Baseball is back! After a year without games thanks to the global pandemic, the Chukars are gearing up for a new season packed full of games, events and swag. What more could you ask for? We sat down with the general manager of the Chukars, Kevin Greene, to get the scoop and prepare you for a perfect summer at the ballfield.
IFM: What can we look forward to this season?
KG: After a hiatus due to COVID-19 this past year, everyone's incredibly excited to experience the minor leagues. We hired a pitching coach with over 20 years of experience coaching minor league baseball. His name is Bob Milacki. And then we have a local celebrity, Billy Butler, who played in the major leagues for 9 years, joining as our hitting coach.
We've also announced a new manager, Billy Gardner, with over 20 years of managing. We're excited that these guys are going to put together a great roster force and they're going to be fun to watch all summer long.
We're hopeful that we can operate without any significant crowd restrictions, because there's going to be a demand for people to be able to come out here and fill the ballpark.
IFM: What are some of the strengths of the new team?
KG: I think with a strong coaching staff, we should get a very competitive team that should be fun to watch, and hopefully win a lot of games for us. In the past, we've always had a 76-game schedule. We've increased that to 96 games. So, we'll have 10 more home games this year We will open at home on Saturday, May 22.
We've got a huge promotional calendar that we're working hard to fill up every day with some new promotions—all the same exciting promotions we've always done in the past from firework shows to great giveaway nights with hats and t-shirts. We are bringing on board our Copa program this year, which is all about integrating folks from the Hispanic and Latino communities into our ball games in much larger numbers.
IFM: What are you most looking forward to this season?
KG: Just the return of baseball, as much as anything. Player development is always part of what we do here, but also as under the new structure of operating as an independent-type team, our emphasis on winning is a little stronger than it has been in the past. You're going to see players out there playing hard to win every day.
In previous seasons, everyone was trying to win, but there would be guys that would be worked into the rotations. If a guy wasn't getting the job done, they would still have to leave him in, because you have to get his innings. Now, if a guy's not performing up to par, he's out of the lineup and we instead get somebody in there that is prepared to perform.
Something else is that we didn't get to celebrate our championship win from 2019 in 2020 like we had planned. We didn't get the chance to hang a banner here at the stadium. We had giveaways ordered and stuff to celebrate that we're going to be able to do early in the season this year.
We're still the reigning champions because we didn’t have baseball last year, so we still have the big trophy here. We're also going to celebrate our 80th year of playing professional baseball.
IFM: What kind of adjustments has the team made thanks to COVID-19?
KG: I want people to know that we're going to do whatever required of us to be safe. We want people to come out here and feel safe. I want people to come out here and book groups and have their summer parties and their employee picnics here.
Our staff is much smaller than it used to be. We did have to cut back without having a season last year, so we don't have the time to reach out to every business like we have in the past. So, we're hoping that people will take it upon themselves to call us and say, “Hey, what do you have going on out there that might be of benefit to our business or be of interest to us as we're looking for our summer entertainment?” We’re also interested in booking non-game events here on off days.
IFM: What kind of events will be available at the field during away games?
KG: Last year, the only thing that we had here for the most part was American Legion baseball, otherwise known as the Idaho falls Bandits. They will continue to play all their games here. So even with our expanded schedule, when we're on the road, they're going to be playing a lot of games here. Much like last year, we were going to run all the food and beverage for their games. So, if somebody wants to come out and watch a game, they could purchase a beer at the Legion games this year. We’ll also run our video boards for the Legion games now. We're encouraging people to come out and enjoy those games as well.
For more information about the Chukars visit their website at www.milb.com/idaho-falls or call 208-522-8363.
Click here to read the May issue of Idaho Falls Magazine.