MACON, Ga. — The Macon Bacon are eager to embark on year two in the Coastal Plains League after a very successful year one in the books.
It’s more than wins and losses when we're talking success with the Macon Bacon, we're also talking young college kids and the impact they are making beyond the diamond.
This season, the Macon Bacon are looking to bring the sizzle back to the home team and the home crowd.
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“You think about two to three hours of baseball, but you're going to be entertained from the moment you walk in to the moment you leave. We have fireworks nights and skits between innings and it’s going to make you laugh and may make you cry from laughing so hard,” said general manager Brandon Raphael.
Raphael is a first-year president for the Macon Bacon and he says the party off the field will be improved as well as the talent you see on the diamond, making the experience something that’s entertaining all around.
“Our coach has a tough decision to make when he has 100s of players from all across the country who want to play for the Macon Bacon,” said Raphael.
“All these guys have been handpicked. We recruit this team based on their past successes and what we need to do to build a winning team,” said manager Danny Higginbotham.
But when the ball is not in play, the Bacon franchise understands the players still need to be on their A game, leaving Central Georgia better than they found it, so they encourage them to get involved.
“Our middle name, we believe, is community and partnerships. What we've done is become so involved with our community with volunteering our time while also supporting our local organizations. The guys this summer will be going to the children’s hospital [and] reading to kids at schools. How can these guys behind me have an opportunity to be in front of middle Georgia and the local community,” said Raphael.
And over the next two months, this ball club vows to help the players grow into better student athletes and better pillars of the community bonding every chance they get.
“We're on the bus a lot and they have to learn how to take care of their body. Getting home at 3 a.m. and getting to the ball park at 2:30 p.m. Are they going to sleep in until 1:30 p.m. or will they get up and get a workout in? There's a lot of growing up they do away from home and we like it. The bus is a great place to come together and be a team, that’s what we are looking forward to,” said Higginbotham.
These players definitely want to win a lot of games, but they have already decided it’s going to be a fun summer no matter what.