Come Laugh with The Charleston Riverdogs

March 9, 2010: Dave Echols introduced Mike Veeck, Owner and President of the Charleston Riverdogs, as our guest speaker.

Mike began by telling several Rotary jokes and a few jokes about Club Rotarians that he knows. He then told several jokes and humorous stories about his days in Chicago.

His theme was that for the past 14 years he’s been trying to make the people of Charleston laugh. He said that people love the sound of laughter. His goal is to try to make people laugh to bring them into the stadium to see ballgames.

Mr. Veeck’s presentation was a series of unrelated stories and humorous experiences he has had in life, particularly revolving around his career in working with several baseball franchises.

Mr. Veeck stated that he has been in Charleston for 13 years now and that attendance at Riverdogs games has increased every year that he has been here.

Mr. Veeck stated that these are not the worst of times but the best of times. Before his father died he told him to “be happy.” He said that he tries to share compassion and joy with others… that’s what life is all about.

In the question/answer period, he was asked what it would take to go from a single A team to a double A team. His answer was that they would like to become a double A team, however, to obtain that status, the Riverdogs would have to maintain a 300,000 per year attendance record. Currently the attendance is at 280,000 annually.

Reported by: William K. Christian, III Keyway Committee