Minor league, major joy

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/08/2019 (2278 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s the bottom of the second at Shaw Park, where the Winnipeg Goldeyes lead their opponent, the Texas AirHogs, 1-0.

With two outs and nobody on base, Dan Chase, the Goldeyes’ director of sales and marketing, is biding his time in a ground-level passageway tucked between sections K and L. Standing next to him are Goldie, the team’s ebullient mascot, and a chap named Chris chosen at random to participate in an on-field quiz the moment the final out of the inning is in the books.

We should mention: as a tongue-in-cheek nod to the visiting AirHogs, it’s Bacon Night at the downtown ballpark. That means when Chase escorts Chris onto the field to ask him a series of swine-related questions, he’ll do so wearing a gaudy, two-piece, polyester bacon suit. (Standing in the tunnel, Chase responds, “Hey, if it fits, it’s all yours,” to those in the stands playfully shouting down at him, “Hey Dan, nice suit! Mind if I borrow it?”)

“I consider it ‘other duties as assigned,’” Chase says with a wink, when asked what a long-tenured sales exec is doing sporting an outfit most people and/or porkers wouldn’t be caught dead in, versus sitting in his office, feet up, now that this evening’s game is well underway.

When he was offered his job years ago, donning goofy get-ups and overseeing wacky contests wasn’t part of the equation, he continues. But because he had a strong entertainment background — more about that in a sec — it seemed like a natural fit. Over time, posing as St. Nick for the Goldeyes’ annual Christmas in July game, a teeth-challenged goon for Hockey Night (Aug. 27) or a member of the walking dead for Zombie Night (Aug. 31) became part of his game-day routine.

With that, the Goldeyes’ batter grounds out to first, causing Chase to don his shades, break out his script and turn to Chris, asking him, “Are you ready? Cuz it’s showtime.”

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“Winnipeg-famous” is a term used to describe people who’ve become instantly recognizable in this neck of the woods simply for going about their day-to-day duties; folks such as TV weather guru Colleen Bready, VJ’s Drive-In burgermeister John Calogeris and Re/Max sales rep Rod (I never sleep) Peeler. Feel free to add Dan Chase, currently celebrating his 20th summer at Shaw Park, to that illustrious list.

“The other day I was in the produce section at the grocery store, unshaven, wearing a ball cap, when this woman came running up to me, yelling, ‘Dan Chase, Dan Chase, how do you think the boys are going to do this year?’” he says, seated in his office flanked by dozens of colourful, Goldeyes-related giveaways, many of which he’s had a hand in creating through the years.

“It’s never, ever a problem when that occurs. If somebody wants to talk baseball with me for 10 minutes, I’m all ears. Still, it does come as a bit of a surprise when people recognize me. I get there are 6,000 people in the stands some nights but I don’t pretend they’re here to see me.”

Chase, who is in his 60s and affectionately dubbed ‘Winnipeg Oldeye’ by his co-workers, lives in St. James, in the same house he grew up in with his mother and brother. A gifted singer, after graduating from St. James Collegiate he was cast in numerous musical productions at the International Inn’s Hollow Mug dinner theatre, which eventually led to a television gig on the locally produced variety show All Together Now.

Chase first surfaced on the Goldeyes’ radar in 1994, the team’s inaugural season. Besides being a song-and-dance man, he also had a solid sales background. John Hindle, the club’s original general manager, hired Chase to mentor a young sales team peddling season-ticket packages to games in the team’s then-home, Winnipeg Stadium.

Chase’s contract with the team expired in May 1994. That summer, he accepted a position with Perth’s Drycleaners, serving as that company’s sales manager. Never too far away from the stage during that period, he starred as Rusty Charlie in a Rainbow Stage production of Guys and Dolls.

In 2000, by which time he was working for an events management firm, the Goldeyes came calling again after the team’s marketing director quit prior to the season. When the front-office staff began throwing names around, trying to come up with a possible replacement, somebody piped in, “What about Dan?”

“I can’t remember the first promotion I was personally involved with, it might have had something to do with Larry McIntosh from Peak of the Market. But the way it usually worked was, we’d take advantage of whatever was hot on TV at the time, and do something silly around that,” Chase says, recalling a giveaway that spoofed Deal or No Deal, the Howie Mandel game show that featured models parading down a flight of stairs, carrying briefcases.

“Some (promotions) worked, some didn’t,” he continues. “Like the time we got three kids to race these battery-powered, miniature snowmobiles. One of them lost control and started swerving towards the visiting team’s dugout. Luckily, some of the players were able to catch him before he crashed. That one still pops up on sports bloopers shows from time to time.”

It’s not all fun and games: on several occasions, Chase has put his vocal talent to the test by performing the American and Canadian national anthems. Those nights were probably the only times he’s had butterflies prior to the first pitch, he says. Well, that and the night actor Rob Lowe, in town shooting a movie, showed up at Shaw Park unannounced.

“He casually strolled across the promenade amongst all the fans without security and I nearly fainted. Later during the game, he was in a secured sky suite and a female had to be carried away by security — literally — for trying to gain access to him,” he says with a chuckle.

“I think anybody who’s ever worked in minor-league sports learns very quickly that the largest part of one’s job description is, like Dan says, other duties as assigned,” says Andrew Collier, in his 17th year as general manager of the Goldeyes. (Collier ain’t kidding; on the night we were scheduled to chat, he had to excuse himself at the last minute to help fix a malfunctioning keg in the park’s popular Craft Beer Corner.)

“On game day, everybody chips in and does what needs to be done and for sure, Dan fits that role to a T.”

Another of Chase’s assets, says Collier, is his deep understanding of “the game.” Chase played little league ball out of Bord-Aire Community Club while growing up, and later spent a few years coaching and umpiring youth baseball.

“So here’s this guy with a baseball and theatre background, a perfect combination for what we ask him to do,” Collier says. “He knows how to have fun with the fans, but he also knows where the line is as far as what we ask players to do, or what kind of show we put on.”

The night the Goldeyes toasted sports super-fan Gabe Langlois by presenting attendees with a Dancin’ Gabe bobblehead doll is a cherished memory, Chase says. But he doesn’t hesitate when asked if there’s one promotion he’s been involved in that stands out most from his 20-year career with the Fish.

On June 4, 2016, the Goldeyes organization held its inaugural Diversity Day game, featuring multicultural music and displays. Prior to, Chase contacted a person associated with Winnipeg’s Pride festival, scheduled the same weekend as the Diversity Day event, to inquire whether there was anything they could do jointly. It turned out Gilbert Baker, creator of the Gay Pride Flag, was going to be in Winnipeg for a few Pride events. Perhaps he’d be interested in attending the ball game, Chase proposed.

“Sure enough, he agreed to come. Just before the game, I brought him onto the field to present him with a framed, commemorative baseball bat painted the same colours as his flag,” Chase says. “When I handed it to him the crowd went nuts, standing and cheering, and within seconds, tears started rolling out the corners of his eyes. I told him, ‘Be proud of what you achieved. Hold that bat high,’ which caused the fans to go crazier still. Sadly he passed away the following year but that was definitely one of the neatest things I’ve been a part of.”

Not good with dates, Chase says he was taken aback at the start of the current campaign when Regan Katz, the club’s assistant general manager, congratulated him on his 20th summer at the ballpark.

“That saying about how time flies? Isn’t that the truth?” he says, grinning from ear to ear. “Every part of my job is great fun, the sales, the marketing, the on-field stuff… I love every minute of it. It’s the guys on the field that provide the thrills but when the team wins, everybody — from the ticket-takers to the concession staff — feels like they’re a part of it. It’s a real ‘we’ atmosphere around here.”

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca