Jennifer Harmon of Windham hugs Portland Sea Dogs employee Mark Munson before the Sea Dogs’ home opener against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies Thursday night. Harmon has been a season-ticket holder for about 10 years and remembers attending the first game the Sea Dogs played at Hadlock Field. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
Jennifer Harmon, a Portland Sea Dogs season-ticket holder for more than a decade, walked into the concourse at Hadlock Field and immediately spotted a familiar face at the information desk.
She leaned over to embrace Mark Munson, who is entering his eighth season of helping fans unfamiliar with Hadlock services.
Throughout the ballpark on Opening Night Thursday, there were hugs and handshakes and hellos shared between folks who hadn’t seen each other since September. Minor league baseball is back for the 29th season since Dan Burke brought an Eastern League expansion franchise to town in 1994.
Burke’s son Bill and daughter, Sally McNamara, took over from their father 15 years ago (the elder Burke died in 2011) and continued to oversee an operation noted for its kid-friendly atmosphere: helpful ushers, clean confines and low tolerance for alcohol-emboldened loudmouths.
Thursday, however, marked the start of a new era. Over the winter the Burkes joined a growing number of minor league baseball operators by selling their franchise to Diamond Baseball Holdings, a subsidiary of a technology venture firm called Silver Lake. By scooping up three more teams – the Lansing (Michigan) Lugnuts, St. Paul (Minnesota) Saints and Salem (Virginia) Red Sox – in the past month, the DBH franchise count is up to 16.
“I know they’re going to keep growing,” said Geoff Iacuessa, the Sea Dogs general manager. “That’s part of their plan.”
Iacuessa said this Opening Night felt similar to all the others, except that he had fewer conversations with Bill Burke about potential weather disruptions. They still talk regularly, and Burke was in his familiar seat next to the home dugout on Thursday night, enjoying a pretzel and an Allagash White and not worrying about how many hot dogs might be sold.
“This is when people figure out how little I did,” Burke said with a laugh. “It’s bittersweet, but it’s behind us now.”
A recently retired longtime employee approached Burke and thanked him for the generous bonus paid out to all full-timers, based on years with the club, after the sale became finalized. He said his daughter now can have a wedding.
Fans said the change in ownership hasn’t resulted in any changes that they can see, at least not yet. The team will continue to be affiliated with the Boston Red Sox until at least 2030, and ticket prices remain the same as last season. Slugger the Sea Dog entertained fans Thursday night. And the Sea Dog Biscuit, an ice-cream sandwich that was hard to find at times at Hadlock last season because of supply-chain issues, was back at the ballpark.
“As long as I got my baseball and my hockey, I’m happy,” said Emilie Estes of Scarborough, a season-ticket holder for both the Sea Dogs and Maine Mariners. “The people like Mark (Munson) and the ushers, they’re all friendly and a very nice bunch. So I don’t want to see any changes.”
Harmon, the hugger from Windham, said she’s cautiously optimistic for the future and grateful that interactions with players have resumed. The pandemic not only wiped out the 2020 season, it also raised barriers between players and fans.
“We really missed a lot during the COVID years when we didn’t get to meet the team members, we didn’t get to do autograph sessions,” she said. “Having them back is huge.”
She attended Tuesday night’s Fan Fest at the Portland Expo, where players are seated at individual tables with a handful of fans.
“Whoever sits with us really becomes our adopted players and we cheer them on,” Harmon said. “So (reliever) Dylan Spacke is going to be our guy this year.”
Harmon and Estes were among the 6,478 fans at the game Thursday night, filling Hadlock to 88% of its capacity of 7,368. Last year, Opening Night attendance was a shade higher at 6,836.
With Salem and Portland both under the control of Diamond Baseball Holdings, the parent Red Sox are no longer dealing with four independent operators of their minor-league clubs. Brian Abraham, Boston’s director of player development, noted that both Iacuessa and Allen Lawrence, the general manager in Salem, are still in charge of their respective clubs and the relationships remain strong.
“They have a really good understanding of what the affiliate needs and what the Red Sox need and we’re so lucky to have strong groups that care about our players, care about our staff,” Abraham said. “I think it’s fairly safe to assume that the new ownership group feels similarly. Obviously we can only control the baseball side, but certainly it’s a partnership that we’re excited to continue to have grow and build as we get to know them more.”
Sea Dogs manager Chad Epperson is in his second year at the helm. Prior to managing the Sea Dogs, he spent a decade as a roving catching coordinator for the Red Sox farm system, and was a frequent visitor to Hadlock.
“With the Burkes it wasn’t business,” Epperson said. “It was more of a family feeling. You’re never going to replace them.”
Epperson smiled at the mention of the annual lobster bake the Burkes hosted in Kennebunkport as a thank you to players and staff.
“I don’t think there’s anybody who came through here under their tenure who wouldn’t praise them,” Epperson said. “They ran a first-class operation, for sure.”
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