Q&A with Redbirds GM Dave Chase

The native New Yorker has been involved with the Minor League community for nearly three decades, since his first job as assistant GM of the Savannah club back in 1978. Since then, Chase has been the office manager of the Memphis Chicks and later was hired by Miles Wolfe to be the publisher of Baseball America, a post he held until he was enticed back to Memphis in 1998.

Today, Chase is the president and general manager of the Memphis Redbirds of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. The Redbirds are not only one of the top draws in the Minors, averaging more than 10,000 fans a game in 2005, but they're also the only professional franchise owned and operated by a not-for-profit charitable organization, the Memphis Redbirds Baseball Foundation.

As a result, the Redbirds give hundreds of thousands of dollars back into the community, including funding youth baseball and softball programs in the city's schools and summer programs.

But what really drew Chase back to Memphis was a chance to fulfill a dream and help build a museum dedicated to the history of baseball, including an electronic database of everyone who has ever played the game professionally, a figure that surpasses 250,000. As the president and executive director of The National Pastime: A Celebration of Baseball in American Life, Chase is still hoping to achieve that goal.

Following his opening remarks at the Promo Seminar, Chase sat down for a few minutes with MiLB.com to talk about his past accomplishments, his current views of the game, and his take on what lies ahead.

MiLB.com: Who has been the biggest influence in your life professionally?

Chase: Miles Wolfe. He was the former owner of the Bulls. He owned Baseball America, started the Northern League and has a team in Quebec. I met him in 1978 during my first job in baseball -- he always had a reputation as a solid down-to-earth baseball guy.

I got to know him and was drawn to his passion for Minor League Baseball. He had a vision for what Minor League Baseball could be and yet he approached it in a simple way. He wasn't so much into selling baseball. He figured that if you had a good clean operation, that was the most important thing. There are other ways besides a hard sell to get the job done. The fan experience was equally as important.

M: How did your experience at Baseball America shape your view of the Minor Leagues?

C: I really learned -- and this was also part of Miles' teaching -- that you need to have a global perspective. You've got to see beyond the outfield fence. And not only do you need to look at baseball globally, but you need to celebrate it as well.

M: Can you tell me about your baseball museum project, The National Pastime?

C: The museum project is what brought me to Memphis in 1998. The idea is to create a national museum that celebrates baseball -- not just a collection of bats and balls, but we want to collect people and their stories.

We have 35 volunteers working on a database of all professional players including the Major Leagues, the Minor Leagues, the Negro Leagues and the All-American Girls League. This database will be at the center of The National Pastime. We want you to be able to click on players, click on his teams, and get all the information.

It will be an American history museum that happens to tell the story of baseball from 1860 to the present. Baseball is unique. It connects us to our entire history, from the end of the Civil War, westward expansion, World Wars I and II, the building of the interstate highways. A lot of people had their lives wrapped up in the game and they are not celebrated. And most of them played in the Minor Leagues.

The player database is what drives the project, but we also hired a museum design firm from New York and have plans for a five-story museum adjacent to the ballpark, where people would be able to come and interact with each other, and discuss baseball.

We also plan to have what we are calling 'scan vans,' which will travel around the country collecting information -- photos, scrapbooks -- from people. One thing about the history of the Minor Leagues is that it's mostly collected in people's homes. It's scattered. We want to gather as much of this material as we can and add it to the museum, make it an ongoing interactive project.

M: Where does the project stand?

C: In 2002 I was asked to take over the Redbirds, but the goal is to get back to the museum as soon as possible -- my hope is the end of the 2006 season. We need to raise $40 million, and I'm convinced the money is there. I can't wait to raise it. I love what I do with the Redbirds, but the museum is really where my passion is.

M: There's certainly a lot to see in Memphis, but in your opition what is the top tourist attraction here in town?

C: You need to go to Graceland because Elvis was so much more than just his music. But if you really want to understand not only Memphis -- but also the Sixties and even what happened recently in New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina -- then you need to visit the Civil Rights Museum.

It's a tough place to visit, it's an emotional place. But you will walk away a better person and you will have a better understanding of some of the issues that our country has struggled with and continues to struggle with.

M: What has been the most fulfilling moment of your career?

C: I hope I haven't had it yet. I hope it's the opening of The National Pastime. But every year you find something special.

Most recently, we decided to open up our ballpark to hurricane victims -- anyone with a Mississippi or Louisiana drivers' license was welcome to come. We had 1,200 people take us up on it. And I got a letter this week from a family from Cutoff, Louisiana. The mother said her family had come to our park and how much it had meant to them to come here, and get away from the stress and what awaited them back at home.

M: Do you have any interest in working for the Major Leagues?

C: Maybe, if it was the right job. The Washington Nationals are appealing to me -- also the Mets and their new stadium project. But other than that, I've had very little interest.

M: What is it about Minor League Baseball that you love so much?

C: Minor League Baseball is manageable, it's connected to the people. You can really get to know a lot of the fans and players. It's closer to the heart and soul of baseball.