by David Chapman
Staff Writer
There wasn’t the smell of hot dogs or audible cracks of the bat during Monday’s Meninak meeting, but baseball was still in the air. The actual game wasn’t until later, but Jacksonville Suns President Peter Bragan Jr. visited the organization Monday to share all things baseball during the weekly meeting.
“Your Jacksonville Suns, 2009 edition, have somewhat stumbled out of the gates,” said Bragan during his introduction. “But the (Florida) Marlins (the team’s parent organization) have some young tremendous talent and we’re looking forward to the second part of the season.”
While Bragan explained that injuries to young stars and starting pitching call-ups to the big leagues has affected the consistency and success on the field, off the field the organization is doing well despite the economy.
Rain has affected many games thus far, but the Suns still lead the Southern League in attendance and are on pace to break the 400,000 mark for the season, he said. While it’s still too early to tell if the team will break the all-time mark of more than 420,000, things are going well on that front.
Advertising, too, has been steady, especially compared to what Bragan and his staff were anticipating heading into the year.
“It’s off a little bit but we were pleasantly surprised,” he said. “Before the year we thought it could be off as much as 25 percent, but it’s not nearly that bad ... it’s about where it was last year, and we’re still soliciting.”
What is still off, though, is the hospitality suites. Once filled by the larger corporations and banks for parties, the third-floor section are now much quieter.
“It’s not doing much,” admitted Bragan.
Following his state-of-the-team report, Bragan talked community involvement and lauded Meninak members for the work they do before discussing his own “Casey’s Challenge” efforts to elementary school students in the area. Bragan, a reading advocate, challenges area students during school trips to memorize Ernest Thayer’s poem of baseball lore, “Casey at the Bat.” By doing so and reciting it, the children earn a bat or glove, but for Bragan it’s the nonmaterial prize they receive that he is most proud.
“You can see it does so much for their self esteem and confidence,” he said. “If going out and doing this turns their attention to reading more even a little bit, it’s worth the effort to me.”
For Meninak President Bunky Johnson, the annual visit from Bragan is one of his highlights of the year.
“I’m one of their biggest fans,” said Johnson. “The Suns are great for this city and I know a lot of others probably wish they had the organization.
“A lot of times executives sit behind a desk and you never see them in the community ... but you see Pedro at the games and if you don’t, it’s strange. He is Jacksonville Suns baseball.”
356-2466