northridge optimist club bulletin board

Save the Date: Check the Scholarship Scramble Fundraiser page (/scholarship-scramble-fundraiser.html) under "Activities" for a reminder of the Friday, September 18, 2015 event. A  downloadable "Save the Date" flyer is available for printing.

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Meeting of January 13: The speaker was Tom Nichols, Director of Media Relations & Broadcasting for the Dayton Dragons. This is Tom's 8th year with the Dragons, and his 28th year of broadcasting minor league baseball. He entertained the group with his insights on baseball in Dayton, some of the reasons for the Dragons' franchise success,  and  stories of a day in the life of a minor league ballplayer.

Tom Nichols

The Dragons' high profile success over 15 seasons is typified by their 1051 consecutive sellout games, a record in all of professional sports. Tom attributes much of this success to the stability of the local management team. From its conception, through all of the following years, the franchise has directed its marketing toward families, and maintained a high level of family entertainment value in the on-field product. The ownership of the team has changed recently, but the local hands on management has remained the same. The Cincinnati Reds, for whom the Dragons are a farm team, employ the team manager, coaches, training staff, and players. The business side of the operation, including the marketing, broadcasting, travel arrangements, etc., is handled by the Dayton Dragons franchise.

Tom spends about twelve hours a day at the ballpark, and travels with the team to all games, so he is well versed on what life is like for minor league players. The Dragons play at the single A level. This is just one level up from the "rookie" leagues, and about four levels down from the major leagues. The chance of a player at this level advancing to the majors is less than 10%. Players typically spend about ten hours at the park on the day of a game, playing 140 games in 152 days, with bus trips of up to nine hours to away games. The average monthly pay at this level (received only during the season) averages about $1200 per month (or about $6000 a year). In comparison, an average major league salary is about $4 million per year. At the minor league level, they obviously have to love the game. 

President Alan presents a certificate of thanks to Tom Nichols

Chris with cap and bobblehead

Tom brought along some Dragons souvenirs to the meeting, and gave them out to some members who could answer his trivia questions. Chris received a Homer Bailey bobblehead (quite a prize) and a Dragons cap, Randy a cap and t-shirt, and Mike a cap and mug. Such are the rewards of meeting attendance.  With burgers and brats for lunch, and some baseball talk on a cold winter day, it was a fun meeting. Thanks to Tom Nichols for such an entertaining topic.    

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Meeting of January 20: More discussion will be held on plans for membership recruitment in follow-up to President Alan's message at the Jan. 6 meeting (see the previous Bulletin Page). A new recruiting tool will be presented at the meeting in the way of a flyer that will be easy for members to carry with them at all times. It is important to get member feedback and input on the new flyer before publication, so members are encouraged to get to this meeting to help with your ideas. President Alan will also have some new information on speaker scheduling.

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Current Club Schedule:
(Weekly Tuesday Noon meetings are at The Shiloh Grille, 5515 N. Main St., Dayton, OH 45415 unless otherwise indicated)
 
• January 20: Club discussion on proposed membership flyer, and speaker schedule
•  January 27: Special Club Presentation
• February 3: Open - Speaker needed
• February 10: Open - Speaker needed
• February 17: Open - Speaker needed
• February 24: Open - Speaker needed
• March 3: Open - Speaker needed
• March 10: Open - Speaker needed
• March 17: Open - Speaker needed
• March 24: Essay Contest Award Luncheon at Northridge H.S., 11:30 AM
• March 31: Open - Speaker needed