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The Wizard of College Baseball

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David Brauer discusses how Ron Fraser changed college baseball—accelerating the sport’s growth and setting a new standard for modern college baseball well ahead of his time.

Image courtesy of interviewee. September 4, 2024

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This video discusses the influential figure of Ron Frazier in the realm of college baseball, highlighting his significant contributions to the sport's growth and popularity, particularly at the University of Miami. Initially perceived as an afterthought in college athletics, baseball blossomed under Frazier's vision and innovative coaching starting in the early 1960s. He transformed a struggling program into a national powerhouse by securing two national championships and establishing Miami as a competitive force in the College World Series.

Frazier's marketing ingenuity included unique promotions and events that attracted fans and helped establish college baseball's visibility. His collaboration with the newly formed ESPN in the late '70s played a crucial role in increasing national television exposure for college baseball, leading to a surge in attendance and interest. This video emphasizes Frazier's legacy as a mentor to future coaches and athletic programs, providing both historical context and inspiring anecdotes that underline his impact on the sport. The narrative suggests that Frazier's story not only illustrates the evolution of college baseball but also presents lessons applicable beyond sports, appealing to a broad audience of fans and businesspeople alike.

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You know, Ron Frazier's a fascinating guy.

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We'll start that way. Um, he was,

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so instrumental in the development of college baseball,

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which, you know, today is enjoying a tremendous amount

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of success and popularity.

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Um, television ratings are, are fantastic

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for the College World Series, you know, draws, a lot

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of interest, especially in the southeastern part

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of the country and the SEC.

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But, it wasn't always that case.

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And Ron Frazier was at the forefront of this growth,

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and he was really a visionary that was, frankly, a decade,

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maybe two decades ahead of his time

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and the way he thought of things.

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And that he, set the trends that developed nationwide

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and eventually grew the sport to what we see today.

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And so, it's, it's a opportunity I felt, to

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tell his story for, the purposes

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of educating modern day fans.

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It may not associate, who he was

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and what he did for the sport, to also provide just,

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you know, the, the colorful tales and,

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and stories that come along with the accomplishments

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that he had and the innovations that he created.

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Uh, you know, it, the book itself runs the gamut of,

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of emotions, I guess.

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It runs from, just, you know, human interest story,

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certainly baseball, related, sports related,

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but can take away some lessons for, inspiration for,

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business people, and really just the entertaining side

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and, and amusing stories that are involved.

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Bob Frazier was a college baseball coach that,

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began his career at the University

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of Miami in the early 1960s.

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And he had come to Miami

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after, a stint as, basically the head coach

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and heading the national program in the ne in the

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Netherlands, after he served military duty in Europe.

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And so he built a,

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he really introduced a game in the Netherlands, decided

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to come back to the US and, wanted to be in coaching.

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Took over a program that literally had no equipment.

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Uh, he was told to spend no money,

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and he took this as a part-time job

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where he worked at the YMCA, to supplement his income

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and would go over and,

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and, coach baseball in the afternoons

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and, obviously during the game schedule.

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Uh, but what he did was, he was such an innovator

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that he grew the program at Miami into

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the iconic program, definitely by the 1980s.

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And in the seventies, he made inroads to,

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build a new stadium.

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He reached the College World Series, which is the 18,

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national tournament that decides the national champion.

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And that was a first for the University of Miami.

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And along the way, he did all sorts

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of promotions that had not been seen.

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He did a fundraiser

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that was a $5,000 a plate dinner on the field

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where he brought in chefs from all over the world.

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He had this, 12 course meal, on the field.

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And, you know, so he did a lot

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of these innovative things.

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And as he grew his program along the way,

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he won two national championships.

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He was a perennial, made perennial appearances in the

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College World Series, was nationally ranked.

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His programs were nationally ranked every year.

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He was, selected by Baseball America

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as the number three, top coach of the 20th century.

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And so he had a tremendous amount of success on the field,

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but also in growing the game

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and really setting a blueprint that so many others followed

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to grow it across the country.

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The main focus of research was one, to capture

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as much, and

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or to capture as much, like newspaper articles

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and, you know,

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storylines from the time to give it the context.

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So many things that he did were ahead of his time

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and had not been done.

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And to really get that feel for the present moments and,

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and how the reactions were and,

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and, you know, the storylines that developed from there.

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And secondly, the, a a major focus was, interviewing

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as many people as I could.

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And I spoke to over a hundred former players, coaches,

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staff, family members, media people

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that had interactions with Frazier, either very closely

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who worked with him or maybe, took some of his,

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ideas and put them into their own program in terms

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of a another coach.

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And, so I think, you know, that brought those stories

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to life and really gave great anecdotes that, you know,

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gave it the personal side that,

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the factual research backed up.

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College football is king.

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It still is in today's, you know, US College,

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athletics markets, especially at the division one level.

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Uh, and it always was the case.

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And basketball as, as it still is today was kind of that.

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Number two, baseball.

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When Ron Frazier began,

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coaching was an afterthought, quite frankly.

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Uh, a lot of the players were perceived as maybe

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not good enough to play professionally.

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Uh, major league baseball gravitated towards high school

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players, and the majority of their signings

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for pro prospects and,

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and players they wanted to develop

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came directly out of high school.

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And so the college game really was

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neglected in a lot of ways.

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It was, very sparsely attended.

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There was virtually no media coverage,

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and there were only a few pockets that were

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very focused on success.

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Uh, and that was out west in California.

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University of Southern California was the dominant power in

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the sixties and seventies.

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Uh, Arizona State was close behind them,

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and there'd be some schools that would pop up here

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and there, but it's nothing like what it was today,

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where the Southeastern Conference is, is the juggernaut

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of college baseball.

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And you have programs all over the country

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that are competitive year in and year out,

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and perennial powers.

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Uh, but along those lines, the irony is at the University

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of Miami, what Frazier built with baseball kind

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of set the tone for football,

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because at the time, football was, mediocre,

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did not draw well, and they were struggling

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to really find their footing there.

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And it actually came to the point where as the board

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of trustees looked at trimming some budget,

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football was on the chopping block,

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and it was Frazier who helped convince them

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to keep football around.

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And as he was building his program

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and having them at the top of the college baseball world,

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Howard Schnellenberger, one of the co the coach for football

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that really gets a lot of credit for starting the University

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of Miami's powerhouse of the eighties, came in and he

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and Frazier formed a bond.

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And there was probably a lot of exchange of ideas.

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Schnellenberger marketed not quite to the extent

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that Frazier did,

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but he found some of those pieces that Frazier had working

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and took those over to the football side.

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History plays out in the eighties

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and Miami's the team of the decade in college football

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and is on the map for football as,

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as most people know it athletically.

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Ron Frazier, when it came to marketing,

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he was a tremendous businessman, a tremendous promoter.

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Uh, he created all sorts of, frankly,

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wacky promotions.

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Uh, anything it took to get someone into the ballpark.

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And remember, you're in Miami where they,

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you're just a few miles from the beach.

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You've got a a lot of things going on there

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for the entertainment side that baseball isn't probably,

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especially at the college level,

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probably isn't a real high priority.

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And so he did whatever it took to get people to

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pay attention to his program, capitalize on the media.

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Uh, at the time, their only pro sports team in the,

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in south Florida was the Miami Dolphins.

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And so what he built, it was the Miami Dolphins in the fall

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and Miami Hurricanes baseball in the spring.

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Those were the two most followed,

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sports in South Florida.

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But to get to that point, he would bring people in

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with all sorts of,

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promotions like open heart surgery night, where,

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someone would, win an open heart surgery,

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if they needed it in the next, calendar year.

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Uh, he had used car giveaways that, you know, that they,

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they may not really be, you know, the greatest car,

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but people would get really excited if they could,

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drive it off the lot.

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Uh, he had a tax night where he had, accountants come

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and prepare taxes on April 15th, you know,

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behind the dugout, you know, there, there was all sorts

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of, interesting promotions.

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He created the first mascot,

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college mascot devoted specifically

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to a baseball program in the Miami maniac.

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And so that mascot became a, a focal point at all sorts

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of antics, you know, recreating Olympics at games,

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even got married on a nationally televised game.

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And, you know, even

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and began touring across ballparks, nationwide and,

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and even internationally.

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And was the College World Series mascot

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for several years as well.

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When, ESPN started in 1979,

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it was a fledgling network looking for programming.

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And Ron Frazier saw that as a tremendous opportunity

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to grow college baseball

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and get it on television, get visibility nationwide.

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And he thought that calendar time between February

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and June was a perfect time to,

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you know, get people's attention.

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You know, us pro football was wrapping up.

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Uh, there was kind of that timeline of, you know,

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people looking for, something that had

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that outdoor feel, that summertime feel,

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early in the spring.

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And he felt that that was, that would really fill that void.

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So he went to ESPN headquarters

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and basically camped out there, and he went up

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and down hallways trying to meet

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with every executive that he could.

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He brought, university of Miami hats and t-shirts and,

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and the paraphernalia to pass out.

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And he got his meetings.

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He convinced them to air the season opening series in 1981

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between the University of Miami, the up

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and coming program that he had against the University

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of Southern California, which was the powerhouse program in

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college baseball history, and,

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and a dynasty,

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with six national championships in the seventies.

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And ESPN broadcast, not only the first game,

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but all three games of that series.

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And it marked the first time

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that a regular season college baseball game had ever

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aired on television.

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While the games were entertaining,

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the ratings were really good, and ESPN came back

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and said, we're gonna do more games.

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Eventually, that grew into a more robust schedule

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and, a weekly Sunday night time slot, which today is,

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is really the marquee time slot when you look at the NFL,

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when you look at Major League Baseball.

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And so from that, that grew

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the visibility for college baseball.

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It was the single biggest factor in the growth of the sport.

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Uh, in 1979, about three, 5.3 million people went

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to college baseball games.

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By 1983, it nearly doubled

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that at 12.8 million.

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And so, you know, his, his growth in that, you know,

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it was felt nationwide.

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Attendance was up. College World Series grew.

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Every game of the College World Series aired.

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Uh, again, that's, event went from growth from about,

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Uh, 8,000 fans per game to nearly double

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that at over 14,000 within a decade.

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And you just saw the growth

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and the momentum going nationwide.

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This book is something that provides some inspiration,

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provides some historical knowledge of how

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one person not only was tremendously successful in their

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specific role, in this case being a coach,

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but also in innovation and building an entire sport,

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and having, laying the groundwork for others to follow suit.

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Uh, Frazier was a mentor for, many coaches,

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many athletic departments, across the country in how

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to make baseball successful, to make it profitable,

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and to make it, really something that,

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universities can be proud of.

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And, and that follows suit with football and basketball.

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And I think the book itself, the stories included in it,

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they're entertaining, they're inspiring,

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and I think, you know, whether it's you have a,

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a great knowledge or interest in sports or baseball

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or just a casual fan, I think you'll find it, you know,

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something that's very enlightening.

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