In continuing with my “Get to Know the Affiliates,” Harrisburg Senators Assistant GM, Baseball Operations and Broadcaster, Mark Mattern, agreed to answer a few questions.
Nationals Farm Authority (NFA): Please tell me something about your background. How did you get your start in minor league baseball?
Mark Mattern (MM): I am a local guy who had to get away to get a job here in Harrisburg. After college, I worked at a radio station in Wildwood, New Jersey and had a chance to do high school sports on radio and TV. I also worked for the Wildwood Aces of the United States Basketball League for two seasons before landing a broadcast position with the Harrisburg Senators in 1987.
NFA: What are your responsibilities as Assist GM, Baseball Operations? How does your job differ from that of a MLB GM?
MM: I oversee everything we do here that has to do with broadcasting, public relations and community relations. That would include putting together the game program, press releases, player appearances, etc. The main difference between our work here and a MLB GM is that we have no responsibilities concerning the player’s performances. That is all handled by the major league team.
NFA: What sort of things do you do in the off-season? How does this differ from your in-season work?
MM: Getting ready for the upcoming season is the most difficult here in the minor leagues. Everyone sells and getting all the inventory sold for the next year keeps everyone very busy. My main off-season job is putting together the game program. Writing, designing and making sure all of our advertisers are taken care of takes up a lot of the time during the off-season. Team press releases and the web site continue both in season and during the off-season. Of course, broadcasting the games is the part I enjoy the most. Too bad that doesn’t continue year ‘round.
NFA: In addition to your GM work, you also have called over 2,000 games on the radio for the Senators. What are some of the highlights you can recall from all of those broadcasts?
MM: This is my 21st season broadcasting for the Senators, so there is a long list of great memories. Milton Bradley’s championship series, game winning, walk-off grand slam home run in 1999 is, far and away, the greatest moment in team history. In the time I have been here, we won six championships and all were a blast. We won four championships in a row (1996 to 1999), no team in our league has ever done that. Opening day 1987 and winning the championship in that year, our first in Harrisburg, ranks right up there.
NFA: You’ve been with the Senators through their affiliations with the Pirates, Expos, and now Nationals, who are some of the best players you can recall playing for Harrisburg? Best personalities?
MM: Vladimir Guerrero. That should say it all. We have never had another player who was more fun to watch than Vlady. He could do it all here in 1996 and continues to be one of the greatest players to this day. We have had six Eastern League MVP’s in our 20 seasons. Now let me see if I can name them all: Wes Chamberlain, Mark Grudzielanek, Vlady, Matt Stairs, Cliff Floyd and Andy Tracy. Some of the best pitchers included Kirk Rueter, Tony Armas Jr., Javier Vazquez, Joey Eischen and Randy Tomlin. Wait, a few other players. I need to add Rondell White, Tommy Gregg, Brad Wilkerson and, probably my all-time favorite player, Jamey Carroll.
Sorry, one more, Ryan Zimmerman, he is just a special player and person.
NFA: What sort of impact have the presence of a local MLB team had on your marketing, attendance, etc?
MM: Having the Nationals in our back yard has been a real plus because it is so easy for our fans to follow players that have made it to the big leagues. As far as marketing and attendance, that’s very hard to gauge. I can tell you one thing, we see so much more Nationals stuff here than we ever did when we were with the Expos.
NFA: Have you seen an increase in media coverage given the affiliation with the Nationals? Are there more visits from DC area media than there were from Montreal?
MM: Night and Day here. Now that we are with the Nationals, there are a lot more highlights from the Nationals games on TV in this market. When the major league team was in Montreal, it was like they didn’t even exist.
We were with the Expos for 14 seasons and I can’t recall one media member from Montreal visiting our park. Over the past two years, the DC media is here all the time. I also talk with guys from the DC media all the time, giving updates. They also visit our team when we play in Bowie.
It makes the players feel more connected with the big league team. That is a positive for a double-A player.
NFA: With the Nationals stated focus on rebuilding the farm system, how does this change your job (if at all)?
MM: It really doesn’t change my job at all. But, if I was a Senators fan, and I am, I would be really excited about what is going on. I was looking at the Baseball America’s Top 30 Prospects on your site and it is very exciting that 16 of the players were not on that list last year. We have no control over the players sent to Harrisburg, but winning is fun. Things are going in the right direction.
NFA: What sort of things can we expect to see at City Island in 2007? Any new promotions? Returning promotions?
MM: One thing that will be returning to Commerce Bank Park in 2007 is FUN. We treat each game as an event and we need the fans to enjoy there time with us. All the standard giveaways will be back and a few new ones will be added. We have also created FanJam. This is a group of young, energetic kids who will entertain our fans while they are in our ballpark. This group will also be used to get out into the community to try to make even more people aware of Senators’ baseball.
Thank you Mark for your time
