Brilliant and Fantastic. I am a solid baseball fan and fairly well versed in college baseball. I knew of Ron Fraser but that story just blew me away. That is the first words I think of in reading the book by David Brauer. It is a well researched book with plenty of stories about the life of and experience of Ron Fraser, former Head Baseball coach at Miami University.
Fraser was an innovator and an excellent motivator along with a top promotions person. When Fraser was hired at Miami with his experience being as the Head Coach of the Dutch National Team. The field was full of rocks, the team was bad, so bad they University was considering dropping the program but they hired Ron Fraser to take over the helm. He was basically in shock when he arrived to find a poor diamond, no scoreboard, no lights and most importantly no fan base.
Fraser became the PT Barnum of college baseball. He was always thinking of ways to advance the program. I a few years, he was the first to use bat girls, which were called Sugarcanes. He took pride in keeping them knowledgeable and dressed and manicured well. He wanted to reach families.
He had the first hat night in baseball. The list of his promotions is many. The book will get you in touch with many more.
Fraser made connections in the city that helped him put in lights and a scoreboard. That connection stayed with him throughout his time in Miami. The people and media began to take notice as this was now the place to be seen at in the Miami sports scene.
With this came media notice with games on the radio and later televised the Hurricanes games. This was not done anywhere else. A priority of Ron Fraser was family entertainment. He centered his promotions around getting the families to the games. He stated if the restrooms were clean, the food was good and the ballpark and the kids were having fun, then the moms would approve of their kids attending the games.
This is one of the best books I have read in many years. It is informative and delightful for this Central Illinois baseball fan. I have new respect for Hurricanes baseball.
I would like to thank the University of Nebraska Press for send the book to me in exchange for a fair and honest review.
The Author:
David Brauer is a communications, public relations, and marketing professional with more than two decades in the sports industry. His experience includes leadership in the NCAA Division 1 athletics and summer Collegiate baseball. A former college publicist at two Division 1 schools. he is a longtime college baseball aficionado and twenty plus year College World Series season ticket holder. He is a University of Illinois graduate, who currently lives in Mahomet, Illinois. with his wife and two children.
