I caught up with Todd in his office at the stadium as he was preparing to leave for Florida (tough duty!) to see the Senators in spring training at the complex in Jupiter, Florida, that the Expos share with the St. Louis Cardinals. It was a beautiful day in the ‘Burg, with bright sun melting the recent snow, and it smelled of Spring as I drove onto City Island and walked into the stadium complex.

Workmen were readying the concession stands and replacing the black netting behind home plate that catches foul balls. Initial efforts were being put into the field and plans were underway to touch up the outfield billboards and paint those getting new sponsors. Baseball was in the air.

“While the team gets ready in Jupiter, we’re busy here finalizing our advertising and promotional sponsorships,” Todd tells me. “We hope to be able to have a promotion for each of our 71 home games. We’re also completing sale of the outfield billboards.

“Also, our part–time employees are coming in to get started with their orientation. Through the season we’ll have up to 150 people working with us, including the food stands, ushers, ticket takers, and groundskeepers.”

Work on the field itself will progress, although Vander Woude says a lot of work was done last fall when a new drainage system was installed. But the pitching mounds on the field and in the bullpens will be rebuilt and drying and manicuring of the playing surface will continue.

It’s clear that operating a baseball club is a year-round business. Vander Woude says the planning for one season starts in August of the previous season and then moves into high gear after the playing season ends.

“We really divide a year into three phases,” he says. “Once the season is over, the staff recaps it and looks to see what worked well and what needs to be improved. Then we move into our selling phase. Season ticket renewals start October 1, and we also start renewing program and billboard advertisers and looking for new ones. As we approach opening day, we move into game operations and stay that way through the season until we get to our recap.”

Will we see anything particularly new and different this year as a result of the recap after the 1998 season? “Not really. We’re always looking to improve our quality and the family entertainment experience, but we had a very good year last year and want to do more of the same. We’re coming off a very successful Fan Fest on the Island March 6 that developed a lot of interest in the coming season.”

The Senators are very conscious of their place as part of the “entertainment” scene in Harrisburg. “Our main focus is inexpensive family entertainment,” Vander Woude says. “And we offer it 71 times a year. We’ve got a good, clean process here. We’re centrally located and we’re more fortunate than some other clubs because there’s so much more for a family to do on City Island. It’s a nice part of our location and so our market is continuing to grow.”

To ensure that there will be a market for minor league baseball in the future, the Senators do a lot of work with schools and their students. The club sponsors a reading program that is now in more than 90 schools. Students in the program read over a four-week period, progressing from first base to second base, etc. There also is a Most Improved Student award based on nominations from teachers in more than 25 schools. Those nominated receive tickets to Senators games. “With these programs and our contests during the home games we’re looking at getting kids more and more involved. The future of baseball will depend on us bringing in another generation of fans.”

Interest in the Senators should be high this year because the team will be trying to do something that has never been done in the 76-year history of the Eastern League — win the league championship four straight years. The last team to try to “four-peat” was the Vermont club that won from 1984 to 1986 and then was stopped by the Senators in 87.

So, Todd, are they a sure bet? “Well, we hope to make it four. We’re always optimistic in the spring.” One of the fun, and challenging, things about minor league baseball is that the team roster is very flexible. As Vander Woude prepared to join the team in Florida, the final roster was far from set. “There will still be a lot of changes until they come up here,” he says. “A lot will be based on what happens with Montreal and with the Ottawa AAA club, and how well or poorly different players do in Florida. The last couple spots might not be decided until they’re ready to get on the plane to come up.”

Just as players change, so do managers. This year the Senators will be managed by Dick Sisson, who spent the last couple of seasons as manager of the Expos’ Class A club in Jupiter, Florida, and thus has the advantage of knowing many of the younger players trying to work their way through Harrisburg to Ottawa and then to the Big Show.