guys you least expect, they're
31:05
Speaker 3: like really hard, those players who just gets his uniformed dirty.
31:10
Speaker 3: Those are the guys that sometimes get up and make
31:12
Speaker 3: the call because they're working so hard, you know, kind
31:15
Speaker 3: of so it's hard to it's hard to really say.
31:19
Speaker 3: We do have a bunch of returning players this year,
31:22
Speaker 3: even though the record was a little tough last year.
31:24
Speaker 3: We brought back some of the leaders in cores of
31:26
Speaker 3: that group that we hope will provide leadership going forward
31:29
Speaker 3: to the newer guys as well.
31:30
Speaker 2: So in the players many they get it when those
31:35
Speaker 2: those kids are running to to catch a couple of
31:38
Speaker 2: balls that have made made their way to the to
31:41
Speaker 2: the woods, and they run up to that player. There's
31:44
Speaker 2: always they've always got a sharpie close by. They've always
31:47
Speaker 2: got something close by where they can autograph those balls.
31:50
Speaker 3: Man. Yeah, that's one of the things we talk about
31:52
Speaker 3: with the players when they first come in. We have
31:53
Speaker 3: a we were welcoming session of barbecue and we're like, hey,
31:57
Speaker 3: you guys have to remember that when you're in a
31:59
Speaker 3: small town, everybody knows who you are if you go
32:02
Speaker 3: down the street, you know, and you're you need to
32:04
Speaker 3: be you know, put the best face on for the
32:06
Speaker 3: Mountaineers and be respectful and you know, treat be great
32:10
Speaker 3: with your host families and make sure that you're good
32:12
Speaker 3: in the community and you're signing autographs. So they kind
32:14
Speaker 3: of hear that from us, and I sure they do.
32:17
Speaker 3: They really do their good their good kids. They work
32:20
Speaker 3: hard and hopefully give back to the community. We do
32:22
Speaker 3: a lot of community service during the year. We go
32:24
Speaker 3: to the nursing homes, play some wiffleball, we do different
32:28
Speaker 3: things with the library, do some reading programs. So we're
32:31
Speaker 3: trying to constantly get them involved in baseball camps and
32:34
Speaker 3: doing those type of things to give back.
32:35
Speaker 2: So yeah, and again one more time on the on
32:38
Speaker 2: the summer baseball camps. I want to make sure you
32:41
Speaker 2: get that. We get that out there. More info on that.
32:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, everything's on the website. There's three weeks. We go
32:46
Speaker 3: from nine to twelve, four days a week for three
32:51
Speaker 3: three weeks, and those dates are on the website. But again,
32:54
Speaker 3: they come in. We we bring all the kids in,
32:56
Speaker 3: We divide them up by age groups. We set up
32:59
Speaker 3: a lot of stations. They rotate through those stations right there. Yea,
33:04
Speaker 3: all at the field, so they're playing all on the
33:05
Speaker 3: big field. Once in a while we'll go over to
33:07
Speaker 3: the little league field for a little home run derby
33:10
Speaker 3: with some of the younger kids. But no, it's all
33:12
Speaker 3: right there at the ballpark. And again we have some
33:15
Speaker 3: scholarships available to the Kwantas and some of the local
33:19
Speaker 3: businesses have donated scholarships that we can give kids free
33:22
Speaker 3: camp for the week. So somebody is not able to
33:25
Speaker 3: afford it, you know, give us a shout out and
33:27
Speaker 3: we'll sign your kid up for a free scholarship. What
33:29
Speaker 3: if your kid, what if your kid is a softball player,
33:34
Speaker 3: same thing. Yep. We basically for the most part are
33:37
Speaker 3: using baseballs down there. But again it's co ed, it's
33:41
Speaker 3: baseball softball players, it's youth camp. We're working on fielding, hitting,
33:46
Speaker 3: talking stations. Everything can relate to both baseball and softball.
33:51
Speaker 2: There's a granite plaque. I can't remember it. It's right
33:54
Speaker 2: there where the ticket sales are. Maybe you remember, but
34:00
Speaker 2: the history on that field is incredible.
34:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a state historic marker at top of the hill.
34:07
Speaker 3: And one of the cool things this year is, you know,
34:09
Speaker 3: back when we first started the Northern League was kind
34:12
Speaker 3: of legendary. Robin Roberts, the Hall of Famer, played here
34:14
Speaker 3: for two summers when he was at Michigan State. He
34:17
Speaker 3: came back to the field every year up until he
34:19
Speaker 3: passed in twenty ten. That plaque mentions him. It was
34:24
Speaker 3: made the field was made as a WPA project back
34:27
Speaker 3: in the day where you know through the Roosevelt Are
34:31
Speaker 3: they brought in workers that needed money. They basically built
34:34
Speaker 3: that whole complex from the ballpark to the pool and
34:36
Speaker 3: everything else. So it's quite a history down there, and yeah,
34:41
Speaker 3: that plaque recognizes that. And then we have other granite
34:44
Speaker 3: plaques down into ballpark. We're recognizing crit Polly for example.
34:49
Speaker 3: We put that up a couple of nights a couple
34:50
Speaker 3: of years ago from Barry. Legend he was the first
34:53
Speaker 3: Italian American in Major League Baseball from Barry. He's buried
34:56
Speaker 3: in Hope Cemetery. So that was person that we recognized
34:59
Speaker 3: a couple years ago. Brian Zechinelli was brought that to
35:02
Speaker 3: us and like we should really honor him and made
35:05
Speaker 3: a placu up. Rock of Ages donated it and it's
35:07
Speaker 3: up at the ballpark. Robins Cannelly is yes wayside and
35:12
Speaker 3: Robin Roberts has a big plaque down there. He's in
35:15
Speaker 3: the Baseball Hall of Fame and you know, won two
35:19
Speaker 3: hundred and eighty six games. So he was a big
35:21
Speaker 3: part of our organization and early on as well.
35:23
Speaker 2: So, wow, what was happening before the Mountaineers.
35:28
Speaker 3: It was kind of dormant. From nineteen fifty two until
35:30
Speaker 3: two thousand and three, the ballpark was pretty much in disarray.
35:34
Speaker 3: The high school team, middle school team played there once
35:38
Speaker 3: in a while, the Legion, the men's league, but it
35:40
Speaker 3: really wasn't a very desirable field. And then when we
35:43
Speaker 3: started raising money and putting it back together and fixing
35:46
Speaker 3: it up, now everybody wants to play down there, and
35:48
Speaker 3: they do, and they all do. They high school, middle school,
35:51
Speaker 3: men's league, Babe Ruth camps are down there every day.
35:54
Speaker 3: So it's very used now and we're very proud of
35:58
Speaker 3: the fact that the Mountaineers have a lot of money
36:00
Speaker 3: back into that facility and upgraded new lights in scoreboards
36:05
Speaker 3: and fences and the whole thing.
36:07
Speaker 2: So yeah, there's a there's a lot. There's a lot. Uh,
36:10
Speaker 2: and it's it doesn't come without a price tag. So
36:15
Speaker 2: you know, listen when you're if you're if you're going
36:19
Speaker 2: to the game, two bucks for parking, grab some food, sure,
36:24
Speaker 2: grab some merch support the team.
36:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, we really much as you can. Yeah, it's really appreciated.
36:31
Speaker 3: I mean, we again work so hard year round with
36:34
Speaker 3: our group to try to make this happen every year,
36:36
Speaker 3: to pay the bills and make sure that we you know,
36:38
Speaker 3: are continuing to go forward for another twenty five years,
36:41
Speaker 3: you know, so just keep on going.
36:43
Speaker 2: So I have to ask you, has there ever been
36:47
Speaker 2: and we hear Greg Hooker with the sound effects, but
36:52
Speaker 2: has there ever been a baseball that's taken out a windshield?
36:56
Speaker 3: Just a few? Yes, really, In fact, I've lost two
36:59
Speaker 3: windshields down there. Yeah, I don't park park right, I
37:03
Speaker 3: used to park back in the early days, I'd parked
37:05
Speaker 3: my truck and i'd back it right up next to
37:07
Speaker 3: the third baseline and we'd put a big couch there,
37:10
Speaker 3: so the fan of the day got to sit in
37:12
Speaker 3: the back of the couch in the pickup truck. It
37:14
Speaker 3: was a great view right on third base, but a
37:16
Speaker 3: lot of fly balls went up and right through the
37:18
Speaker 3: windshield a two. So I think my insurance company at
37:21
Speaker 3: the time said, maybe find a better place to park.
37:23
Speaker 2: So here comes this bright yeah guy again emailing us.
37:26
Speaker 3: I was gonna say, windshield World. I was pretty regular
37:29
Speaker 3: down there, so but now it's yeah, unfortunately that is
37:33
Speaker 3: kind of like a danger zone on the first the
37:36
Speaker 3: third baseline. But you know, if I'm parking down there,
37:38
Speaker 3: now go to the deepest part of the outfield and
37:40
Speaker 3: hope that nobody hits one into the river, you know,
37:42
Speaker 3: so we're across the street up at uh at the college.
37:45
Speaker 3: That would probably be even easier. Has there been one
37:47
Speaker 3: made into the river? Oh yeah, yeah, there's men many
37:50
Speaker 3: of those guys that have put one into the river
37:52
Speaker 3: and adding practice, especially on a day, I think guys
37:56
Speaker 3: are trying to see if they can launch one into
37:58
Speaker 3: the river. But we've had some games it's like they
38:01
Speaker 3: do they go over that parking lot into the river.
38:04
Speaker 2: But what about Route twelve.
38:06
Speaker 3: There's definitely some foul balls that do hit Route twelve
38:09
Speaker 3: once in a while, hopefully not very often, but that
38:12
Speaker 3: time of night, you know, it's maybe not as busy
38:15
Speaker 3: as it is during the morning commute. Hopefully.
38:17
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, you know, I gotta tell you, man, when
38:21
Speaker 2: you if you're a fly on the wall and you
38:23
Speaker 2: just kind of glance up at the stands during any game,
38:29
Speaker 2: regardless of the weather, but especially on a nice sunny day,
38:34
Speaker 2: everybody's so happy. They're just so happy. And the thing
38:39
Speaker 2: is they're present, Brian. They're not distracted by all of
38:45
Speaker 2: the clutter and crap and noise going on in their lives.
38:51
Speaker 2: Whatever their troubles are, they're erased for a couple of
38:55
Speaker 2: hours when they go to a Mountaineers game.
38:57
Speaker 3: It's kind of the common denominator. It's a multi generation
39:00
Speaker 3: family entertainment. You see the young kids all the way
39:03
Speaker 3: up to the grandparents. They're hanging out watching a game
39:06
Speaker 3: and it is a nice environment where you can sit
39:08
Speaker 3: and talk to the person next to you and not
39:11
Speaker 3: have to, you know, worry about everything else, and you
39:13
Speaker 3: hear some sound effects and some music and you see
39:16
Speaker 3: some good baseball. It's it's a win win. It's low
39:18
Speaker 3: cost of family entertainment. That's what we're trying to do
39:20
Speaker 3: is keep it low cost. I love him and I
39:23
Speaker 3: love it. You know. The thing is.
39:31
Speaker 2: When you go to a game, you're going to leave
39:36
Speaker 2: with some kind of memory, some kind of memory, whether
39:41
Speaker 2: it's you dropped your hot dog and it made its
39:45
Speaker 2: way through the bleachers, or my friend last year who
39:49
Speaker 2: dropped his cell phone through the bleachers seventh inning, stretched
39:55
Speaker 2: down there trying to find it. You know, it's you're
39:58
Speaker 2: always going to have some kind of experience, some kind
40:01
Speaker 2: of takeaway. Who you're bringing with you. It's a beautiful night,
40:04
Speaker 2: let's go to the ballpark.
40:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just fun to come out. It's kind of
40:07
Speaker 3: like the old fashioned days when you're a kid and
40:09
Speaker 3: you go to the band concert and you show up,
40:11
Speaker 3: you know who's going to be there, but then you'd
40:12
Speaker 3: see people in conversation. It's kind of the same type
40:15
Speaker 3: of thing, except you get to watch a baseball game
40:17
Speaker 3: and see a mascot out there rollerblading and see some
40:21
Speaker 3: oddball stuff and hopefully the Mountaineers going to win that night,
40:24
Speaker 3: but if they don't, then it's hopefully bring something back.
40:27
Speaker 3: You know.
40:27
Speaker 2: It's like, what's the cost? Can you get a season pass?
40:30
Speaker 3: Yeah? The season passes probably the best value. I don't
40:34
Speaker 3: even have the prices memorized anymore because but you're talking about,
40:37
Speaker 3: you know, a a family of four ticket. I think
40:41
Speaker 3: it's fourteen or fifteen on that. But again, it's the cheapest,
40:45
Speaker 3: cheapest night out in town. And the individual tickets I
40:49
Speaker 3: think are seven dollars if you buy them in advance,
40:52
Speaker 3: so it's it's pretty pretty inexpensive. And all the prices
40:56
Speaker 3: are on the website for the season passes as well.
40:59
Speaker 2: There's a couple of of folks that are that are
41:02
Speaker 2: fans that you definitely know that they're like, they don't
41:09
Speaker 2: miss a game. No, they have their turf that is
41:13
Speaker 2: staked out. This is where they sit. Yes, this is
41:17
Speaker 2: when they get up to go to the bathroom. This
41:20
Speaker 2: is when they get up to go get something to eat.
41:23
Speaker 2: There's some real diehards brin.
41:25
Speaker 3: There are some people like to bring their own chairs
41:27
Speaker 3: and sit out along the first baseline. Other people go
41:29
Speaker 3: in the grand stands and they get there an hour
41:31
Speaker 3: early and put their seats out, you know, their cushions
41:34
Speaker 3: out on the seats, and it is funny that they're
41:36
Speaker 3: all in that routine, and yeah, it's it's pretty cool
41:40
Speaker 3: to see that, you know, people that are that invested
41:42
Speaker 3: in coming to watch the team and support them.
41:44
Speaker 2: So what's up with those red seats up there at
41:46
Speaker 2: the top.
41:47
Speaker 3: Those were donated by Vermont Mutual and Union Mutual. They
41:50
Speaker 3: both had two red sox box seats that they'd bought
41:53
Speaker 3: from their Fenway raffle or whatever, and they we don't
41:55
Speaker 3: need them in the office, Let's put them at the
41:57
Speaker 3: ballpark and let people sit in them. So we mount
42:00
Speaker 3: those welded those in at the very top of the
42:02
Speaker 3: grand stands and those are our best seats in the house.
42:04
Speaker 3: Now where people get selected.
42:06
Speaker 2: And go how to sit there? How do you select them?
42:09
Speaker 3: Typically Skip picks them, So he'll go through the crowd
42:12
Speaker 3: in one of the early innings, first inning and point
42:15
Speaker 3: to somebody and he usually looks for a group of
42:17
Speaker 3: four and points to him.
42:18
Speaker 2: And yeah, they go up and sit there. So a
42:22
Speaker 2: friend of mine had their first date at a Mountaineers game.
42:28
Speaker 2: Blind date. Didn't know each other at all, and they're
42:31
Speaker 2: still together. I think it's been I want to say seven,
42:35
Speaker 2: seven or eight years something like that first date.
42:38
Speaker 3: Yehears man, that's good. Started off on the right foot.
42:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you know, she get married. Has that
42:44
Speaker 2: ever happened.
42:45
Speaker 3: We haven't had a marriage on the field. We did
42:47
Speaker 3: have a proposal one night. Somebody asked if they could,
42:50
Speaker 3: in between innings go out, and I'm like, that's fine.
42:53
Speaker 3: They got the microphone and they went out and did
42:54
Speaker 3: it and it was kind of funny. I don't know.
42:56
Speaker 3: That was several years ago. I don't know how it
42:57
Speaker 3: turned out, but you don't know she said yes. No,
43:00
Speaker 3: she did say yes, but but I don't know how
43:02
Speaker 3: it turned out. After that. We didn't get any invitations
43:05
Speaker 3: to a wedding or anything, but I'm assuming it happens. Yeah.
43:08
Speaker 2: What's that one team this year that you're that when
43:11
Speaker 2: their bus rolls in, you're like, okay, you're let's get
43:18
Speaker 2: a win here.
43:19
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, we played this Governor's Cup between Hartford and Montpellier.
43:23
Speaker 3: So whoever wins the series gets to keep the trophy
43:25
Speaker 3: for the year. It's a big milk jug. Name goes
43:28
Speaker 3: on it, you know, the years they win it, and uh,
43:31
Speaker 3: knock on Wood. We've we've won I think the last
43:33
Speaker 3: three or four years from Upper Valley, so we always
43:35
Speaker 3: get up a little bit for those games. But Martha
43:38
Speaker 3: is gonna target on your back, yeah, And Martha's Vineyard
43:41
Speaker 3: is another one where there's not a lot of love loss.
43:43
Speaker 3: We only play them twice a year, one home, one away,
43:45
Speaker 3: but we we lost to them in the finals a
43:47
Speaker 3: few years back and we don't you know, we don't
43:50
Speaker 3: like to lose to those guys. So I think it's
43:53
Speaker 3: gonna hopefully that'll be a little bit more for that
43:56
Speaker 3: game as well. It's always exciting with Keenan Sandford because
43:59
Speaker 3: there are another close yeah.
44:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, Swamp Bats, Yeah, tell me about those those championships.
44:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, we've had. We've been fortunate. We've been in six
44:09
Speaker 3: finals in the twenty three seasons, not counting that COVID year,
44:13
Speaker 3: so been there quite a bit. We've won three of them,
44:15
Speaker 3: so we won six and seven back to back years.
44:18
Speaker 3: We were in it in the finals two thousand and five,
44:21
Speaker 3: six seven, nine, and then won again in fifteen and
44:24
Speaker 3: then we were back in the finals I believe in
44:26
Speaker 3: twenty two. So we've been there quite a bit and
44:29
Speaker 3: it's it's tough to win those. You've got to have
44:31
Speaker 3: a lot of luck and a lot of things fall
44:33
Speaker 3: into place. But the team that keeps their team longest
44:36
Speaker 3: has a pretty good chance to move on. So hopefully
44:38
Speaker 3: we can do.
44:39
Speaker 2: That one of them. It came down two the final game.
44:43
Speaker 2: It was so close, was that twenty twenty two?
44:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, we we actually uh yeah, we lost in Martha's
44:48
Speaker 3: Vineyard that year. In twenty two, we won in on
44:51
Speaker 3: a We won on a walk off suicide squeeze in
44:55
Speaker 3: Mystic in twenty fifteen was pretty pretty exciting. You know.
44:59
Speaker 3: We back and forth, back and forth a whole game,
45:01
Speaker 3: and it do or die and then extra innings laid
45:05
Speaker 3: down a bunt and the guy from third came in
45:07
Speaker 3: and beat the throw home to win the game, and
45:10
Speaker 3: that put us ahead by a run, I should say.
45:12
Speaker 3: And then we our closer came in and finished it out.
45:14
Speaker 3: So it was pretty exciting to take that one on
45:18
Speaker 3: a squeeze at the end.
45:19
Speaker 2: So you were there watching, yes.
45:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was an exciting bus ride home. That was fun.
45:23
Speaker 2: Spill your beer.
45:25
Speaker 3: We didn't have any place open to get any at
45:27
Speaker 3: that point, so I probably, but it was a heck
45:29
Speaker 3: of a ride home. The players were not sleeping on
45:32
Speaker 3: the bus that night on the way home. They were
45:34
Speaker 3: pretty excited.
45:35
Speaker 2: Man.
45:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, And we came back into town at I don't know,
45:38
Speaker 3: three o'clock in the morning, and the police met us
45:41
Speaker 3: on the interstate and did an escort from there to
45:43
Speaker 3: the ballpark, and fans were down there at three o'clock
45:46
Speaker 3: in the morning to greet the team coming in, and
45:48
Speaker 3: one of our board members turned the lights of the
45:50
Speaker 3: field on and the guys went out and took pictures
45:52
Speaker 3: with a trophy. So yeah, it was an all night event.
45:55
Speaker 3: And then I had to get up the next morning
45:56
Speaker 3: and go to a class for my master's degree, and
46:00
Speaker 3: I had two cups of Dunkin Donuts with me and
46:03
Speaker 3: it didn't get much sleep that night. But that was
46:05
Speaker 3: a fun night though, one night for sure.
46:08
Speaker 2: What do you do over at Montpilier High School?
46:10
Speaker 3: I teach phyzed So I've been there for between Montpelier
46:13
Speaker 3: for thirty four years, so I know I'm looking my age,
46:16
Speaker 3: but I do enjoy it still. We do new things
46:19
Speaker 3: each year, doing a skateboard unit for the first time
46:21
Speaker 3: this year, so I'm on a skateboard in my fifties,
46:25
Speaker 3: so it keeps me. It keeps me young and active. Kayaking, canoeing, weightlifting,
46:29
Speaker 3: all that stuff is wow, cool stuff to be part of.
46:32
Speaker 3: I enjoy it. So how's the ball team over there?
46:35
Speaker 3: I think they're going to be okay this year. You never,
46:37
Speaker 3: I mean there's it seems like the buzz is happening.
46:39
Speaker 3: The players are excited, you know, every year it's always competitive.
46:43
Speaker 3: So my hope. We have a former Monpiliar high school
46:47
Speaker 3: student on the Mountaineers this year, which is very kind
46:49
Speaker 3: of rare. Andrew Trin's Mopiliar kid. He goes to Brandyce.
46:53
Speaker 3: He came up at the end of last year, pitched
46:55
Speaker 3: a few games for us when we needed roster turnovers
46:58
Speaker 3: and did incredibly well. So we signed him to a
47:00
Speaker 3: full contract this year. Really, so it's kind of cool
47:03
Speaker 3: to have a kid that I used to have as
47:04
Speaker 3: a student now as a college student. He's taller than
47:07
Speaker 3: me at like six foot seven I think he is,
47:09
Speaker 3: and he brings it. He's thrown in the nineties as
47:12
Speaker 3: a pitcher, so I'm like, why not bring him? Bring him?
47:15
Speaker 2: So there was a high school kid, uh Oden Kellington,
47:19
Speaker 2: who was yeah, pitching in the in the nineties too, man.
47:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, he went to you thirty two and he's with
47:24
Speaker 3: the Pirates minor league system at this point, trying to
47:27
Speaker 3: make his way up.
47:27
Speaker 2: So, wow, what do you say to these these kids
47:30
Speaker 2: are Monpiliar High School that that you're you're their teacher
47:34
Speaker 2: about discipline and hard work and going after your dreams.
47:42
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think a lot of these kids, you know,
47:44
Speaker 3: they grew up coming to the Mountaineers camps, going to
47:47
Speaker 3: Mountaineer games and they see what the next level is,
47:49
Speaker 3: and you know, some of them. We had a kid,
47:52
Speaker 3: Marshall Donniue in the past that played for us from Mopelier.
47:55
Speaker 3: Is like it again at the end of the season
47:57
Speaker 3: call up. We've had, you know different Richard Swinson who
48:00
Speaker 3: was our bullpen catcher from Mopilier one year and he uh,
48:05
Speaker 3: he was a kid I had in middle school at
48:06
Speaker 3: the time. And then he went to You thirty two
48:08
Speaker 3: later on and caught for them, and he he was
48:11
Speaker 3: down there and he got one at bat for us.
48:13
Speaker 3: The end of the year. We put him in the
48:15
Speaker 3: lineup because we were winning by quite a bit and
48:17
Speaker 3: he got up in the first pitch he hit. The
48:19
Speaker 3: guys told him swing at the first pitch. It's usually
48:20
Speaker 3: a fastball in the blowout swung it went right up
48:23
Speaker 3: the middle for a base hit. So the kid's got
48:25
Speaker 3: the highest batting average. One for one is a mountaineer,
48:27
Speaker 3: you know from that is kind of cool, you know,
48:30
Speaker 3: it's it's always a fun, fun thing when that happens.
48:33
Speaker 2: So the Vermont Mountaineers dot com the thhe put that
48:38
Speaker 2: in front. The Vermont Mountaineers dot com for the complete schedule,
48:46
Speaker 2: links to the Red Sox Foundation, links info on all
48:50
Speaker 2: of the home and away games, different theme nights. Volunteers needed,
48:55
Speaker 2: host families still needed. Right, I'm going to show this
48:57
Speaker 2: to you one more time for so we make sure
49:00
Speaker 2: that and I know that you've seen the signs out
49:03
Speaker 2: in the community. They're everywhere.
49:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, really important. We're really hoping to get those last
49:08
Speaker 3: thirteen out of forty players placed and give them a
49:11
Speaker 3: place to stay where they're in town. People won't regard it.
49:14
Speaker 3: They're good guys and they work hard and great role
49:19
Speaker 3: models for your kids as well, So we hope that
49:21
Speaker 3: will fill up.
49:22
Speaker 2: June what is it seventh is the first home game?
49:25
Speaker 3: I think? Yeah, June seventh is the first home game.
49:27
Speaker 3: We're way prior to that, but we definitely are looking
49:30
Speaker 3: forward to packing the park for the first night and
49:33
Speaker 3: helping to see people welcome them to town.
49:35
Speaker 2: So I'm going to be and they're usually what Tuesday nights,
49:39
Speaker 2: Thursday nights.
49:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, it kind of varies. That one is a Sunday
49:42
Speaker 3: night game, which is good because I think on a
49:44
Speaker 3: Sunday night in June you're gonna have a pretty good
49:46
Speaker 3: crowd hopefully. So we do have a doubleheader coming up,
49:50
Speaker 3: you know, four p thirty and a six thirty start
49:52
Speaker 3: later in the year, like in coming up the first
49:56
Speaker 3: two weeks I think of the season, but yeah, most
49:58
Speaker 3: of the games are all six thirty starts.
50:00
Speaker 2: Hopefully the black Flies will be out of here by Yeah.
50:04
Speaker 3: It's funny. We don't seem to get many down there.
50:06
Speaker 3: It's like you go to some of these ballparks and
50:08
Speaker 3: the mosquitoes and black flies are everywhere, and for some reason,
50:12
Speaker 3: they don't seem to kind of find that grand stand.
50:14
Speaker 3: I hate to say that too loudly, but it's been
50:16
Speaker 3: a pretty good they're.
50:18
Speaker 2: Listening to us, they now know, right, So I can't wait. Man,
50:22
Speaker 2: I've been looking forward to this for a long long time.
50:26
Speaker 2: Jordan Lumston, big fan he's looking forward to getting down
50:30
Speaker 2: there too. Man, so many people I was gonna.
50:33
Speaker 3: Say that name rings A Bell. I had him as
50:35
Speaker 3: a student for many years ago, so it's good to
50:38
Speaker 3: hear from Jordan's paying attention. In fact, his dad was
50:41
Speaker 3: one of our animators, Matt, one of those years. Yeah,
50:44
Speaker 3: for sure, so good stuff.
50:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, kudos to the players, the sponsors, the volunteers, and
50:53
Speaker 2: mostly the fans, because without the fans showing up, all
50:58
Speaker 2: of this work is in vain.
50:59
Speaker 1: It is.
50:59
Speaker 3: It really is a community thing. Without the fans supporting us,
51:04
Speaker 3: we wouldn't be anything. So and again without the host
51:06
Speaker 3: families and the sponsors, same thing, volunteers, everybody kind of
51:10
Speaker 3: pulls together for the same cause, which is great. Too
51:13
Speaker 3: late to sponsor, Nope, never too late. We can. We've
51:16
Speaker 3: got the game nights filled. But if somebody says, hey,
51:18
Speaker 3: I really wanted a game night some of those, we
51:21
Speaker 3: could probably put you in. We'll find a certain date
51:23
Speaker 3: that works for you and come down to the ballpark,
51:25
Speaker 3: set up a table throughout a first pitch, and we'll
51:27
Speaker 3: make it happen.
51:28
Speaker 2: So awesome. Yeah, Brian, thank you so much for getting
51:32
Speaker 2: in here. Listen, I say this to you every time.
51:35
Speaker 2: I'm going to say it again.
51:36
Speaker 3: You know this.
51:37
Speaker 2: You always got a microphone right here at this studio.
51:41
Speaker 2: Bring a player in next time, or a volunteer or anyone. Frankly,
51:45
Speaker 2: we will definitely do that over the summer. We'll get
51:47
Speaker 2: some people in.
51:47
Speaker 3: So thanks, James speciated.
51:49
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Brian Callagher the Vermont Mountaineers, the
51:52
Speaker 2: president and general manager. Very hard working guy, wears several
51:56
Speaker 2: different hats and we appreciate all you do for our community.
52:00
Speaker 3: Extra appreciate it all right.
53:00
Speaker 1: Dick his chess, his mick in, Dick his chus in
53:16
Speaker 2: The chest