On August 21st I will be running my 8th Falmouth Road Race and the first for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, only 12 more Falmouths to go until my friend Gary runs another one, with me.

There are two ways to help reach the goal I’ve set. First you can head over to the fundraising page with a link here and make a donation. Thanks in advance.

If you want a reward for your donation as an extra incentive, I have it for you.

That’s three stories of the most dangerous and frightening experience of my life: getting out on the dance floor in front of real people doing a real dance routine to the song ‘Mack the Knife.’

I'm not saying this is a once in lifetime opportunity, but in 14 years only a handful of people have witnessed this (almost) heart-stopping performance.

The famous biblical story of David and Goliath has come to take on a more secular meaning through the ages and is referenced when something big and something small clash.

A fearless underdog going against a giant. Instead of running David had heart and fought back.

America loves an underdog and so does Worcester, Massachusetts, where another version of David and Goliath is playing out for a second summer with David (represented by the Worcester Bravehearts baseball team) under the lights at Fitton Field on the Campus of The College of the Holy Cross and Goliath (represented by the Worcester Red Sox) at Polar Park next to Table Talk Pies.

Worcester actually had a Major League Baseball team from 1880 to 1882. The name, quite original, was the Worcester Worcesters. True story.

To raise the capital to support their entry into the National League, the team sold shares for $35 (with the price including a season ticket), sponsored a walking race that attracted 3,000 people, arranged for discount packages of train fare and baseball tickets for fans from outside the city, and held benefit concerts and dramatic performances.

The next city-wide team of note, or at least of my note, were the Worcester Tornadoes from 2005 to 2012. They were members of the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, an independent baseball league which was not affiliated with Major League Baseball. My son Joe and I started going to games right after moving to Massachusetts in 2006.

Close to home. Good accessibility for wheelchairs. Oh, and did I mention inexpensive?

When the Tornadoes folded after the 2012 season, or should I say 'imploded' after the 2012 season, leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of vendors they owed money to and the city itself, the lazy (inexpensive) summer nights at the park were no more.

That is until the Creedon family stepped up and entered a team in the New England Futures League to start in 2014.

This is a summer league for college players, similar to the famous Cape League where hundreds of major leaguers have passed through on their way to the big time. Some players are local and attend local colleges, while others stay with host families for the summer.

Since I had an ongoing business relationship with Creedon & Company for many years prior to the baseball team’s inception, I knew that 'customer satisfaction' was a core principle of the company, so I was looking forward to the new team.

The sign in the photo is outside the Creedon facility and posted on each of the parking spaces right next to the office door, to give you an idea of their attitude.

So it didn't surprise me that with John Creedon Jr as President, the team started by having the fans select the team nickname, and ‘Bravehearts’ was the winning choice.

Aside: You should also know that if you get a Bravehearts tattoo, you get Season Tickets for life and so far, 17 fans have taken the plunge, or the needle as the case may be. (I am NOT one of them.)

That history of customer focus in other businesses morphed into 'fan friendly' and championship after championship followed in 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019.

With the famous Dave Peterson as the General Manager the team became the most successful in the league using any metric. Nicknamed 'Peterman,' Dave is THE most enthusiastic person I know, and one of the reasons I know is that my son interned for him many years ago.

With those type of relationships with the team's leadership, and our love of baseball, of course we went to games. Close to home. Good accessibility for wheelchairs. Oh, and did I mention inexpensive?

But there was something different about the Bravehearts: they didn’t just talk fan-friendly, I think they tried to reinvent it. This year's theme is "Twenty-Twenty You."

On game day, everyone parks free, players in uniform come into the stands to sign autographs, kids run from foul pole to foul pole once per game, accessibility is a top priority with golf carts helping folks to the gate, and they sell 'All You Can Eat" Tickets with hot dogs, angus burgers, popcorn and soft drinks included.

Oh yeah, this week they are hosting 'Bark in the Park' where you can get your dog a $3 ticket and that money is donated to dog-related charities.

You get the picture. Focused on the fan experience.

That's just game stuff. As part of the community:

No wonder the Better Business Bureau awarded them the Business of the Year in 2019 before the pandemic changed the world.

Things were rolling along for the Bravehearts until the Rhode Island Legislature voted not to build a new ballpark for the new owners of the Pawtucket Red Sox, a Triple A minor league team affiliated with THOSE Red Sox.

So, the owners of the Rhode Island team turned their eyes to the second largest city in New England and eventually Worcester agreed to build a multi-million-dollar state-of-the-art facility at taxpayer expense, betting on the economic development sure to follow.

So much for the Bravehearts, right?

Overwhelming odds like this generally mean ‘fold.’ Probably a large part of the population expected the team to either go inactive or move to another city.

I mean, who'd have the heart to go into a battle with odds so stacked against you, that even friends might think you were a little stupid to try?

But as regular readers know by now, there is a thin line between bravery and stupidity and the Worcester Bravehearts had to make a choice: fold and move along, or...do something else.

They chose something else. They hoped it was on the 'brave' side of the line, and being the curious type, I sat down with John and Dave and talked about their battle with Goliath. Because the reality of today is that whatever they are doing is working.

A season and a half later, the team is still kicking and still drawing fans, as this photo from Saturday's game shows. (Yes, strollers are welcome).

Of course, the fan-friendly focus, the programming and the promotions are helping to drive attendance, but that is never enough.

You might have been hoping for something more glamorous, but no, a major reason the team is still alive and kicking and in fact showing an attendance increase this year is their attitude toward people, part of the company philosophy and business model.

If you were to go to work for the Bravehearts, at Orientation you'd learn the mantra when interacting with the public is simple:

The team goal is for fans to have FUN at a game.

What a unique concept, eh? Isn't that why people get tickets to anything? To have fun?

It would be a great world if every business and every employee in every public-facing business had that as a personal mission statement. (Note: The Smiley Face was invented in Worcester).

But in order to have a staff that lives that attitude, they have to be treated right, as America is learning through the Great Resignation.

And, unlike many sports teams, I learned that the Bravehearts pay their interns, not universally an industry standard, and second, they lead by example. Here's an example: they do not use a cleaning service after games, the staff, including the General Manager and the Owners clean the park, including the restrooms.

Imagine being a summer intern for the Bravehearts and cleaning a restroom alongside the general manager? Leading by example has no substitute.

At this point in my journey to figure out their success, I knew a lot about the "How" but not much about the "Why." I understood how they kept going, but I was less clear on why they kept going.

That turned out to be fairly simple: persistent people press on.

So, you ask, they are still here because they decided to be? Yes.

Of course, there is no guarantee that the Bravehearts will be around forever. Putting people first seems like a solid bet, in any business, and nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.

But isn't it kind of magical that nine years ago the fans of Worcester named the team the "Bravehearts" without knowing that the nickname applied to the team on the field that would be managed and led by John and David who would prove they had brave hearts, too?

Play ball.

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