Photo by Mark Wagoner

It’s 6:55 on a spring evening inside NewBridge Bank Park. A warm breeze flows through the capacity crowd as the last traces of sunlight ricochet off Greensboro’s soaring skyline. The hot dogs are sizzling; the beer is fl owing; and the hometown ’Hoppers are set to take the fi eld. In short, a picture of baseball perfection is on display, and the game hasn’t even started. While it’s a welcomed site, it’s certainly nothing new. The franchise has been rolling off attendance records throughout its three-year existence. And if tonight’s crowd is any indication, the team is well on its way to another record-setting season.

So just how exactly did Greensboro become home to one of America’s premier minor-league franchises? The answer lies in the people behind the scenes — the people who arrive long before the park gates open and leave long after the last light dims. From top to bottom, the organization features some of the most creative and dedicated minds in all of baseball. It’s our pleasure to introduce you to a few of the folks who have made the Grasshoppers the biggest ticket in town.

Name: Donald Moore
Position: President and GM
In the corner of Donald Moore’s pristine office at NewBridge Bank Park hangs an article from Golf World magazine titled “Caddy, By Appointment Only.” At first glance, the piece seems a bit disconnected with the rest of the office. After all, Moore is the president of a minor-league baseball team, not a golf pro.

But this isn’t just any article to Moore — it’s his journalistic debut. An avid golfer, Moore served as a part-time caddy on the PGA Tour in the ’80s and ’90s. Wanting to share his experience with the masses, Moore decided to write a letter to the editor of Golf World, asking if he could write a piece on his encounters in the world of caddying.  “I’d never written anything in my life, so I assumed I’d never hear back,” Moore recalls. “A week later, the magazine gave me a call and said ‘Let’s make this thing happen.’ So I did.”

The article’s publication represents much more than one man’s caddy accounts. It serves as a synopsis of Donald Moore’s character; a man whose last name truly defines his take on baseball, business, and life in general. In this instance, Moore thought he could help out Golf World by lending his expertise. In the case of the Greensboro Grasshoppers, Moore thought he could help out a franchise by lending his heart and soul.

It was 2001 when Moore got his first taste of minor-league baseball. Jim Melvin, one of Greensboro’s most-beloved mayors, phoned Moore to see if he had any interest in getting involved with the town’s Class-A team, the Greensboro Bats. At the time, Moore was a successful real-estate developer with a knack for making things happen. “I got to thinking ‘This is my chance to be a part of something that has the potential to be big — huge even,’ ” Moore recalls. “To me, that made it worth the risk.”

So Moore took a leap — or in this case — hop of faith, and accepted the role of team president. He then headed up a grass-roots effort to pump life back into Greensboro baseball. “We got things turned around the old-fashioned way. I might not be real smart, but I’m not afraid of hard work,” Moore says, laughing.

Behind his ingenuity, the Grasshoppers have transformed into a minor-league mecca, earning Moore three consecutive GM of the Year awards. Meanwhile, Moore shows no signs of slowing down, insisting his love for the community won’t let him.

“I’m unique in that I run a minor-league team in the town I grew up in,” Moore says. “A lot of times, people in my position are in this business strictly for the money. But that’s not the case with this organization, and that’s the real beauty of it all.”

Name: Katie Dannemiller
Position: Vice President
With a walkie-talkie in one hand and a phone in the other, one thing is clear: Katie Dannemiller is a doer. Recently named the South Atlantic League’s Woman of the Year, Dannemiller has earned the reputation as one of the top baseball executives in the country. Taking her distinction and professionalism into account, it’s hard to imagine that Dannemiller’s entry into baseball came in the form of a space cat.

In 1996, the longtime Ohio resident got wind that a minor-league baseball franchise was starting up in her hometown of Akron. Intrigued, Dannemiller contacted the team about a possible position, only to learn that the organization had filled all of its openings. Well, almost all of its openings. “The only job that was open was the team mascot,” Dannemiller says, laughing. “The starting salary was something like $12,000.”

While the job had its share of bad qualities, Dannemiller felt the costume came with a silver lining. “I thought, ‘Here’s an opportunity to get my foot in the door,’ ” she says. “I was confident I’d be able to move up rapidly in the organization if I could get in on the ground level.”

Putting her pride aside, Dannemiller became the Akron Areos’ space cat, and introduced the mascot at a preseason press conference. “I had this helmet with these big red ears sticking up,” Dannemiller says. “It was quite an experience.”

As luck would have it, the first time Dannemiller donned the outfit would also be the last. She was instantly promoted to director of community relations, primarily because the person who was originally hired never showed up. From there, Dannemiller worked her way to the pinnacle of the baseball world, serving as the executive assistant to Cleveland Indians’ general manager, Mark Shapiro.
Little by little, however, Dannemiller started missing minor-league baseball and its hands-on approach. After six years with the Indians, she opted to leave the big leagues and take a job with the Lake County Captains — a team in the Grasshoppers’ league. It was here that Dannemiller met Donald Moore.

The two sparked up a quick friendship, sharing similar ideals and management strategies. Then in 2005, Moore asked Dannemiller to become the vice president of baseball operations with the ’Hoppers. After touring the Triad, Dannemiller decided to leave her Ohio roots behind and start fresh in Greensboro.

“I was nervous at first,” Danemiller recalls. “I hadn’t moved out of my hometown in 38 years. But I just fell in love with the community and its enthusiasm for baseball. By all means, I’m not homesick.”

Name: Jake Holloway
Position: Assistant GM of Stadium Operations/Head Groundskeeper
Go to any Grasshoppers game, and you’ll likely see a lone head popping up just beyond the centerfield wall. The curious figure is Jake Holloway, the Grasshoppers’ grounds-and-maintenance guru. Having worked in the organization for more than a decade, it’s a spot that Holloway feels he’s rightfully earned. “For me, that’s the best seat in the house,” Holloway says. “Back there, I can relax a little bit and take in the whole game-day atmosphere.”

Relaxing is something Holloway doesn’t get to do very often. As team handyman, Holloway is responsible for nearly every aesthetic feature inside the ballpark, whether it’s the field, the stands, even the dirt. In short, “If it’s broke, I fix it,” he says.

Holloway possesses an almost impractical work ethic, abiding by a personal motto to “Strive for perfection, knowing you can never achieve it.” Considering the brilliance of NewBridge Bank Park, it’s safe to say that Holloway comes pretty darn close. “We feel like there are four things people will remember when they come to ballgames,” Holloway says. “The field, the scoreboard, the cleanliness, and whether or not they had a good time.”

Luckily for the Grasshoppers, all four of those things fall safely under Holloway’s scrupulous supervision.

Originally from Tampa, Florida, Holloway came to Greensboro in 1997 as an intern with the grounds crew at War Memorial Stadium. Within two years, he was named head groundskeeper, a position he happily still holds today.

“On this level of minor-league ball, it seems like everyone is striving to get to that next level,” Holloway says. “But not me; I’m not going anywhere. I honestly don’t think there’s a better organization than the Grasshoppers, or a better town than Greensboro.”

The evening’s first pitch is fired, and sure enough, Holloway is perched atop his personal grandstand — a spot that’s allowed him to see everything from grand slams, to triple plays, to walk-off homeruns. But when asked what he enjoys seeing the most, Holloway hesitates, then decides to take the focus off the field and into the stands.

“I’ll tell you what I love seeing more than anything, and that’s families out at the ballpark enjoying the game together,” Holloway says. “My father passed away when I was young, so I never really got to experience that whole ‘father-son at the ball game’ thing. So right before the first pitch is thrown, I’ll look into the stands, and pick out those father-son bonds taking place — it’s really something special to see.”

Holloway continues: “It’s that natural high that makes it all worthwhile. Looking up and seeing families coming together — that’s the highlight of my day.”

Name: Edwin Rodriguez
Position: Team Manager
Call it coming full-circle. In 1982, Edwin Rodriguez came to Greensboro as a promising young prospect in the New York Yankees’ farm system. It was here where Rodriguez played alongside the likes of Scott Bradley and Don Mattingly as a member of the Greensboro Hornets.

Fast-forward 26 years, and Rodriguez finds himself back in Greensboro, this time as a manager. While he admits that baseball in the city has undergone an incredible makeover, he says there are some things that remain. “Back in 1982, the fan support for this team was incredible,” Rodriguez says. “That’s something that hasn’t changed one bit.”

Another thing that remains unchanged? Rodriguez’s love for the game of baseball.

After a nine-year professional career in the San Diego Padres’ organization, Rodriguez got his first taste of off-the-field operations as a scout for the Minnesota Twins.
Then, in the late 1990s, Rodriguez returned to the field as a hitting coach with the Princeton Devil Rays, Tampa Bay’s Class A affiliate. A few years later, Rodriguez was named the team’s manager.
During this time, Rodriguez helped develop some of the Devil Rays’ brightest stars, including Rocco Baldelli and Jonny Gomes. But there was one prospect in particular that sticks out in Rodriguez’s mind. “The one truly special talent I got to coach was Josh Hamilton,” Rodriguez says.

Hamilton, an All-American from Raleigh, was selected with the very first pick of the 1999 MLB Draft by the Devil Rays. Hamilton’s first stop was in Princeton, where Rodriguez coached him through a successful rookie campaign. Then, seemingly in the blink of an eye, Hamilton suffered a highly publicized implosion. “Josh went through some tough times — drugs really got the best of him for a while. I hated it for him, because he truly is a great kid,” Rodriguez says. While Hamilton is an extreme case of good kid gone bad, it draws attention to a reality of minor-league managing that often goes unnoticed — something Rodriguez and his staff refer to as “baby-sitting.”

“When a lot of the players get here, it’s the first time they’ve ever been away from home,” Rodriguez says. “Because they’re professionals, many people think these guys are mature. But in a lot of cases, they’re still kids who are dealing with an incredible amount of pressure.”

That’s why Rodriguez feels his primary mission is to help his players adjust to the pressure that comes along with being a professional athlete. Rodriguez contends that at season’s end, his players’ development — not his record — is the most meaningful thing to him. “I try and make sure each one of my guys improves,” Rodriguez says. “Not just on the field, but in their strength of character. If we can get them to be better players and better people, then I think we’ve done our job.”

Name: Spaz
Position: On-Field Host
Never before has a name and personality matched up this perfectly.
Meet Spaz, the unquestionable “No. 1 fan” for the Greensboro Grasshoppers. His lone mission: to keep the crowd inside NewBridge Bank Park entertained. To do so, Spaz summons an endless wave of energy that, if bottled up, could likely fuel an entire spacecraft.

One inning he’s on top of the dugout, dancing to Nelly’s “Shake Ya Tailfeather.” The next, he’s decked out in biker gear, hosting a tricycle race in the middle of the infield. It seems the only thing Spaz won’t be doing throughout the course of a game is sitting down. “People always ask me, ‘Where do you get all that energy?’ ” Spaz says. “I tell them it’s simple — I get it from the fans. My job is to make people smile. How could you not get excited about that?”

While his official title is simply “on-field host,” Spaz represents much more to the people of Greensboro. His enlivening spirit and unwavering dedication serve as microcosms of the entire Grasshoppers franchise. As you watch him parade around the ballpark, it’s hard not to be a just a tad bit envious. Here’s a guy that loves coming to work.

It’s not until you delve a little deeper into Spaz’s personal life that you start to see the man behind the madness. Believe it or not, being the team’s No.1 fan is actually job No. 2 for Spaz. By day, Spaz is a reserved and admittedly quiet employee at Greensboro College. The contrast in character seems to throw off some of his supporters. “People at work always ask me, ‘Should I call you Spaz?’ ” he explains. “I always say no. While I’m at work, I go by my real name. Spaz is just a character I play.”

The character’s origin dates back to his days as an intern with the New Jersey Nets, when Spaz earned school credit by simply “acting crazy” at home games.

So what brought the character to Greensboro? In short, Donald Moore’s sense of humor. “I was looking at some jobs down here, and needed to put a portfolio together,” Spaz recalls. “But instead of making a normal portfolio, I decided to do things a little bit different.”

Different, in this case, meant composing a portfolio out of crayons and construction paper. In the end, Spaz had created a résumé that looked like it came straight out of a kindergarten art class. It was a bold move, but in many ways, it was brilliant. The portfolio caught the attention of Moore, who offered Spaz a job as the team’s on-field host — a position he’s proudly held for the past five years.

Name: Miss Babe Ruth
Position: Bat Girl
The national anthem has wrapped up, the teams have been introduced, and the players have taken the field; in short, it’s game time inside NewBridge Bank Park. But as the first pitch is fired, the ballpark is inexplicably quiet. While you can’t quite hear crickets, you can’t hear many cheers either.

That is, until Greensboro’s leading lady wags her way out onto the field.

“Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the one, the only, Miss Babe Ruth!” exclaims announcer Jim Scott. In an instant, the decibel level inside the ballpark goes from average to explosive.

Talk about a home-field advantage.

The puppy love is nothing new to Miss Ruth, however. The two-year-old black lab has been one of the Grasshoppers’ main attractions since she was just a few weeks old. “Babe is quite a unique dog,” says Katie Dannemiller. “She’s amazingly smart. In fact, I think she’s part human.”

Miss Babe Ruth is the prized pooch of team president Donald Moore. A dog fanatic, Moore would often bring Babe into the office when she was a puppy, much to the delight of his fellow employees. “You can’t underestimate how nice it is to have a dog in the office,” Dannemiller says.

Seeing how popular she was in the workplace, Moore got an idea: If Babe was this big of a hit in the front office, maybe he should bring her out onto the field? He ditched the “give a dog a bone” approach and instead gave Babe a bat, along with a series of training sessions at Winston-Salem’s Shady Oaks Kennel. It was there that Babe honed her catching, retrieving, and base-running abilities. Within months, she emerged as bat girl extraordinaire.

Aside from fetching Louisville Sluggers, Babe comes equipped with several other tricks. She carries balls out to the umpire in her specially made “Babe Tin.” She also takes a victory lap around the bases after each game. But more importantly, she gives fans another reason to cheer. After all, who doesn’t like to root for the underdog?