For Love of the Game: Alex Dachis
One of the team members is Alex Dachis, a three-year veteran of the Vancouver Canadians' Sales and Community Relations Department.
But his job, like all of the C's office staff, goes far beyond selling tickets. Alex can be seen at every home game, walking the walkways of this historic ballpark with the staff, wearing his trademark sunglasses and ensuring that each fan's experience is a memorable one.
"I'm mainly in charge of our group BBQ and Lafarge Children's play areas and making sure that everyone that comes to the park has a great time and wants to keep coming back," said Dachis.
"These are areas of our ballpark that have been extremely popular (one of the suites having sold out in April - well before the start of the season) and whether it's a corporate team-building events or a little league team that has come to the park, I want to make sure that they have a great time here."
Asked what it is about his job that makes it so enjoyable, Dachis said, "It's the fans. The atmosphere here is great whether it's a family out to the ballpark or the ones in section ten that are cheering as loud as they can, I love the people that come out to the stadium." "I also enjoy the level of baseball," he added.
"Last year your could come out here and see guys like Justin Nicolino and Aaron Sanchez, true up-and-comers, and it was exciting."
Alex also credited his fellow staff members who he very much considers family.
"Coming out to a ballpark is all I've ever done and our staff is phenomenal. You're not going to find a better team anywhere in the minor leagues. We all have fun but we all have the same high expectations and, as a team, we manage to make a lot of the day to day challenges into positives."
Being a part of a successful team is something that Dachis knows a little bit about.
Starting in the offices of the former Triple-A Calgary Cannons, Dachis now enters his sixth year in Minor League Baseball having spent a single season with the Everett Aquasox before moving to Vancouver. Prior to that, Alex put significant thought into a playing career, moving from his home in Calgary, AB to Florida to study his grade 12 year at IMG Academy, hoping to win a scholarship to a Division I school or get drafted.
However, after a few opportunities to remain in the states, Dachis opted to return to Canada, playing a season with the Kwantlen baseball program before realizing his interests were more in the business of baseball than playing the game. He went on to complete a degree at Trinity Western University in Sports Management.
When asked what his aspirations in his work are, "Ideally, when I'm fifty years old, I want to be able to look back and see that I made an impact on the game here in the way that it impacted me when I was a kid.
When I was young, Cannons games were family time when I could be with my Mom, Dad and Brother and to have that team leave when I was thirteen left a huge void." It's that kind of impact that he hopes to make at 'The Nat' for many years to come.
"If what I do gives a kid a chance to come out and see a game with their parents, maybe see a great play, go home and say to their dad "can we go swing a bat?" that will make my work here worthwhile."