New ownership takes over Manatees

The Brevard County Manatees, a Brewers affiliate, were purchased Tuesday by the Orlando-based Central Florida Baseball Group, an assemblage of investors led by team chairman Dr. Tom Winters, vice chairman Dwight Titus and team president (and former NFL placekicker) Charlie Baumann.

The team's change of hands enable the new owners to focus their efforts entirely on running the Manatees. The club previously had been owned by a group controlled by Boston Red Sox owner John Henry, while the organization's staff also handled Spring Training for the Washington Nationals.

No one is happier about the team's new owners than general manager Buck Rogers, who has big plans for the Manatees in 2006.

"The new guys are saying 'Let's have some fun, let's kick things up a notch,'" the highly energetic Rogers said. "Well, we were already at caffeine status, and now we're going to go even further."

The forward-thinking Rogers has already implemented several changes for 2006.

"We are deeply interested in our fans' opinions, and survey them regularly," he said. "And the fans are tired of going to the ballpark and being nickel-and-dimed. So we're not going to charge for parking. They're going to spend that $3 anyway; we'd rather it went towards a souvenir ball for the kids or another hot dog."

Rogers also conducted a survey to see what time the club should play its Sunday afternoon games.

"Many of our fans were telling us that when the games were at 1 p.m., they had to rush from church to get there. They selected 4 p.m. as a better starting time. Now Sunday can be a family day: Go to church in the morning, have dinner, then come out to the ballpark. With a church bulletin, a family of four gets in for $5 total. There will be no excuse not to come. We're not stressing religion, either. If you just write the words 'church bulletin' on a piece of paper, that'll work, too."

Rogers hopes such an aggressively fan-friendly approach will distinguish the Manatees from the competition.

"Many people within the county live closer to other teams than they do the Manatees," he said. "We're putting the word out: there's a new sheriff in town, and we're ready to rock."