51s’ GM steps carefully

In the bowels of Cashman Field there is ... check that. The infrastructure of Cashman Field is not so architecturally ponderous as to have bowels.

Let's try again. In the small intestine of Cashman Field there is this space that used to be a storage closet or something that has been converted into this really cool man cave, with flat-screen televisions always tuned to sports and pleasant, ambient light and a table with sandwiches and Red Vines and, the magnum opus, two spigots attached to two frosty kegs of beer, one Bud Light, one Michelob Ultra.

And the beer is free for all invited.

Though I've never been to the new ballparks in Sacramento and Fresno or even Reno, which has one, too, this has to be the Taj Mahal of Pacific Coast League man caves, the eighth wonder of the minor league baseball world. Because of the free beer.

It has been christened "Club Chuck," probably because "The Hanging Gardens of Chuck" or "The Colossus of Chuck" would have been way too obvious rip-offs of the ancient Greeks. And also because there's a neon sign that says that.

It is so named for Chuck Johnson, the 51s' longtime account executive and director of corporate sponsorships and director of communications and director of marketing and assistant general manager and vice president of marketing, who, earlier this year, when Don Logan refocused on finding a new owner for the 51s, was named the third general manager in the franchise's 28-year history, succeeding The Baseball Don.

This is what sometimes happens when one wears a lot of hats. After the passage of many years, they let you wear the big hat, the one that holds 10 gallons, the one that freeloaders in Club Chuck have been known to use as a "to go" cup.

In a development that seems even more startling than the 51s' bullpen protecting a lead, it's suddenly August and only two four-game series, against the dreaded Fresno Grizzlies (Aug. 20-23) and the equally dreaded Salt Lake Bees (Sept. 2-5), remain on the 51s' home schedule. This means new GM Johnson already has bore witness to nine Budweiser Dollar Beer Nights, five fireworks spectaculars or extravaganzas, nine Value Menu Mondays, the first Roberto Alomar and the 714th Mayor Oscar Goodman Bobblehead Nights, among many other promotions.

Oh yeah, and on June 16, before a game with the dreaded Colorado Springs Sky Sox, the world-renowned Budweiser Clydesdales participated in on-field, pregame activities, and Johnson didn't step in anything.

Which pretty much describes his first year as 51s GM. He didn't step into anything for which he wasn't prepared. Except, perhaps, for that power failure on July 3, on Fireworks Night, with about 10,000 mostly irritable fans clamoring for some baseball or at least a flashlight so they could use the restroom.   

Isn't that the way it is with the 51s? It's almost as if the business end of the franchise runs by remote control, or in the manner of a family-owned farm handed down from generation to generation.

Plow the field, harvest the crops. Beer nights and bobbleheads.

Pray for rain, survive the drought. Win some, lose some. 

Then do it all again next year.

In 1983, the first year of the Las Vegas Triple-A franchise, the team then known as the Stars averaged 4,879 paying customers. In 2010, the team now known as the 51s, averaged 4,799 paying customers.

Yeah, says Johnson. That's a bit of a concern.

"We've stayed the consistent, Triple-A baseball team," he is saying at Club Chuck, a couple of hours before the 51s were to take on the New Orleans Zephyrs on Wednesday night. "And all the while, that every year we get older, new entertainment options ... you've got Town Square and you've got Tivoli and you've got the Centennial area, all these great areas, where now people don't even have to drive four or five miles to (be entertained)."   

Maybe, in time, when he becomes more comfortable with wearing the big hat, when a new owner with his purse strings loosened finally shows his face, "Club Chuck" will put his own stamp on the franchise.

Maybe then there will be nooks and crannies in the outfield, maybe then there will be a dwarf, or, even better, Holly Madison, batting cleanup with a one-game contract. On dollar beer night, when Mayor (Carolyn) Goodman throws out the first pitch while sporting a 51s' wearable fleece blanket, and wouldn't that pack them in?

Maybe, if there were postgame fireworks.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.