Wilmington Blue Rocks Ownership

Dave Heller is the president and CEO of Main Street Baseball and the majority owner and Managing Partner of three minor league baseball teams: the Quad Cities River Bandits (Advanced-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals), the Wilmington Blue Rocks (Advanced-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals), and the Billings Mustangs (Pioneer League, independent).

In 2016, Main Street Baseball earned Ballpark Digest’s coveted “Minor League Baseball Organization of the Year” award – one of the industry’s highest honors. His Quad Cities team, the River Bandits, was named Ballpark Digest’s 2021 “Team of the Year” and one of Baseball America’s “Most Accomplished Franchises of the 2010s.” In 2022, the Kansas City Royals presented Heller with their Matt Minker Award as the outstanding person in their minor league system. Quad Cities was the only non-MLB city to host the Baseball Hall of Fame traveling exhibit (2016) and the only minor league team to host a game at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville. Heller’s teams are known for fun, innovative promotions; making significant ballpark improvements; and giving back to their home communities. In 2021, Stadium Journey magazine named both Modern Woodmen Park (Quad Cities) and Frawley Stadium (Wilmington) to its Top-5 list of best game-day experiences in Advanced-A ballparks.

In the Quad Cities, Heller’s River Bandits have enjoyed a stunning resurgence, becoming the only team in Midwest League history to win four championships in ten seasons, setting per-game attendance records, and earning numerous awards. His team has set records for group and sponsorship sales, attendance, concessions, and merchandise sales. The team’s home, Modern Woodmen Park, has earned as many accolades as any ballpark in the country. It was three times named “America’s Best Minor League Ballpark” by USA Today and 10Best.com and chosen the Midwest League’s best ballpark by Baseball America. It earned a 5-star rating from Ballpark Digest, one of the top 10 by Parade Magazine and “the #2 Coolest Minor League Ballpark in America” by Complex Magazine. The team even won multiple awards for best TV commercial!

Under Heller, the Bandits have added many fun new features to the ballpark, including two outfield bars, five concourse-level “loge boxes,” an 80-foot HD ribbon-board, a 36’ x 42’ HD videoboard, new sound system, playground, a renovated suite level, new playing field, and a large, multi-purpose banquet hall with glass garage doors that open/close based on the weather. The team also added a new Diamond Club, a triple suite, a Hall of Fame autographed jersey display, three new group areas, a special seating area for our nation’s veterans, a 58-panel solar farm, a permanent home for the Quad-Cities Sports Hall of Fame, and a (sponsored) corn field from where the players are introduced at the game’s outset. Last, the team added more than $5 million worth of new rides, including a 105-foot-tall Ferris wheel, a spinning kids’ coaster, two thrill rides, a Froghopper, gyroscope, and a 30-foot-tall Drop-N-Twist to go with a myriad of bounce houses, a kiddie train, and Iowa’s only double-decker carousel.

The team has also seen improvements to the “back of the house”: the entire ballpark is now flood-protected, the batting cages enclosed and air conditioned, and new additions include a video classroom, nutritionist’s office, and Trainer and Strength & Conditioning Coach’s office, as well as three large storage areas, new protective netting covering every seat, new weight and workout rooms, and a new players’ parking lot. In addition, the home and visitors’ clubhouses were renovated, the playing field and irrigation system replaced, the suite kitchen expanded, and the HVAC system upgraded. Modern Woodmen Park was even the first non-Triple-A ballpark in the U.S. to install new, energy-efficient LED lights.

Heller and the Bandits love giving back: the team has donated more than $5 million to area charities, helped raise $101,000 for flood relief, and won multiple U.S. Army Gold Awards for community service. Its “Bandit Scholars” program, which pays an entire year’s tuition to three area colleges, is the largest college scholarship foundation in all of Minor League Baseball. In addition, the team pays for free flu shots for Quad Cities children, is one of the largest funders of Camp Hope (for kids dealing with cancer) and the MercyOne Genesis Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit, and supports the Family Connects program that pays a nurse to spend a week with every baby born to an impoverished mother. In 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2023, Ballpark Digest honored the River Bandits with its “Commitment to Charity” award, the only team to earn that distinction four times (no other club has won more than once).

Heller’s second club, the Wilmington Blue Rocks, has also garnered its share of accolades. The Blue Rocks earned league-wide awards for Marketing & Promotions, Community Service, Female Executive of the Year, and, five years in a row the club won the league’s award for its charitable work. Its mascot, Mr. Celery, was named one of the top 2 mascots in minor league baseball by USA Today. The team even won an ESPN award for best new food item! Its ballpark, Frawley Stadium, was voted Best Ballpark in Advanced-A baseball by Ballpark Digest. The team has also improved its venue: more than $8,000,000 worth of structural improvements to the park have been made since Heller took over, including new seats, new netting, a new concourse floor, an expanded Batter’s Eye, two new outfield bullpens, two new videoboards, new dugout flooring, new home and visitor’s clubhouses, two new trainers’ rooms, a new dressing area for female coaches, and new energy-efficient LED field lights.

Heller’s third club, the Billings Mustangs, have also been tremendously successful. Since Heller purchased the club, it has consistently ranked among the top in Pioneer League attendance and has seen increases in every area – from corporate sponsorships to concessions and merchandise sales to in-game promotions. The team’s home, Dehler Park, was voted by Ballpark Digest “the best minor league ballpark in Rookie Ball.” The team has also earned league-wide honors for its playing field and its charitable work. In 2019 and again in 2022, it was awarded the prestigious Jim McCurdy Award for Excellence – the only Pioneer League Club to win that coveted honor twice. Since taking over, Dehler Park has seen a huge new HD videoboard, a new beer stand, new dessert stand, new netting covering every seat in the park, and several new portable concessions carts.

Heller is also regarded as a top political media consultant and campaign strategist. As president of Main Street Communications, an award-winning political media firm, he compiled the best won-loss record among media consultants in the Democratic Party. His clients won 15 out of 19 general election open seat races for Congress, including many of the nation’s toughest races, such as Governor John Baldacci (D-Me.) twice; U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.); U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.), who in 2012 won in a redrawn R+13 district; U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas (D-Ky.), who in 1998 won a seat the Democrats had not won since 1964 (and have never won since); U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), who repeatedly won re-election in a district in which Hillary Clinton garnered just 30% of the vote – the nation’s “reddest” district to be won by a Democrat – and U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), who in 2022 earned the largest winning percentage of any Democrat running in a Trump district. Heller has helped elect more “Blue Dogs,” the party’s most conservative voices, than any media consultant, as well as more members of the Congressional Black Caucus (10), including civil rights leader, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the John Conyers (D-Mich.), Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), and his dear friend, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who performed Heller’s wedding.

Heller graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with honors from Brown University, then earned a Master's Degree in Politics from Oxford University (Nuffield College), where he was awarded an Overseas Research Scholarship. He went on to Yale University, where he completed his Masters thesis and designed and taught an undergraduate seminar on 20^th Century American Political Protest Movements. Heller and his wife June live in Davenport, Iowa, with their two sons, Dylan and Cade.

Clark Minker, along with Main Street Baseball, LLC, announced on December 18, 2014 that the two had purchased the Wilmington Blue Rocks, the Class-A Advanced Carolina League affiliate of the American League Champion Kansas City Royals.

Minker serves as the club's president. Minker is the son of Matt Minker, the long-time owner of the franchise and for years one of the most revered figures in minor league baseball. Matt Minker also served as the lead contractor in the construction of Frawley Stadium, the Blue Rocks' long-time home, and worked on the construction of the ballpark along with his son, Clark.

"This team has been in my family ever since the first pitch was thrown back in 1993," said Minker. "My family's construction company built Frawley Stadium and my Dad and I were the first people to play catch in the outfield. This team means more to me than just about anything, and I'm going to do everything I can to ensure that it thrives in Wilmington for decades to come."

Joe Kubly is the Chief Operating Officer of Main Street Baseball. As COO, Joe oversees the team operations for Main Street's three teams, the Quad Cities River Bandits, Wilmington Blue Rocks, and Billings Mustangs.
‍ Before Joe became the COO of Main Street Baseball, he served as General Manager of the Quad Cities River Bandits, High-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. As GM, Joe led the team to its most profitable year in history and helped set the team’s single season record for sponsorship sales. During the 2021 and 2022 seasons, the club also set single-season team records for merchandise sales and amusement revenues as well as the single-season team record for overall game-day experience per caps. Joe has also helped grow the Bandits’ social media follower base by 55% and its social media reach/engagement by 750%.

Joe started his career in 2011 as a Ticket Sales Representative with the Atlanta Hawks. The following season, he began his career in baseball when he was named Group Sales Coordinator for the Oklahoma City RedHawks (now the Oklahoma City Dodgers). There, Joe helped attract 15 sellout crowds in 2013, an Oklahoma City record at the time. He was then promoted to Corporate Marketing Manager.

In 2014, Joe joined the River Bandits as Director of Group Sales. There, he developed new processes for the sales and ticketing department. In 2015, he was promoted to Director of Sales and Ticketing. In that position, Joe led the team to its highest per-game average attendance in history, drawing more than 250,000 fans into Modern Woodmen Park. Joe also started a charity golf outing to raise funds for the Bandit Scholars program, the largest college scholarship program in Minor League Baseball.

In 2016, Joe was named President and General Manager of the Grand Junction Rockies. In four years with the Rockies, Joe led the team to four straight years of attendance increases, set single-game attendance marks, single-season sponsorship marks, gave back more than $300,000 to the local community, increased season tickets to over 1,200 full season ticket holders, increased concession revenues, and was named 2018 Pioneer League Executive of the Year.

For the 2017 season, Joe partnered with the Junior College World Series to bring a state-of-the art video board to Suplizio Field. In 2018, the Rockies hosted the Pioneer League vs. Northwest League All-Star Game and Joe put a deal together to have it televised nationally on Altitude Sports. Joe also secured a partnership with Colorado Mesa University and KGJT-TV to televise all home games, making the team one of only two MiLB teams in the country to televise all of its home games. He returned to Quad Cities to be the River Bandits' General Manager following the 2019 season.
‍ Joe graduated from Northern Illinois University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in Art and again in 2011 with a Master of Science in Sport Management.