At Home With the Lake Monsters

Today we speak with Denny Madigan, the director of promotions and community relations for the Vermont Lake Monsters of the New York-Penn League. Prior to changing their name to the "Lake Monsters" before the 2006 campaign, Vermont had been the last team in all of professional baseball to use the "Expos" moniker.

MiLB.com: How would you characterize your team's fan base? Has it grown or changed in recent years?

DM: Our fan base consists of mostly families. We try to get concourse entertainment that adults will like, but is also suitable for children. Our attendance remains consistent year after year.

MiLB.com: Has your team staged any notable promotions in recent years? Any that just didn't work?

DM: Our fans really like the promotions that they can interact with. A couple of our best promotions include the 2004 & 2007 Red Sox World Series Trophies and appearances by Johnny Pesky. We had our highest attendance with these two promotions and there were lines wrapped around the concourse. Both nights were a huge success and we are hoping to do them again in the future.

MiLB.com: How has the internet affected the way your team is run?

DM: The internet has affected us in a huge way. I would even say that our website is more important than our office. We post everything on our website from game-day info to merchandise to information about clinics and camps. We can reach a lot more people through the internet and our website. In the past when everything was primarily in print, the only people we could reach were the ones physically in front of us or else we had to pay for postage. Now we have the ability to reach those same people for free. We don't have to buy paper, envelopes and postage, so it helps saves the club a lot of money. There are so many things you can do on the internet and the more successful ball clubs are the ones that take advantage of it. For example, we sell about 40% of our total merchandise on our online store, as it is open 24/7.

MiLB.com: Does your concession stand serve any regional specialties or otherwise remarkable items?

DM: Our concession stands sell basic ballpark food. We have not done anything special in the past, but we are looking to introduce a new item next season called Champ Chips (named after our mascot). Champ Chips are breaded, deep-fried pickles served with ranch dressing.

MiLB.com: What type of merchandise sells the best at the team store? Are there any unique items available for purchase?

At a Glance: Vermont Lake Monsters

• First season: 1994 • Affiliation: Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos (1994-present) • Stadium: Centennial Field (1994-present) • League Championships: 1996 • City Population: Approximately 40,000 people. • Notable Vermont Alumni: Michael Barrett Jason Bay Milton Bradley Orlando Cabrera • People who've called Burlington home: Howard Dean (Democratic Party chairman) Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield (ice cream entrepreneurs) Eugene Hutz (singer and actor) William Hepburn Russell (founder of the Pony Express) Phish (rock band) Ross Powers (Olympic gold medalist snowboarder)

DM: This is weird to say but our top-selling merchandise is always our new items. Our top new items this year were metallic hot rod baseballs, foam claws and sitting Champ Dolls. We have always had a sliding Champ doll and decided this year to try a sitting one. They are the same size, but the sitting one costs more. We sold more than twice as many of the more expensive sitting ones. Two seasons ago we got a new hard navy/white ball and it was our best seller by far. This past year it dropped down to fourth on our hard baseballs list.

MiLB.com: How large of a role does your mascot play, both at the stadium and within the community?

DM: Our mascot plays a huge role during the games and out in the community. It has been joked about that people come out to see Champ instead of the professional baseball players. Champ does a pre-game skit, is around the ballpark during the first, second, fourth, fifth and seventh innings and people want to see him more. Like I mentioned above, we are thinking about creating a food item after him. We try to get Champ out into the community as much as possible since he is so popular and well-known. Champ averages over 100 hours in the community every year.

MiLB.com: What are some of your favorite on-field moments since you've been with the team?

DM: There are two moments that first pop into my head. One was in August 2005, when "SportsCenter" did their "50 States in 50 Days" promotions and came to one of our games and did a piece on Champ. The game was packed with people and the crowd was so into it. It was a great game and great publicity for the team.

The second event was a game in 2007. We were down 10-1 after the seventh inning and the team scored 10 runs in the eighth and ninth innings for the amazing comeback. Not only was the game amazing, but our interns kept our fans in the game even after the eighth inning. They were starting chants and getting up on the dugouts. It was just a fun and amazing night at the ballpark.