North Cook News

Dave Chase's baseball passport is stamped "Schaumburg."

The much-traveled minor league baseball front-office executive has been hired as the new general manager of the Boomers, according to Baseball Digest.

Chase told the North Cook News that his first day on the job was Tuesday.

“I got a call a couple of weeks ago that Schaumburg was looking for some general manger help, and I made some phone calls and found out what was going on, and decided it would be a good opportunity to come,” he said.

Chase has spent 40 years in the sport. According to his biography on the Boomers website, Chase started as the assistant general manager of the Savannah (Georgia) Braves. He has been the general manager of the Atlanta Braves affiliate in Anderson, South Carolina; the St. Louis Cardinals affiliate in Memphis; and most recently the Sussex County Miners of Augusta, New Jersey, in the independent Can-Am League.

Chase was also the business manager for affiliate teams in Durham, Burlington and Raleigh, North Carolina; and Pulaski, Virginia. He has also been president of the Prospect League and Baseball Concessions Inc.

Outside of the minors, Chase was publisher and president of Baseball America magazine, among his other roles with the publication; curriculum coordinator for the course “Baseball in America” at the University of Memphis; and a driving force behind Major League Baseball's Civil Rights Game.

Chase said he now looks for jobs that allow him to mentor a young, talented staff. He said he has worked with more than 250 interns, and many of them have moved up to become front-office executives themselves. He sees potential in the staff in Schaumburg.

“This works," he said. "This works well for me."

A New York native, Chase said that throughout his career he has been mostly in the South and had not been to Schaumburg before. But he was aware of the area's love of baseball.

“Schaumburg, and Chicago in general, is a hotbed for baseball,” he said.

He will focus on the Boomers' day-to-day operations, such as handling the business side of the club and training staff. Manager Jamie Bennett will be in charge of player transactions.

Chase began his journey into baseball's front offices while playing in Poughkeepsie, New York, when Fritz Jordan, a former coach at his alma mater, Arlington High School, told him he wouldn't make as a player, but he should look into working in the front office jobs. Chase said Jordan recognized his passion.

“I never thought of the front office of baseball as a career opportunity,” Chase said.

With Jordan's encouragement, Chase went to baseball's 1976 winter meetings in Los Angeles to meet with baseball executives, but his only job offer paid $50 a week. He turned it down.

The next year, the winter meetings were in Honolulu, which meant fewer competitors for jobs because of the travel demands. Chase attended and got the Savannah job.

Chase said he learned early that baseball can be a tool to make a difference in a community.

“People want to be at your ballpark," he said. "It brings generations together. It brings families together. The pace of the game allows conversation during the game."