‘It’s like Christmas’: Behind the scenes of Opening Day for the Wichita Wind Surge

Nearly 9,000 fans filed into Riverfront Stadium on a calm Friday evening this past week to watch the Wichita Wind Surge open the 2024 season.

The main event ended in disappointment, a 6-4 loss to the Frisco RoughRiders, but for many of the employees working in Wichita, nothing could take away from Opening Day.

“For those of us who work in baseball, this is like Christmas,” said Tim Grubbs, the Wind Surge media relations director.

Here are the stories from Opening Day from the people behind the scenes who try to make the Wind Surge one of Wichita’s best entertainment options.

The excitement of the longest day of the year

The first person to the ballpark on Friday was Grubbs, who opened the gates at 4:30 a.m.

It was an early wake-up call because two of Wichita’s television stations hosted their morning shows at Riverfront Stadium, which meant Grubbs had to let them in, set up an area for them to work and hop on to help promote Opening Day for the Wind Surge.

“It’s the longest day of the year for me,” Grubbs said.

Grubbs wears two hats for the Wind Surge as the team’s PR director and also its play-by-play radio announcer. Most of the lead-up to the season is spent handling media requests and making manager Ramon Borrego, general manager Jay Miller and Wind Surge players available for an array of interview requests.

But once Opening Day rolls around, Grubbs is locked in to his broadcaster duties.

He spent the rest of Friday morning and afternoon combing over MLB.com biographies, Baseball America write-ups and filling in the blanks on players’ information with Google searches. Later in the afternoon, he’ll collect the lineups from each manager and finish publishing his 10-page game notes, which are distributed to the media.

Like most veteran broadcasters, Grubbs takes the time to hand-write his call sheet ahead of every baseball game he calls. He includes basic information like height, weight, position, what side of the plate they hit from, as well as details like their 2023 stats, their time spent in the minor leagues, their prospect rank within the organization and any other information that could help him fill a three-hour broadcast.

“I find that actually writing everything down is a good way to remember the information,” Grubbs said. “It’s one thing to type it, but I feel like if I scribble it down on pen and paper, then I’ll remember it better. And I’m probably the only person in the world who can read it from start to finish with my handwriting.”

By the time Grubbs signs off the ESPN Wichita airwaves a little past 10 p.m. on Friday, he is in his 18th hour at the ballpark.

“You would think I would be worn out, but the adrenaline and the excitement of seeing the ballpark, seeing the team play for the first time in six months, it keeps me going,” Grubbs said. “It’s just awesome to see how everything and everyone comes together. It’s one of my favorite times of the year.”

The art of an award-winning groundskeeper

In the world of a Midwestern groundskeeper, the winter months often determine what kind of Opening Day it will be.

This winter was a mild and wet one in Wichita, which has made for a good spring so far for Wind Surge groundskeeper Ben Hartman.

Since pulling the tarp off the field on Feb. 20, Hartman said he has been working a week ahead of schedule compared to his previous three years. As a result, the well-manicured field at Riverfront Stadium was as lush and green as it’s ever been this early in April.

“This is the best it’s looked on Opening Day in the four years I’ve been here,” Hartman nodded while surveying the field three hours before Friday’s game.

Just like the players, the product the fans see on Opening Day is a result of hours of work done in the offseason.

For the groundskeepers, that process begins in late February when Hartman starts cutting and fertilizing the grass. As the temperature rises in Wichita, so does the frequency in which he mows. Right now he’s mowing three times a week, but by May, Hartman suspects it will be every day. Adjusting the levels of fertilizer is also an ongoing process, which requires constant attention to ensure the soil is receiving essential nutrients to produce the vibrant green grass fans enjoyed on Friday. He also has to give special attention to sections of the field that don’t receive the same amount of sunlight, like the foul territory down the first-base line.

It’s not as simple as applying the same methods to every part of the field. The job requires a feel and a special touch, an art that Hartman, the reigning Double-A Head Groundskeeper of the Year, has down to a science.

“You have to slowly spoon feed the grass,” Hartman said. “It’s a lot like waking up a baby. You’re not going to go, ‘Hey, wake up.’ You’re going to slowly get it going.”

On Friday, Hartman and his two assistants, Jake Cooley and Jacob Koch, arrived at the ballpark at 9 a.m. — a full 10 hours before first pitch — and stayed close to an hour after the game with the help of a game-day crew of around 10. Before the game, they gave the grass a final mow and water, worked the dirt and patched the plate, mound and bullpen areas. Afterward, it was much the same.

Perhaps their biggest decision, at least in the eyes of the public, is picking a design to cut into the outfield grass. In the past, Hartman’s work has turned heads with his design of the Wichita skyline in 2021 and his 2023 Fourth-of-July design of a KC-46A Pegasus in a nod to McConnell Air Force Base.

On Friday, Hartman settled on a zig-zag outfield pattern complete with an intricate cut in the infield. He says his crew tries to “go big” three times every season: Opening Day, Fourth of July and the final homestand.

“It’s funny, people ask us all the time how we decide and to be honest, we don’t really plan it that far in advance,” Hartman said. “We just throw out ideas, play around with it and if we end up liking it, then we go for it.”

While the eye-popping designs draw the most attention to their job, Hartman said the most rewarding part is the positive feedback from the players.

That’s why Hartman, who has been named the Texas League Groundskeeper of the Year the past two seasons, takes so much pride in how he patches the dirt in Wichita, which ensures a safe playing field for the players.

“At the end of the day, that’s why I’m here is for the players,” Hartman said. “It’s been really cool getting some new staff and players here and some of them saying, ‘Oh, we’ve heard great things about this place and about your crew and the field.’ That’s what we hang our cap on.”

Selling an experience on social media

Friday may have been Opening Day, but the job never stops for community relations manager Hannah Jasinski. She’s charged with cultivating community relationships and integrating the Wind Surge brand into the community year-round.

But once the season starts, Jasinski’s job becomes selling the experience at Riverfront Stadium to potential fans through the Wind Surge social media.

“You spend all of this time kind of building up to this moment,” Jasinski said on Opening Day. “Really, this day is just about putting the little details together and fixing the things that need to be fixed. It’s really cool because you see all of the work that you’ve been doing in the fall and the spring come to fruition.”

Before Friday’s game even began, Jasinski already had a list of ideas of the type of videos she wanted to post during the game — separate from the baseball game.

She views each social media platform differently — X is reserved for score updates and videos from the game, posted by an intern, while Jasinski handles the videos and stories posted on the team’s Instagram and Facebook pages.

Her plan of attack on Friday, and all game days, was to showcase the atmosphere at Riverfront Stadium. She posted a video walking into the stadium, highlighted the magnetic calendar giveaway and a picture of ballpark hot dogs available at the concessions.

What she has discovered Wichita fans love the most is pictures and videos of people in the crowd.

“Especially if it’s a big crowd of fans,” Jasinski said. “People tend to enjoy that because they will sometimes see a buddy and they’ll tag them and share it. Action shots of the game are always good, but it’s usually more of the human side that people tend to like.”

For months during the offseason, Jasinski booked events in the community to try to promote the Wind Surge and attract new fans to Riverfront Stadium.

Once Friday hit, however, her job shifted. Every game at the downtown ballpark is a new chance to sell fans, not just on the team, but also the experience of attending a game.

“We’re really trying to show that the baseball game isn’t just about the baseball,” Jasinski said. “Everybody isn’t a big baseball fan and that’s OK. We have a lot of new elements that will bring people out to enjoy the atmosphere of it. If you love baseball, great, come on out, but we want to show people that you can still have a great experience even if you don’t love baseball. You can hang out with your friends, grab some drinks and have a good time.”

How to treat every game like Opening Day

Friday marked the 42nd Opening Day in professional baseball for Jay Miller, who is in his second year as team president.

“It never gets old,” Miller said at the ballpark on Friday.

Since rejoining the Wind Surge in 2023, Miller has taken a hands-on approach to rejuvenate the organization’s efforts to connect with the community.

In his first year back, the Wind Surge boasted the biggest attendance turnaround in all of minor league baseball. It starts with Miller and trickles down to the more than 100 employees who work at Riverfront Stadium on game days.

“What’s everybody’s favorite word? It’s their name,” Miller said. “When they walk in and you call them by their name, it’s like, ‘Holy cow, you remembered.’ And that’s when you have it going on.”

Miller is in charge of the fan experience inside Riverfront Stadium and more upgrades are on the way for the 2024 season.

He reached a new partnership with Pumphouse to transform the bar area in left field into a replica of the downtown establishment, complete with speakers inside and outside, a total of nine televisions and a photo booth. Those upgrades should be finalized and available to fans during the next homestand, which begins April 16.

The play space for children out in center field has been upgraded and adding kid-friendly activities has been a priority during homestands. Miller ordered fans to install in the Emprise Bank Pavilion, which will be welcomed on hot nights in the summer. He also created Wine-Tastic Wednesdays, featuring 6-ounce wine pours for $5, following the success of Thirsty Thursdays and the Happy Hour drinks last summer.

What Miller is most excited about is the increase in promotions this season, which always grabs the attention of fans. The giveaways this season include a Wind Surge-themed hat for Wichita State (May 9) and KU (June 15), a Margaritaville-themed jersey (May 11), a Sonic neon retro cap (June 28), a beach towel (July 2), a Wind Surge t-shirt (August 3) and a dog calendar (Sept. 12).

At the start of every season, Miller gives the same speech to his employees. Friday was no different.

“Every night is Opening Night for somebody,” Miller said. “Somebody is going to be at your game who hasn’t been there before and we have to treat every game like it’s Opening Night. We stress this more than anything else, be friendly and treat people who you want to be treated. We’re doing our job the best when we treat every night like Opening Night.”