Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving


A favorite day of mine for sure - I am thankful for a lot of things, and one of them is being part of the Walla Walla community.

A progress report: players are getting signed (will be announcing more in the next 10 days), we reached an agreement with Mark Michaud to be our pitching coach, and the seating manifest is almost built, meaning we can start seating those who have paid deposits on season tickets. We have a few hats remaining from the initial launch ($12 + tax, call 509.522.BALL if you want one - they will be the only hat with "Inaugural Season 2010" embroidered on the cap), and working to have a select order of golf shirts and t-shirts (men and women) for the holidays.

Check back soon! Have a safe holiday...

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

A quick post


So that you know I haven't checked out...we announced our first three player signings yesterday - bringing 3 Big XII guys in from the University of Kansas - a pair of solid middle infielders who can contribute offensively and a catcher who saw some significant playing time for a program that was a NCAA Regional contender out of a great baseball conference. You can read the release here: http://wallawallasweets.com/press/transactions/

We are excited to get a little Rock Chalk in Walla Walla.

Friday, November 13, 2009

And We Are Now Official...

Had a great launch yesterday. John, Jeff, Greg, Peter, and Scott flew in from Seattle, and our league president Ken Wilson joined us as we launched in front of over 500 Sharpstein Elementary School students and teachers. We are officially the Sweets, and here is a great story in the Union-Bulletin:

http://www.union-bulletin.com/articles/2009/11/13/sports/091113s1sweets.txt

Here is the Studio Simon-created Brand Identity:




I think we have made an onion look good!

Now we are 24/7 with ticket sales, sponsorships, and player development. I will start with player announcements early next week. Before signing off, many thanks publicly need to be sent to the folks at Sharpstein Elementary and WWPS - a dynamic public school system that was enthusiastic about being a part of this launch...

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Murphy's Law...

States that when you are prepared to address 500 school-age children and the media, that you get bronchitis. Of course...

Sunday, November 8, 2009

SBC Meetings In Charlotte, NC

I am in Charlotte, NC for the SBC (Summer Baseball Conference) Meetings. It is in essence the winter meetings for teams that are at our level of play, except a bit smaller of a scale. I actually like the fact that it is a little smaller because I get to really pick the brain (and share ideas with) owners and GMs of other franchises, more so than we ever did at the Baseball Winter Meetings (plus the food is better). You can read more about here: http://www.summerballconference.com/.

We are down to less than a week before our launch. We are putting the finishing touches on the press conference now, and look forward to unveiling the name and the brand there. It should be fun - we will have over 500 students at Sharpstein Elementary School in Walla Walla plus dozens of community leaders, the media, etc.

I am excited to actually start using our name and brand - it has been two months in the development process, it is time to start sharing it. I will share this: Studio Simon is the design firm we used, and you can see their work here: www.studiosimon.com. It will be fun.