40 years of baseball privilege
It’s 1974.
It’s hot, and the hands of time are ticking the day away. A 1972 Dodge Charger makes its way down a desolate road toward Fort Worth, Texas. The journey started 681 miles earlier in Carbondale, Illinois. There are no cell phones, and payphones cost a dime. Friday at 4:30 p.m. is not the best time to expect anyone to be in the office, let alone pick up a call. With time slipping away, the Dodge pulls over and the driver makes one last desperate call. One ring… Two rings… Three rings… The fear that it’s too late to catch someone so late in the day dissipates as a man answers the phone…
***
This is the beginning of a story I remember as relayed to me by an almost 40-year veteran in the baseball business, John Dittrich. John entered my world as the new GM for the Springfield Sliders, a team my family had just purchased. We were all relative new comers to baseball team ownership. We needed a flagship executive to get the franchise off the ground, and to do so in a hurry. We took over on April 1st and the season began on May 29th, so to say we were a bit hurried is an understatement.
Sitting before him were three Martin family members, all with various backgrounds and experiences. Shane, my nephew, was the main owner. Shane had a few movie multiplexes to his name, a history of successful businesses and a lifelong, avid baseball fan. He had researched purchasing a team for many, many, years before he jumped in feet first. Then there was my brother Dennis, Shane’s dad. He was retired from a 30+ year teaching profession and was a stickler for details and organization. Finally, there was myself, the IT background, anti-nerd extrovert with an unabashed personality just waiting to unleash the hounds and get started.
John took the reins as our leader. We eagerly lapped up the information overload thrust upon us in the first two weeks. With (long) meeting after meeting to get the club off the ground, we now had a mission to accomplish. We had just eight weeks to go from baseball virgins to putting one of the best products on the field in our league. Sure, I’m a bit biased, but we took pride in our hard work and we wanted the fans to have the best experience we could provide. John brought to the table the knowledge of what needed to be done, and in no time we were a legitimately functioning ball club.
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The man who picked up that phone so many years ago was none other than Bobby Bragan. He began his seven-year Major League playing career with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1940 as a shortstop. In 1943, he played his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers, converting to catcher.
As some old time baseball fans may remember, 1947 was the year that Jackie Robinson entered into the league with the Dodgers. Bobby Bragan was one of a group of white players who signed a petition against Robinson’s presence on the team, trying to prevent him breaking the baseball color line. After just one trip on the road with him, Bobby remarked about the quality of Jackie as a player and as a man. He quickly disregarded Jackie’s skin color and saw him only as a man; a teammate. Many years later, in 1965, Bobby even spoke at Jackie’s funeral; the prejudices of long ago becoming a distant memory.
Bobby Bragan went on to become a major league coach and manager of three MLB teams (Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves). His managerial career was forever immortalized as the “picture of the week” in a 1954 edition of Time Magazine; Bobby, then the manager of the Pacific Coast League’s Hollywood Stars, was photographed lying on the ground at the feet of umpire Emmett Ashford, later the first African-American to umpire in the major leagues.
After hanging up his uniform, Bragan spent another 40+ years as an executive in baseball, heading the Texas League, the National Association of Pro Baseball Leagues and then the Texas Rangers. He formally ended his professional baseball career on August 16, 2005 in Fort Worth, when he managed his beloved Fort Worth Cats for one day. At 87, he was exactly one day older than baseball’s oldest manager ever, Connie Mack. He was ejected in the third inning, making him also the oldest manager (in any sport) to be tossed from a game. This was the man to have a great influence on a 23-year-old kid named John Dittrich, fresh out of college and hungry for a job in baseball.
As John tells the story, he wanted to be in baseball any way he could. There were three basic jobs in baseball that he wished to pursue: First, as a player, but he quickly learned that to be a player takes a thing called talent, a quality of which John had none. Second was broadcasting, but again, this required a talent that John did not possess. This left only one avenue – management – and this is where John would eventually thrive for almost four decades. John once said “It has been a privilege to drive my car to a ballpark to go to work every day for nearly 40 years.”
When Bobby Bragan answered that phone, he set into motion a career that would seemingly transcend time. Closing up the office and taking that last phone call of the day changed John’s world forever. He had previously written every MLB team and received no response. Who wanted an unproven, unknown nobody on their team? This is a game of experienced professionals, after all. Bobby had written John back and said “I’m sorry, I don’t have any positions open, but if you’re ever in the Fort Worth area, stop in and see me.” Little did Bobby know that John took him quite literally, jumping in his car and driving straight through to Fort Worth, some 10 hours away. He found himself at that payphone dropping in a dime. Being a poor college kid, this was close to the last of his money.
“Hello?” Bobby answered.
“This is John Dittrich. You said if I was ever in town…”
Bobby told John that he was just on his way out of the office and if he wanted to talk further, he could meet him at his house because he was having friends over for their anniversary party. He eagerly made his way to the house. Could this be his opportunity?
When John got there, he was warmly welcomed inside, and this is where he found Bobby Bragan in the back of the house playing old show tunes on a piano with a house full of people he had never met in his life.
John’s dad owned a tavern in Irwin, Illinois, and he had heard these same old songs in his childhood that were being played by Bobby. His bedroom – his home – was above the bar where they too had a piano. With the sounds and smells from the tavern permeating the room, John learned the very same songs they were playing with Bobby. John fit right in, chiming in and singing most of the night. When all was said and done, John had procured himself a job as Bobby’s receptionist. This was to be the humble beginning of a long career in baseball.
***
John and I hit it off immediately. The fact that there were many years separating us in age made no difference. We throw movie scenes and Saturday Night Live references around the office constantly. He has a great sense of humor, which is required in this business. You cannot work the hours that we work without having something like that to fall back on. Some days start at 5 a.m. and end with the last lock on the gate at 11 p.m. Sometimes we go several weeks in a row without a day off. Anyone who works in this field knows the hours of commitment and dedication that is required to get the job done consistently, and especially to the high expectations that we put upon ourselves to give the fans more than they pay for or expect.
In time, John would coin a nickname for me based on all of the duties that I perform and the many hats that I wear as Director of Community Relations. These duties include promotions, sales, radio broadcasting, on-field activities, public speaker, tech guy (of course), and general “go to man” when something has to be done immediately. He calls me “The Franchise,” a name that has stuck and I proudly wear as my alter ego.
What I found in John was not just a “baseball guy,” but a prime example of what a “baseball guy” really should be: someone who is approachable, personable and engaging, all while being friendly with a “get it done and do it right” attitude. He knows all the players, stats, teams and history of the game. In fact, many times we’ll be at our favorite watering hole after a game and someone will have a baseball or trivia question. John is right there with the answer before that iPhone can bring up Google. They can’t stump him. That is a baseball guy.
John has many accolades in the world of baseball. He was a part of several pennant and championship winning teams in various leagues over the years, including Amarillo in 1976, Calgary in 1987, Columbus in 1992, 1994 and 1995, Fargo in 1996-through-1998, Schaumburg in 1999, Fort Worth in 2005-through-2007, and Joliet in 2011. He’s also a seven-time Executive of the Year, starting with Greensboro in 1989 and Columbus in 1995, Fargo in 1997, Schaumburg in 1999, the Chicago Pitch & Hit Club in 1999 and 2006, and with Joliet in 2011.
The list, quite literally, goes on and on. The above achievements are just a handful of professional accolades. His work includes several charitable activities that he has been involved with, such as the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation out of Fort Worth where he is on the board of and has presided over in the past.
At this point, John is certainly in the twilight of his career, but he still has many hooks in the waters of baseball. You can’t take that kind of passion out of him. However, he is reducing his responsibilities so that he can spend time with his wife of 42 years, Lois who, incidentally, manages part of the Joliet Slammers front office in Joliet, Illinois; a team to which John is currently part owner of as well.
***
To say that I am fortunate to have this man assisting me in cutting my teeth is an understatement. Many years ago when Bobby took John under his wing, teaching him what he needed to know about baseball, it wasn’t just about the game. It was also about life, character and taking care of the people around you that gives you the right to be in this profession.
John calls Bobby Bragan his mentor and second father. I look upon John as the same figure in my current venture into the world of baseball. I will forever be grateful for his tutelage, advice and genuinely approachable personality. I have learned how to be great in this business through John’s insight and his ability to see potential in people and groom them for such greatness.
It is with a great sense of pride that I not only call John Dittrich my mentor, but my lifelong friend as well. If you ever get a chance to meet him, tell him The Franchise sent you.
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