The Business of Baseball
A Longtime Baseball Aficionado's Plan to Reinvigorate Tigertown Beyond Spring Training
PHOTOS BY JORDAN RANDALL AND PROVIDED BY TOM HAGERTY | WRITTEN BY HOLLY CAIN
The Detroit Tigers new Vice President of Florida Baseball Operations, Andy Dunn took a seat in his office-with-a-an-enviable view, the floor-to-ceiling windows overlook his work domain, the immaculate Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.
Banners honoring Detroit Tiger legends from Ty Cobb and Lou Whitaker to Al Kaline and Jack Morris hang outside just below the office. An open laptop and a desktop computer dominate Dunn’s desk. A bulletin board is filled with yellow sticky notes and tacked-on reminders.
High on the otherwise blank wall to his left is a television. On it, the Detroit Tigers are beating the Cleveland Guardians in the opening game of the American League Wild Card Series. Dunn smiled as he glanced over at the postseason action, clearly pleased with his new team’s work.
Andy Dunn, Vice President Baseball Operations-Lakeland
In his brief months-long tenure, Dunn hasn’t taken the time to worry about filling his office with decor. He’s clearly got other priorities and has hit the ground running. The good news for Lakeland residents is that he really likes the potential he sees with that wide encompassing view.
It’s telling that Dunn would much rather talk about his plan for the Lakeland stadium and Tiger teams than talk about himself. He has been busy meeting with city leaders and longtime team supporters, getting acquainted with his new staff and introducing himself to the Lakeland Police Chief.
“Met Andy the first week when he got down here,’’ said Bob Donahay, Lakeland's longtime director of parks, recreation and cultural arts. “I got a great vibe off of him. He’s a people person and what we liked about him was he not only knows the promotional side of minor league and major league baseball, but he also knows the facility side.
“He’s got a really good background and understands where you’re coming from and what you’re talking about.”
The Lakeland Flying Tigers captured their first Florida State League title since 2012 with a 9-2 victory over the Daytona Tortugas on September 16. Joker Marchant Stadium is home to the Flying Tigers as well as home to the Detroit Tigers Spring Training.
“With Andy it feels different. When you’re in those meetings with him and you’re talking about things that need to be fixed, repaired or changed, Andy’s done that before. He knows how to go about it. I’m not trying to educate someone. I’m talking to someone across the table who has really definitive ideas, which I like.’’
To that point, on one of his very first days on the job, Dunn played host to a ground-breaking ceremony for the Tigers’ new multi-million-dollar Player Development Academy, a 59,000-square foot building billed as a “cutting-edge residential and training facility” that will only further the team’s reputation for first-class facilities at its Lakeland base.
It all fits in quite nicely with Dunn’s new tenure. His priorities are also big, bold and forward-thinking. He has long established himself a hard-worker and arrives in Lakeland open to ideas and eager to reinvigorate and infuse the city’s nearly 90-year relationship with the Detroit Tigers and Lakeland’s own Flying Tigers—the longest such pairing between a spring training venue and city in the sport.
Tigertown—as locals and Tiger fans know it—is a place Baseball Digest ranked tops among all Spring Training venues four of the last five years (2019-2023).
“I want this [Lakeland] to be the coolest place to come in town,’’ Dunn said. “And it should be.”
The 56-year old Georgia-native, Florida-raised father of three daughters arrives in Lakeland fresh off a 16-year tenure in Vancouver, British Columbia where he helped transform a bustling waterfront international city—better known for hockey and skiing—into a legitimate baseball hotbed. Dunn’s fresh approach to marketing the Toronto Blue Jays’ high-A league Canadians team—with out-of-the-box thinking and fan-friendly events—created a true diamond in the rough.
And judging by the reaction Dunn’s 2024 departure from Vancouver received, his work was not only much-appreciated, but considered game-changing. After time with the Florida Marlins and Washington Nationals organizations, he started working in Canada for the Blue Jays in 2007 and was named General Manager of the Canadians in 2018. And he leaves a lengthy resume-highlight reel.
When news of his departure hit last spring, local Canadian news lauded him in big-type headlines touting his “indelible legacy” to the area. Major League Baseball’s website called his tenure in Vancouver, “16 seasons of successes both on and off the field.”
With Andy it feels different. When you’re in those meetings with him and you’re talking about things that need to be fixed, repaired or changed, Andy’s done that before.
- Bob Donahay
Above from left to right: Dan Lunetta, Detroit Tigers Director of Player Development Special Projects, Bob Donahay, Director of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts for City of Lakeland and Andy Dunn, Vice President Baseball Operations-Lakeland for the Detroit Tigers.
“He (Dunn) found ways to make it fun for everyone and it doesn’t matter if you’re a little kid or a teenager on a date or a grandfather — there’s something there for you,’’ former Canadians co-owner Jake Kerr told one local newspaper of Dunn’s mascot races, dancing grounds crew and footlong hot dogs introduced to the Vancouver baseball-converts.
“Andy understood that baseball fans would come for sure, but we needed to make it affordable, family entertainment.
“Did he leave it better than he found it? Absolutely.’’
It’s the tried and tested gameplan of community-first, family-fun that Dunn hopes to recreate in Lakeland too.
“I tell people all the time, when you take on these operations it’s not like you’re turning around a jet ski. It’s like turning around a cruise ship.”
“I tell people all the time, when you take on these operations it’s not like you’re turning around a jet ski,’’ Dunn said smiling. “It’s like turning around a cruise ship. It just takes some time, but once you get that turn and get the momentum … it starts with ticket packages, marketing, messaging, promotions and fun. Being affordable is always very important, but you have to be involved in the community.’’
Dunn’s community-first approach is already evident. And natural. Moving to Lakeland is a return home of sorts for the former Floridian, who grew up in Altamonte Springs, attended Minnesota Twins spring training games at Orlando’s historic Tinker Field and still fondly recalls the busy Central Florida baseball heydays of the 1980s and 1990s—the area once crowded with MLB facilities in Winter Haven, Plant City, Haines City in addition to Lakeland.
Eventually Dunn went North and played second base at Western Carolina University. But he quickly realized his best position in the sport he so loved was actually going to be off the diamond.
His background and familiarity fuels what Dunn hopes to achieve in Lakeland. He wants to get people back out to the local ballpark where in addition to the traditional Spring Training portion of the calendar, they can also enjoy affordable, fun family nights out watching future superstars on the reigning Florida State League champion Lakeland Flying Tigers.
The Flying Tigers lore dates back to 1963 when the team first became affiliated with the Detroit Tigers farm system. Beloved alumni include Hall of Famers Jack Morris and John Smoltz, as well as household names like Mark Fidrych, Tony Clark and Kirk Gibson.
Dunn hopes promotions with various civic organizations will bring in new eyeballs and create new fans that can be a catalyst for a new chapter in the Flying Tigers history.
“Expand your marketing, expand your promotions and talk to people, be involved in the community,’’ Dunn says of his immediate goals. “The best way to spread the message, I think, is to have other people spread your message by being involved with them. It’s still a small town and your greatest promotion is going to come from word of mouth. I’m just a small-town guy anyway and this is where I feel most comfortable, where I feel at home.’’
Increasing attendance – the last figures available put the Lakeland Flying Tigers just shy of averaging 700 fans a game – will be a priority. And Dunn has proven a master at such. The Vancouver team, for example, jumped from an average attendance of 3,260 in 2006 to an average of 6,177 in 2016 under Dunn’s leadership. During his tenure the club set five yearly attendance records and was voted minor league organization of the year in 2013.
It's exactly the kind of promise that gives Lakeland all those good vibes Donahay anticipates.
“He’s coming from an area you had to get out and hustle to put people in the stadium,’’ Donahay said. “You have to remember promoting minor league and major league baseball are two different things. Different business plans.
“That’s what I really like about Andy, he comes in with a business plan – what went well and what hasn’t gone well. And he's from Florida, so he understands what our Florida weather is like. So, I think coming in for next year, he’s going to have some definitive ideas on the way he wants it to go, to try and get people through the turnstiles.”
The keeper of those turnstiles, TigerTown’s longtime Ground Maintenance Foreman Bryan French is also enthused about the possibilities Dunn can work at the ballpark. And with such a world-class facility in the city’s backyard, increasing attendance is something French sees as a reasonable priority.
“His eyes aren’t closed and he seems open-minded to any idea,’’ French said of Dunn. “He wants to try things and I’m excited. We’re all in it together and that’s why we have such a long-standing relationship [with the Tigers].”
It’s the kind of community home run Dunn envisions too.
“I want to make sure we’re always thinking and building on us being Lakeland’s hometown club,’’ Dunn said. “This is where you want to come and create memories with your family, your son or daughter, your mom or dad. This place should have so many special memories for everybody in this community and that’s what we want to build upon.
“And it has nothing to do with the score of a game.’’