Viniard steps out of batter's box

Blue Crabs' GM quits after 1st year

Friday, Oct. 10, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by GARY SMITH Southern Maryland Blue Crabs General Manager Mark Viniard, left, shares a laugh with owner Brooks Robinson at opening day for the new franchise May 2. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

Four days after the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs completed their inaugural season in winning fashion, the franchise suffered a loss among its brass.

Mark Viniard stepped down from his duties as general manager Sept. 25, saying the nature of the job was too overwhelming in maintaining his first priority as a family man.

Replacing Viniard as the Blue Crabs' brand new general manager is Chris Allen, no stranger to the organization.

Allen was the team's assistant general manager under Viniard since February.

"Yes, I did resign," Viniard confirmed in an e-mail, noting there was "nothing bad or juicy to report."

He added, "To put it simply, 70-hour work weeks, minor league baseball and the wear and tear that comes with it are not conducive to enjoying my family. My wife and son come first, and when I had worked in sports previously, I was a single man and much younger than I am now and actually loved the rush that working in pro sports provided. But with a family and fast-growing 3 1/2-year-old, who is very active, that was not a commitment I wanted to make any further. There were many times this season where I missed out on a lot of time with family, and it was really very stressful for me personally."

Allen, 35, brings experience to the Blue Crabs' front office. Before arriving in Southern Maryland, he was the chief operating officer of the independent South Coast League for two years. Prior to that position, Allen worked as the assistant general manager of the Houston Astros single-A affiliate Salem (Va.) in the Carolina League for a couple of years.

And he was a general manager for four and a half years of a North Carolina team in the Coastal Plain League, a summer amateur collegiate outfit.

"I'm excited about the position, and I think Mark and the entire staff laid a good foundation for a lot of growth," said Allen, who obtained his degree in sports management from Liberty University in Virginia and has basically been involved in the industry since graduating from college. "As far as Mark stepping down, it does come as a bit of a shock to me. But he has a family as I do, and his wife is a career woman so I do understand. When you get a little older, family comes first. I wish him all the best."

Like Viniard, Allen also has a young family with two boys, 7 and 3. Allen's wife is a stay-at-home mom, which enables him to commit to the long hours of the job, he said.

Viniard, who turned 40 in August, began his career in baseball management after his college days playing the sport. He initially started out as an intern with San Francisco single-A affiliate Clinton Giants in Iowa.

His general manager position with the Blue Crabs was more about the marketing and advertising aspects related to filling seats at Regency Furniture Stadium than the on-the-field baseball operations of the team.

"The final weekend of concerts really pushed me closer to the decision I knew I needed to make," Viniard said, referring to his role of overseeing the stadium as an entertainment venue. "I really did enjoy my time there, but at the end of the day, my family and personal well-being come first."

Opening Day Partners, the ownership group of the Blue Crabs and three other teams in the Atlantic League, was not surprised by Viniard's decision and has undergone a seamless transition with Allen accepting the job.

"Mark Viniard, who did a great job for us, submitted his resignation, citing what is a frequent case in our industry, that time constraints and time away from his family was more and more difficult for him," said Jon Danos, president and chief operating officer of ODP. "[Viniard's resignation] was not out of the blue. We had discussions with him from time to time about that. We understand his position. Mark is a professional. He didn't take the job thinking it was only one-and-done. He took the job with long-term interest in mind.

"He contributed a great deal in our inaugural season."

Viniard added, "In fairness to ODP and the timing of things, it was best for me to make the decision now rather than make hiring decisions for staff and budget decisions for 2009 when those decisions should be made by whoever ODP named as my successor."

About Allen coming on board, Danos said, "Chris is a veteran minor league executive, and he's been there the whole way with Mark. We're very pleased to have the depth to move him into that role without skipping a beat. Being entrenched in minor league baseball as we are, there are outside candidates who we could've looked to but we feel the best candidate is the one we've worked elbow-to-elbow with.

"Our operating group is a tight one, and Chris has participated in the strategy and laying down the strategy [for the Blue Crabs' growth]. He really was a no-brainer," Danos added.

Fans' fannies

in the seats

Increasing the fan base and community support is at the forefront of Allen's duties atop the Blue Crabs, continuing the role and marketing strategies of the team that were put in place under Viniard as it looks to next season.

The Blue Crabs were sixth among the league's eight teams in home attendance, averaging 3,277 people through the turnstiles each game.

Long Island led the league with over 6,000 fans per home contest, and Somerset and York, also owned by ODP, each hosted games in front of more than 5,000 people on average.

Danos cautioned that the Blue Crabs' home attendance cannot be viewed in the same light as the league's bigger-draw teams due to their stadiums' locations in larger metro areas or within city boundaries. Whereas the Blue Crabs, he indicated, is a regional-based club without a ballpark location in the middle of a city, resulting in a lack of amenities as a competitive market with daily media and the hubbub of commerce and restaurants within a block or two.

"We had an outstanding inaugural season," he said. "We were very pleased with the attendance and the ballpark experience. Some days, we were above our expectations [in attendance] and some days we fell below our expectations. Clearly, we exceeded our expectations throughout the year. We don't compare our attendance to other league attendance marks. There are 11 million people in the radius … where the Long Island Ducks play, and the sizes of the stadiums are different. We focus on the matrix part of Southern Maryland geographically.

"We do hope and expect to increase our attendance [for next year]."

Allen, who just assumed his new duties last week, already has an attendance goal in mind. He expects a sizeable jump in attendance numbers and the Blue Crabs' exposure in the region with the club moving out of its infancy status as a first-year organization.

"We're projecting at least a 15 percent increase by next year in attendance," he said. "I think that's very realistic, and I think we can exceed that. In the first year, you really don't know the market or have the numbers under your belt. It's a learning curve.

"Our only downfall is where the economy is, so discretionary income is not quite where everyone would like it to be. So we have to be cognizant of that and make sure our price point is where it needs to be."

dcogle@somdnews.com