1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Charlie Meyer (Lincoln Saltdogs GM): July 19th, 10am

Episode Date: July 19, 2022

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It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at you live from the Coppull Chevrolet GMC Studios. Here is your host, Derek Pearson. Brought you by Mary Ellen's Food for the Soul on 93-7 The Ticket and the Ticketfm.com. Welcome to it on a Tuesday. All-Star Week. All-Star games tonight. All-Star two days, three days.

Well, it's an all-star break for most. It's the all-star break. I want to thank the folks for Mary Ellen's Food for the Soul for taking care of it. As a matter of fact, I need to connect the dot and bridge between Mary Ellen's and the salt dogs. We do that as well. That's the next thing that we're going to do. Yes. We'll get that done.

You can add to the conversation 402-464-5-6-85. Sardhamman text line, Honda-Lek, and the hotline, if you will. The video stream is up. Sarder Hamon, video, stream, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and Twitter Live. We are on Twitter Live. You can catch the stream as well. Plenty to do. I will ask a trivia question we're going to give away.

A set of four tickets and a VIP parking pass to the Salt Dogs tonight. If you can text in or tell us who leads the Salt Dogs in home runs currently? Who leads the Salt Dogs in Home Runs currently? We will have tickets for you. for tonight's Salt Dogs game. Speaking of Honda Lincoln Hotline and the Salt Dogs, let's bring in Charlie Meyer, GM of the Salt Dogs. Charlie, how are you today?

Great, D.P. How are you guys doing? It's good. It's good. Welcome back. How's your trip? It was good. The All-Star game was a great event and great to see other owners and team members and we had a great all-star game with our side winning in the top of the night with a three-run homer. And, yeah, it was kind of fun. And our players played well in it.

And Josh Alman had a great home run derby. And so, yeah, it was a lot of fun. Talk to me. Who else for the Salt Dogs participated? We had Stefan Moore, our closer and pitcher for the Salt Dogs, as well as Greg Minier. And Greg did not pitch in the game because he had pitched on Sunday, and but the game on Tuesday, he was still a little sore from Sunday's performance, so he did not participate in the game,

but he was part of all the activities, and it was a great time for those guys to get together with other all-stars in the league. Charlie, if I asked you the state of the league, what are the things that you guys talk about when the power brokers of the association get together? What do you talk about? Well, you know, we're talking about, you know, what possible further expansion that could be with new cities and new teams in the future. It's one item we talk about.

We also just talk about the operations in each of our current locations as far as how things are going and what things are working. Also, the player side of it, you know, the draft is happening this week. what impact that's going to have as far as player pool for all the teams to go out and add to their rosters or guys that will not get drafted that we can go search for and hopefully increase and basically improve our rosters here throughout the season. But, you know, it's all, you know, we're all running our own different businesses and operations, but it's great to share ideas and talk what works and what doesn't work.

It's like I said, it was a great opportunity for us to get together. We do it roughly about three times a year. All-Star break is one of them, and then we have a winter meeting as well as a spring meeting to kind of get everybody together. We're talking to Charlie Meyer, the Lincoln Salt Dogs, and Charlie, it's that phase, the All-Star Break is kind of where you reassess and redirect based on your results in your season so far, whether players are hurt, whether you need to refill. how do you approach post-draft with players available?

Do you have a list of players that you have your eye on? Is there a list of groups, players that you want to approach right away to see if they can be a part of what you're doing? How do you approach post-All-Star and the roster? Basically, we're always looking to, if there's an opportunity to improve the roster, you're always looking for that. And, you know, we have probably 10 to 12 names that we've got sitting out there right now that we've been talking to since the college season ended that are basically waiting for the draft. And, you know, like we had a picture we had our eye on that got drafted yesterday in the fifth round.

And so, you know, we're looking at, we're always looking at that. And there's also people that are getting released from the affiliated side, you know, whether it's the pirates or the Rockies or they're putting out release wires. each and every day. And so you're looking at those factors to see, okay, is there, you know, do we need, do we have a need for a pitcher or do we have a need for, you know, a DH or a cleanup hitter, et cetera, et cetera. You're kind of always evaluating your roster throughout the season. And right now, we're kind of looking for a bat is really what we're trying to figure out here.

You know, we had a couple guys with Justin Bird and Buddy Bowman on the pitching side, and they got picked up, and now we're trying to plug and play players into those spots here as we make the run down the remainder of the season. Charlie, it's always interesting, especially when it comes to minor league sports, is the engagement with the community and players from the community. What is the philosophy, or at least what is the availability of former Nebraska players being a part of what the salt dogs do? Well, there's always an opportunity for that.

And, you know, we talked with, previously used to talk with Coach Erstad, and now we talked with Coach Bolt with players that are graduating in that type of thing to see what their, you know, what their aspirations are if they want to continue to play. You know, we're always, we've got a great communication length with the university, and obviously because we're partners there at Haymarket Park and work with the, coaching staff from there is if there's players that don't get drafted. Okay, is there an opportunity to try to continue their dreams with us? And hopefully they would get picked up or, you know, some of them will sign as a free agent.

So this whole draft side of it, and with the draft getting pushed back, it used to be up there during the College World Series week, and now it's about a month later. And so that's kind of changed the way the player pool has been for us anyway. So we're having to pivot and adjust as far as, all those changes that are happening as far as making sure your roster is, you know, the best it can be.

But the partnership of the University of Nebraska is a vital link for us. And, you know, we've had players, Jay Coency and other players that have played with us on the Salt Dogs roster after they've finished at the university. Yeah, I would think that because of familiarity and proximity that it would help.

Anyway, you know, even with the the ability to cross-market and promote having former Huskers on your roster would be of benefit. I want to ask this because on a Tuesday night in a Tuesday afternoon in Lincoln, Nebraska, trying to pull people into the space, it's going to be 95 degrees, 430 first pitch. But you still manage to do what you do and trying to draw folks and then do something good with it. Let's talk about tonight what happens down at Haymarket Park. Well, we're playing a double header here today because we're making up a game that we lost in May due to weather. And so we've got a stretch here where we're playing five games and four days.

So it's 430 today and then we'll play 30 minutes after we get down with the first seven-in-any game. And then we'll play another seven-any game after we get the first one completed. And then we've got games on Wednesday and Thursday. with C City. So it's a busy week. It's a big week after coming off the All-Star break. We didn't have a very good road trip down to Cleaver, and we were in three games and lost all three by a run

and got whitewashed on the getaway day. And last time we lost four to two. And so, yeah, we need to kind of turn it around. We're leaving a lot of guys on base. And, you know, obviously baseball can run through these ups and downs throughout the season, and, you know, we're about half, we're a little over halfway through the 2022 season here, and we're hanging around in the playoff spot, and we'll just continue to turn along here, but we need to improve some pitching, and we need to find a bat,

we need to find a bat to help hopefully knock some runs in. We're talking to Charlie Meyer of the Lincoln Saw Dogs, and again, we're offering four tickets and a VIP parking pass. To today's game, if you can answer the question onto the text line on who leads the salt dogs at home runs. If you can do that, the first person that answers correctly, we will, in fact, give you tickets today's game. When you do the community events like the one you're doing today, you know, donate item, perishable items at the game for a general mission ticket. What type of numbers are you looking for and are you getting in response? Is there a way for us?

Should we push this harder in having the perishables delivered? Well, I mean, we've, you know, we get two to three tubs of food that are getting, that are being brought by fans to basically come to the game and get a free GA ticket. And, you know, it's a great opportunity for us to give back to the community and work with the Food Bank, thanks to the Nebraska Medical Association and Lancaster County Health Society. They have basically partnered with us to do this promotion on Tuesdays and basically call it a triple-play Tuesday. So fans can come out, bring a non-perishable item,

and we'll get them a GA ticket to come into the games. And it's been a good success. I mean, obviously, weekday games are a little bit more or less attended just because people are busy. And now that a lot of state baseball and softball has been completed, hopefully now we'll start seeing some fans, has kind of been the trend the last 20 years. Once we get through the middle of July,

our attendance increases here through the rest of the season until we get to the football season starting up here in early September. Charlie, are you familiar with Mary Ellen's Food for the Soul? Have you sampled their goods yet? I have not sampled their goods. I've heard a lot of good things about it. And Brett Jody and I have talked about trying to figure out an off day. We can run down there and go sample that.

Yeah, I'm going to work on that for you as well because that's a marriage that needs to happen as well. And because you guys are doing what you're doing for the community, I mean, the Food Drive and the Food Bank of Lincoln, that is a wonderful, wonderful thing that you guys want to do from a week-to-week basis. I want to say thank you to you guys by, I guess the other question is, have you sampled Beatrice Bakery and their good yet. Have not done that one yet either. Okay, so here's what we want to do. So on a day-to-day basis, we give care packages to folks who are doing good things in the community

for each other. And the food drive is important because we're helping people. We're never going to meet, get out of situations that they should not be in. Your work is known and noted. Beatrice's Bakery allows us to say thank you to the folks who leave the kids. community and doing good things for other people by doing good things for them. So if you would allow us to do that, I want to send down a care package down to the ballpark from Beatrice Bakery.

So you, the coaches, the players, the staff can celebrate a little bit for the good things that you guys do on a game by game and week-by-week basis, if that's okay. That'd be great. Thank you very much, D.P. That would be awesome. Okay. So we will do that as well. I'm looking forward to it.

I'm actually going to come down today. I'll stop by and give you a pat on the back as we enjoy some baseball. I want to get out and get some additional sun. But it's a busy week for you. Give the folks to run down for the rest of the week for the dogs. So, yeah, we've got the double-heder today starting at 430, and it's in Triple Play Tuesday with the Food Bank,

bringing non-perishable item and get a GA ticket. Tomorrow's Weiner Wednesday, game at 705, and then we have Thursday Thursday on Thursday at 705. And tomorrow night's game on Wednesday, It's the Nebraska deaf and hard of hearing night, and so we'll actually experience an inning during the game where it'll be a total silent inning where there'll be no music, no PA or whatever,

so you can kind of experience what it's like to be deaf or hard of hearing. And I grew up with deaf parents, and it's an opportunity for me to interact with that community each and every year, and it's a fun night, and it's a different experience. that you've never experienced that. Charlie, as I said, for what you guys do in the community, as quiet as quiet kept, it needs to be celebrated.

You guys consistently put goodness in how you engage in the community, and it's important. I am a little intrigued about to run a baseball bingo. What are we doing? We go. We've got baseball bingo with Fairbury brand odd dogs, and the winner Wednesday. So if you win some, if you fill the card up or get a bingo,

you come up, and we've got Fairbier, coupon that you can go get some free hot dogs at the grocery stores here in town. That's going to be awesome. Also, looking forward to BP with DP next week. Give us a little bit about the Sioux City explores. Well, they are, it's interesting. I talked with them yesterday for when they arrived in town. And they're right now, they're in last place in our division.

But they have really been banged up with injuries. and so they've been trying to battle through that, and we've been battling through some injuries, but nothing to what they've run into. I mean, they typically have been kind of a leader of the pack in our division in the past years. So they're starting to come around, but it's a rival for us.

I mean, Sioux City and Lincoln is the closest proximity of the teams here in the league, and we've always had this rivalry with Sioux City, and they're playing better. they're, they've got, they had a couple pitchers that went down with arm injuries, and, you know, when you lose starting pitching, it's hard to replace that. And so they're kind of limping along and trying to right the ship like we are trying to do as well. And so, you know, it'll be a good run.

And obviously we got, we play them here a lot this week, and then we'll end up the season up in Sioux City at the end of the year. So it will come down to probably with us and them and Sioux Falls as far as battle. for that final playoff spot. Charlie, man, we're looking forward to you guys turning it around. It'll be a big week here. I'll be down to the ballpark today to bounce around. Kind, sir, you are greatly appreciated,

and we'll send some goodies down to say thank you and appreciation for what you guys do. Well, thank you for all you do. And, you know, it's a great partnership, and we'll look forward to you guys doing BP here later in the month. Yeah, next Friday. We'll go down. I promise not to take some.

swings next week. We will see, Charlie, we will see. I have no idea. That's Charlie Meyer from Lincoln Sondogh, Charlie, thank you very much. All right, take care, D.P. See tonight. Yeah, man. Yeah, good stuff all the way around. And again, if you

can tell us, who leads the Salt Dogs in home runs? Free tickets. As a matter of fact, you can even pick the game you want to go to. I mean, it's double-headed a day, games tomorrow. It should be fun. we'll do that.

Yeah, we're going to send down some Beatrice's bakery to the fine folks at the Lincoln Salt Dogs for what they do. Again, the food drive. And here's the thing, community-wise, what we know about Lincoln is you guys will show up. Even if you don't need the tickets, just drop off some perishables, those things in your cabinet and your cupboard that you're not going to use, that you know you're not going to use. Like they've been there sitting there staring you in the face and you put stuff around it. you put stuff around it grab those items put them in a box or in a bag

and drop them off at Haymarket Park do that you can take the general missions tickets maybe you know use it another time you use it in another game you don't have to use them for tonight's game bone you are correct bone is the winner of those tickets

you are absolutely correct Altman leads them as a as as Charlie said he participated in the homeowner derby contest for the all-star game So good on him. He leads them with 10. Bravo.

Well done. But yeah, I'm going to ask you listeners that if you have the time, and it'll only take a couple of minutes, you literally can pull up, drop them off at the front gate or at the office or the ticket office. If you want the tickets, you can, that's the whole other process. You just come right before the game. But again, they're there at 430, double-headed a day. Let's show up for the Salt Dogs in the Lincoln Food Bank.

Let's show up today. Just whatever's in the cupboard. Again, your wife yelled at you about why do you buy this and not eat it? As a wife, you know the things your family. If it's been sitting there for four months, there's a reason. Go in the cupboard, grab a few items or grab a lot of items. Put them in a bag and drop them off at the Haymarket. If you really want to, if you really don't want to go down to Haymarket,

you can drop them off here at the ticket. How about that? You can just drop off perishables here at the ticket. As a matter of fact, I'll say this. If you drop off parisible tickets, we have vouchers. We'll give you vouchers. You bring perishables, three atoms or more, we will give you a voucher for a future game.

And if you go, like for every so-and-so, we'll give you additional vouchers. I think that's a fair and good deal. You guys can hit me on the text line. Let me know you're coming. Let me know you're thinking about it, and we'll do that. If this is a great, this is a great opportunity for us to show up for folks in need who have,

who obviously have less than we do. So let's do that today if we could. Well, toward the break, we'll come back. I want to talk about, we've talked about uniforms, and the uniform folks have started to pop up. And there's some front runners for what is the best all-time Husker football uniform. I want your opinions. I want your voice. when we come back.