2006 Season In Review

Published on September 10, 2006 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Brevard County Manatees News Release


Manatees fans, here's the 2006 season wrap-up newsletter. A wild 151-day long season gave us everything from a hot start to a cold rainy finish is now in the books. It's time to take a quick flash back before we begin planning next season.

* For the first time in Manatees team history the team was under new, private ownership. With that huge change came a lot of changes, including the elimination of parking fees at the stadium, a new Kids Zone and Arcade.

* As irony would have it, the Brevard County Manatees and their closest rivals Daytona Cubs, left spring training in Arizona and arrived at OrlandoInt'lAirport on the same flight. Many of the players, coaches and staff know each other but when the buses pulled away from the terminal everybody knew it was going to ugly when the teams met a few days later in Daytona Beach. It was everything the Manatees were looking forward to: a fast start, as the 'Tees swept the Cubs in four straight at Jackie Robinson Ballpark, a.k.a. 'The Jack.'

* The team had its annual Meet the Team luncheon at Carrabba's Italian Grill again this season. Introduced for the first time was the Manatees new Manager Ramon Aviles, Hitting Coach Corey Hart and Strength and Conditioning Coach Chris DePolo. Fred Dabney (Pitching Coach) and Masa Koyanagi (Athletic Trainer) returned from the 2005 squad.

* The Manatees played an exhibition game against Florida Tech the night before the season started. Roughly 500 fans showed up for the game.

* The Manatees jumped out to a 10-1 start, the fastest in all of Minor League Baseball this season only to see it all fade away by the middle of May when the team leveled out at 17-17.

* On Friday, July 28th, in game #2 of a DH at Dunedin, RF Brendan Katin went 4-4, with a Double, two Home Runs, a Walk, he scored twice and logged five RBI in the Manatees 9-3 win over the Blue Jays. Also helping in the carnage was Ryan Crew who was 3-5 with a Double, a Home Run and three RBI; and Steve Sollmann who went 2-3 with a Double, two Walks and three Runs scored.

* Alcides Escobar became the first Manatees transaction of the season when he was placed on the Disabled List on April 25th. Big Al would be the defensive anchor of the Manatees infield.

* 2B Hernan Iribarren tied a Manatees franchise record for Batting Average at .319 with Joe Funaro (1997).

* Brendan Katin was within three Doubles of tying the franchise record when he was promoted on August 19th, the day after hitting a walk-off three-run Home Run against the Vero Beach Dodgers to seal the deal in a 6-5 victory. The Manatees trailed 5-2 going into the bottom of the last inning.

* The Manatees scored double-digit runs 11 times this season, but banged out the highest (15) on Saturday, May 13th, at home against the Clearwater Threshers. The most runs allowed by the 'Tees this season was against the Dunedin Blue Jays on Wednesday, July 26th.

* The Manatees hosted concerts by Acousticon and local Country Music singer Chris Kahl, both performed in conjunction with fireworks shows. Additionally, Christian recording group New Method played a post-game concert at Space Coast Stadium and was accompanied by the nationally known Veggie-Tales characters.

* The United Way Celebration was held on Thursday, July 20th, and was followed by Fireworks that recreated the ending scene of the movie 'The Natural.'

* Rob Brown located the first Manatees Medallion that was hid in BrevardCounty. Clues were issued in our Game Day Program for those that attended home games, and later appeared in this newsletter for those that didn't attend games. Rob earned himself a lifetime season ticket. He will marry Lori McCarthy at home plate on Saturday, September 30th.

* The new contest Deal or No Deal awarded fans thousands of dollars in prizes, including Larissa Yakich signing as Coach For a Day with a Game-used Jersey and New Era Cap and a $200 Southwest Airlines Gift Certificate, Kimberly Fox (4-2007 Season Tickets), Angel Donato ($200 Southwest Airlines Gift Certificate), Heather Romanoski ($200 Lowe's Gift Certificate), David Marsden ($200 Lowe's Gift Certificate), Michael Frostrom ($200 Best Buy Gift Certificate), Teresa Watterman (Game Used Jersey & $200 Best Buy Gift Certificate), Rose Smith ($200 Southwest Airlines Gift Certificate), Dave Waters ($200 Best Buy Gift Certificate), Neal Levine ($200 Best Buy Gift Certificate), Marvin Cleek ($200 Lowe's Gift Certificate), Ed Drosten (Lifetime Manatees Season Ticket), Wendy Sloan ($200 Lowe's Gift Certificate), Michael Rich ($200 Lowe's Gift Certificate), Regina Rossano ($200 Best Buy Gift Certificate), Paul Hackman (Batting Practice With The Team, Game Used Jersey And Cap), Rob Brown (10 Game Tickets, Four Game Tickets & $100 Food And Drink and a $200 Southwest Airlines Gift Certificate) . Madison De Klerk ($200 Southwest Airlines Gift Certificate), Rudy Hardick, who eerily predicted that we'd call his name as he dropped his entry form into the box...he said that he "wins things all the time." Sure enough, later that night his name was selected and Rudy ended up with a Manatees Game Used Jersey. Some other big winners included Joan Fortier (Buy Two 2007 Season Tickets, Get Two Free), Joe Rowe (the Daytona Cubs #1 fan who sports the Cubs tattoo on his arm, opted out for 20 tickets to next season's opener against the Daytona Cubs and the opportunity to throw out the game's honorary first pitch.

* We had numerous giveaways including Lunch Boxes, Banners, Posters, Cow Bells, Diamonds, Sara Lee Bread, McDonald's Coupons for Free Food, and much, much more. We had former Negro League Baseball player Doc Graham back in the ballpark signing autographs and talking baseball. The 2005 Manatees staff had earned Minor League Baseball's award for the top promotional staff and the 2006 season was designed to be kicked up a notch over the 2005 campaign. A total of six fireworks shows were planned, five were shot with one going down to thunderstorms on Saturday, September 2nd.

* The Manatees suffered 11 rainouts in what turned out to be the toughest weather year on record with the exception of the four-hurricane season of 2004.

* The Manatees offered the most flexible season ticket package in sports history which included: a guaranteed seat, a $2 saving per ticket ($4 average ticket), undated tickets to be used at the ticket holders discretion, early entry on giveaway nights, free parking on the paved lot, free admission to Manatees road games, an end of season gift and discounts on merchandise purchases.

* Steve Sollmann came close to reaching his franchise record for Hit by Pitches of 26. He ended up with 19 but had some time on the DL that took some bruises and free trips away from him. Hand it to Solly, he found a way to get on base every chance that he could.

* The Manatees helped the BrevardAchievementCenter raise $4500 on one night for their inaugural fundraiser at the stadium. One of the prizes raffled off was a pair of season tickets for the 2007 season which was won by Heather and Tony Mitchell.

* The annual Belly Buster competition became Manatee Insanity and it couldn't have gotten uglier as the final three contestants consumed a bowlful of Head Cheese covered in Marshmallow Crème and topped with Hot Fudge Sauce. For those not in the loop on their Frommáge, Head Cheese is made from Pig brains.

* The Manatees and Milwaukee Brewers signed a four-year extension to the current Player Development Contract set to expire this month. The Manatees are only one of 10 teams in the Minors that have a PDC inked for more than two seasons. This finally gives the fans in the area some closure after a tumultuous past four years when nobody knew if the Manatees would be a Marlins, Expos/Nationals or Brewers team going into the future.

* The Manatees had seven players named to the mid-season Florida State League All-Star Game in Lakeland: Steve Sollmann, Yovani Gallardo, Hernan Iribarren, Josh Wahpepah, Ryan Braun, Charlie Fermaint and Brendan Katin.

* The Manatees had two players named to the Final (season Ending) FSL All-Star Team: Brendan Katin and Hernan Iribarren.

* Three former Manatees players appeared in the 2006 Major League Baseball Futures Game at PNC Park in Pittsburgh: Salomon Manriquez (2004 Manatees) and Ryan Braun and Yovani Gallardo from the 2006 Manatees.

* In the inaugural Intern Apprentice Program, the Manatees guaranteed one intern would be offered a full-time job at season's end when in all actuality three interns received full-time positions this season. Earlier in the season Manatees Ticket Manager Dan Karlsberg accepted a position with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Kyle Smith was promoted. At season's end with the intern competition at a neck-and-neck level, team President Charlie Bowman offered positions to both Meagan Gonser and Kylee Hanish.

* Director of Media Jenny Rennie will be leaving the team at the end of September. The Eureka, Kansas, native became engaged to another former Manatees player (Chris Barlow, 2004) and the couple is relocating. Chris is returning to school to work on his Master's Degree. Jenny was our resident staff expert on all things baseball.the walking encyclopedia handled all the stats and media duties for the Manatees this season and will truly be missed.

* Intern Joel Zawacki won the FSL/Florida Marlins annual scholarship award of $1000. Each season the Marlins send the league $7000 towards the scholarship program and the league adds in the fine money from player and coach ejections. At season's end one employee (or child or grandchild of an employee) is awarded a $1000 scholarship at Dolphins Stadium before a Marlins game. Joel returned to the University of Indianapolis to complete the final semester of his college life.

* And Mel...you're right, that was absolutely the best pineapple I ever tasted. Thank you!

And now the off-season begins. For our staff it means catching up on life. I couldn't begin to explain how long the days and nights are working in baseball. For those that have committed their lives to this game, they is nothing like it, but they have sacrificed a lot.

There's no running home for weddings or class reunions. No weekly Friday night out on the town fun. We're a small staff and everybody leans on you for support. Every person becomes dependent on everybody and when you only have five full-time employees (six going into next season); there must be a level of dedication and commitment to the mission with a realization that personal lives and social activities become secondary. You can't show up for work in a bad mood, you can't take a 'sick day' just because you need a day off. The hours are brutal, from 7:00 am until past midnight some nights, and then there are long home stands where that schedule doesn't change for a week to 10 days.

There are a lot of people that want to work in this field, but very few that I meet that have the passion or the commitment for it. In the past month I personally missed a family reunion, an uncle's funeral and even put the family pet to sleep the night before our final home stand. There is no time for a social life, partying or even mourning the loss of a loved one, at least not on your terms. Your life becomes baseball in its entirety. The players, coaches and staff know and accept this. Nobody has a gun to our heads forcing this lifestyle on us. Your family becomes your co-workers and fans that share the games with you. You'll know more about the delivery man's family than you will your first cousin's. I know who my UPS guy is but can name only one neighbor and I've lived in the same house for three years. We try to bond with fans because you essentially become our families. We share your laughs, personal tragedies and even your frustration with Mother Nature, only more so. Our staff will come in at 7:00 am to get ready for a DH. We'll pull tarp five times during the day. We'll set up the stadium and execute game day operations on the off chance that the sun will come out, even though the radar shows thunderheads that will rain us out. And after everybody leaves there is a lockdown of the stadium that may or may not include dumping the water off the tarp before going home. The youth that we had on board this season is what made the 2006 season a success. They were way beyond the maturity level for individuals of their age and experience. They had a sense of humor. They knew how to get it out of their systems and not let it affect their attitudes. They accepted more responsibility than any group of interns as a whole that I have ever worked with, and they are now the future of the Brevard County Manatees. They will now be around to plan, design and execute next season's promo schedule, design ticket plans, off-season activities, Booster Club, fundraisers and more. They will now be charged to supervise their own interns and, judging by what's on our wish list for next season, there's going to be a lot of them!

The season's over, the pain of not waking up to a game day is fading and it's time for us to say thank you for including us in your lives. Thanks for being there for us and supporting the Manatees. We'll begin working on next season's fun very soon. Because whether there are 500 or 5000 fans in the ballpark, we have staff members that will give you everything they have every game. We wouldn't have it any other way.

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Florida State League Stories from September 10, 2006


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