With the 2020 baseball season canceled, GreenJackets staff created a whole new ballgame
The pandemic was hard on many local businesses and sadly, some didn’t survive. But others made it through that unsettled period and are still alive. Over the next several weeks we’ll look at their stories and what made the difference for them.
When you’re a baseball team and there’s no baseball season, you have to do some thinking outside the box. That’s what the Augusta GreenJackets had to do when the pandemic shut down the season in 2020.
“We had to reinvent ourselves,” GreenJackets vice president Tom Denlinger said. “Losing the baseball season was a huge blow. We had to think outside the box and I credit our staff for that.”
Fortunately, the GreenJackets had a brand new park that opened in 2018 and featured a lot of possibilities.
“SRP Park was always designed for community events, a 365-day-a-year venue,” Denlinger said. “2020 was an example of how it could be used.”
Like most businesses, Denlinger and his staff thought the “15 days to flatten the curve” lockdown would be short-lived.
“I don’t think it hit us until the opening game was canceled,” he said. “That’s when we had to pivot.”
Among the first items on the to-do list was to figure out how to use all the food that was stocked up for the season. It began with creating family meal kits for those financially affected by the lockdown and then became part of the WOW! Club tasting series that has become a popular event.
When the park’s food distributor needed an outlet to sell chicken when many restaurants were shut down, SRP hosted several sales of boxes of breasts and thighs at low prices. Every Thursday the park opened for three hours for a happy hour.
It hosted First Baptist of Augusta’s Christmas pageant, some dance recitals and lots of graduation events. The park’s outfield scoreboard was utilized for movie nights, an event so popular it has continued, and the staff created a nine-hole miniature golf course in the Kids Zone.
“We did things we wouldn’t have predicted we do,” Denlinger said.
Eventually baseball returned, although with younger players, as the park played host to Legion baseball games and high school tournaments. That allowed Denlinger to bring back some staff that had been furloughed.
“We weren’t making money but we were able to hedge everything,” he said.
There was even some doubt about whether the minor league season would resume in 2021, but it did and one change to the GreenJackets made a big difference. At the end of 2020 the GreenJackets ended their long-time affiliation with the San Francisco Giants and became the Low a minor league affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. That led them to be first in attendance of all Low A teams in 2021 and in the top 20 of all minor league baseball across the country.
“There’s always a silver lining,” Denlinger said. “At the end of the day, we were No. 1 in attendance and we were fortunate to have our business community and sponsors rally around us.”
Denlinger said the pandemic experience opened the eyes of the event staff, as well as those of the community, of the possibilities of what can happen at SRP Park. Several of the events started in 2020, like the tasting series and the outfield movie nights, are continuing because of their popularity.
“Showing fans what’s available is how you continue to grow,” Denlinger said. “Now it’s an experience; even if you’re not a baseball fan you can still enjoy the game.”
