Trash Pandas, Havoc Hoping to put Pandemic Effects on Sidelines

Some Minor League Baseball teams essentially disbanded or drastically curtailed operations when the 2020 season was cancelled because of the pandemic.

The Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas, looking to play its inaugural season in shiny new Toyota Field and with a strong ownership group, wasn’t one of them.

Instead of trimming payroll and turning out all but the necessary lights, the club plowed forward with steely determination. Events such as a Christmas Spectacular, carnival, fireworks, concerts, kids’ camps, wine tasting, and movies took the place of a lost season.

“Baseball is the thing for us but we had to run in two directions,’’ said Garrett Fahrmann, team vice president and general manager. “We could have gone the way a lot of the teams did in Minor League Baseball, just kind of circled the wagons and laid everyone off trying to conserve cash.’’

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Anticipation was high as the 2020 season neared. A buzz sparked through a region exploding in population with Southern League baseball returning after the Huntsville Stars left in 2014 following 30 seasons.

Rocket City had bills to pay being a startup franchise, but was also somewhat flush following record-shattering merchandise sales before they played a game.

The ownership group spearheaded by Ralph Nelson, the team president and CEO who arrived as a veteran of major league front offices, decided to host alternate events such as the Southwestern Athletic Conference baseball tournament.

“We decided — ‘All right, we’re going to go for it and just keep everybody here’,’’ said Fahrmann, who took the front office lead before this season when Nelson left to pursue another opportunity. “A lot of people had just started working for us who had come from all across the country.

“We did a lot of different events and stuff that we normally wouldn’t have done that we tried and that worked, and we are going to continue.’’

Meanwhile, the highly successful Huntsville Havoc of the Southern Professional Hockey League is returning to full-capacity seating at the Von Braun Center for a full schedule after an abbreviated 2020-21 season.

However, team owner Keith Jeffries said the club surpassed expectations last season despite the pandemic.

“Actually, the year turned out better than we had projected and that’s in part because we didn’t have any games that were cancelled to the point that they couldn’t be rescheduled,’’ he said.

“We didn’t get (full limited capacity) and you’d have thought we would have sold out all of those games but it’s like the weekday games people were scared to come out and sit in crowds. It all affected us, impacted us.’’

Huntsville has led the SPHL in attendance for five straight seasons. Jeffries can only hope this season’s schedule goes without glitches. The team is scheduled to start play Oct. 15, but Jeffries said concerns linger with the ongoing COVID-19 surge led by the Delta variant.

“We thought we’d be back to normal this year,’’ he said, “but as the days go on, we wonder if the other shoe is going to drop. I don’t believe the people have the appetite to go through a full shutdown again. I don’t know if it’s not taking it seriously or it’s so much fatigue.

“I just don’t think a shutdown is going to work again. But I will say we’ll deal with it if it happens. Right now, anyway, there are no indications there will be the same kind of social distancing requirements. I’m sure we’ll encourage people to wear masks.’’

According to Jeffries, the league is approaching the season with a business-as-usual attitude.

“A lot has changed in the last month or so, so a lot can still change,’’ he said. “Right now, as a league, we talk to each other every week and all 11 teams are able to play. We have a full schedule slated, our promotional schedule and everybody has ordered merchandise. Last year, we didn’t because we weren’t sure we would be able to play.

“This year, we’re going into it as if we’re playing a normal season. It would hurt a lot more financially this year if we were to have to shut down or even partially shut down.’’

Back in Madison, the excitement didn’t fade within the community for the Trash Pandas’ delayed first season. A sold-out crowd of 7,500 greeted the team for their home opener. The team has sold out every Saturday game and averaging nearly 6,000 fans per game in Toyota Field with a capacity of 7,500. Oh yeah, merchandise is still flying off the racks.

“Attendance is amazing,’’ he said. “We lead Double-A in average attendance. We might be first in overall attendance.’’

He can only dream of leading all of minor league — including Triple-A — in attendance. That would mean overtaking teams in markets such as Nashville, Las Vegas and Charlotte where there are much bigger parks.

“We’re still in the Top 10 in the country for total attendance,” Fahrmann said.

Rocket City just released its 2022 schedule while the teams didn’t receive schedules for this season until last April for their May start. Now, the front offices have time to book gatherings and parties.

As it is, Rocket City is surviving a challenging start.

“We weathered the storm,’’ Fahrmann said.