Where to begin?? That is the question I have been trying to answer ever since I found out I would be contributing to the Maynard’s Musings a few weeks ago and I think I finally have the answer (usually simplest is the best) I’ll just start from the beginning of my Northwoods League career. It may take a few posts to get brought up to 2009, but hopefully you will find some of my rants entertaining.
Looking back to the spring of 2003, I was a senior in college looking for an internship to not only graduate but one that would also put me in a position to have a job after I graduated. Enter the MoonDogs.
I remember going to my first interview with the MoonDogs GM, Kyle Mrozek (he had been hired about 3 weeks prior) and sitting down in a shirt and baseball tie to talk about a “great opportunity” as he put it. You see, Kyle had first-hand knowledge of the internships as he had been an intern 2 years prior to that in Alexandria when the Beetles had their inaugural season and now he was running a team. I thought to myself, wow this really could be great! I get to work for a baseball team for the summer (anyone that knows me knows of my extreme passion for the game) and maybe I could even get a full time job after the summer was done. Sure enough, after being baptized by fire (Kyle was the only full-time employee that season) which meant myself along with the other three interns had to learn on the fly and adapt to whatever the situation at-hand was, at the end of the season I was offered a job and began my career in baseball.
There are two quick stories I would love to share from that first summer of insanity. ..
#1. One of the promotional appearances we had setup that summer was to have Juan Berenguer (aka Senor Smoke to us Minnesota Twins fans) come out for a night in Mankato. About half-way through the evening, Juan asked me if I would take him downtown after the game and show him some night life, I happily obliged and got everything set. Before I get any further, you have to understand that Juan is a large, Panamanian man who was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, and Mankato is a town of only 25,000 people or so during the summer. So there we are, Juan and myself having a couple of drinks when all of a sudden he disappears. Gone. Nowhere to be found! I’m thinking to myself my boss is going to kill me. I am supposed to be taking care of this guy, making sure he gets back to his hotel etc, and I can’t even find him. After searching until bar close with no luck, I finally had to give up. I went home that night starting to think of how I was going to explain this in the morning and then at 4:00 a.m. my cell phone starts ringing and ringing and ringing. Guess who…yep it’s Juan Berenguer. He just wanted to call and tell me what a great night he had and that he was safely back at his hotel and that if there was anything that I ever needed from him to just give him a call. Juan and I stayed in touch over the next few years and it was all because of one crazy night of working in the Northwoods League.
#2. I remember hearing all of these unbelievable stories about the team in Madison, the GM (as he too used to be an intern for the gentleman who owns the Mankato team), and the crowds and atmosphere that Warner Park offered. When I finally got a chance to witness it myself, it was the All-Star game and I was at a loss for words. The size of the park, the crowd, the presentation, everything was incredible. After the game, we went out to the car and on the windshield were two 11x17 posters from the Mallards marketing campaign that season. They were about the purity of the game and had a very distinct baseball feel to them. I held on to those, and actually ended up getting them framed when I got back to Mankato and they have been hanging in the bedroom of every apartment I have had since that night. And now, here I am six years later, working for the Mallards. (The All-Star game was also the first time that I had ever met Vern in person and there is a great story behind that meeting, but I will have to save that one for a later date!)
Lastly, I would like to talk about some current events in the Mallards office. As Vern had mentioned in his last post, we are starting an office basketball team and need some help from the fans. WE NEED A TEAM NAME!!! If you have a creative name that you think would work for us please send it to Jerrad@mallardsbaseball.com. We will keep you posted on the names that come in and the winning submission will receive an autographed, framed photo of our team. The contest will run from now until December 1st.
I’m excited to be a part of the Mallards organization and can’t wait for the 2009 season to begin! GO MALLARDS!
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