For a college student, landing a job in their field before they’ve even graduated is a huge, rare accomplishment. But how many undergrads can say they’ve gone straight from college to being the general manager of a baseball team?
Mandi Adee was a senior majoring in sports management and pitching for the Franklin Pierce softball team when her professor approached her with an big opportunity. The Empire League, an unaffiliated, semi-pro baseball league, was branching out, and they needed a general manager for the New Hampshire Wild, a new team which would play its home games at FPU.
“It was a surprising shock,” Adee said over the phone Wednesday, in between tying up loose ends for this weekend’s season opener.
Aside from Adee, the Wild have locked down a manager, Jerry Gonzalez, who had a run in the Los Angeles Angels’ minor league system before turning to coaching. With Gonzalez and Adee aboard, the team was able to finalize a roster, and the Wild will take the field this Friday for a home opener series against the Watertown Bucks of New York.
Many Empire League players are former minor leaguers looking for another shot, so they can definitely play, and the Wild look to bring a pretty entertaining brand of baseball this summer at Pappas Field. But even with a good team, Adee knows it won’t be easy to build a fanbase right away. With that in mind, she hopes to make the games a special experience for attendees.
“We want to make it more than a baseball game,” Adee said. “We want to make it where the fans can interact with the players, and in between innings they’re not just sitting there. We want to get the players involved with fans.”
The Wild will have a promotion nearly every night of the week; this weekend will appropriately be college-themed, with games of cornhole, can jam and water pong available for fans to play.
The Wild’s five-game series with Watertown is Friday and Saturday at 6:30 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m. and Monday and Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. For more information, visit wildprobaseball.com.