GreenJackets general manager Nick Brown is expected to be named the South Atlantic League's Executive of the Year today when the league releases its 2010 end-of-season awards.
Regular season play ended Monday, and the GreenJackets again finished with the best overall record in the league's Southern Division. Brown, wrapping up his seventh season as Augusta's general manager, oversaw a franchise record in paid attendance this year with a little more than 201,000 fans in 69 home games.
"It's well deserved," GreenJackets manager Dave Machemer said. "I thought Nick did a great job. This is my second year (in Augusta), and he put more of an emphasis on communicating with the club, and he put people in the stands."
Brown joined the club in 2003 and was named general manager starting with the 2004 season. He remained in that position through an ownership change that saw Cal Ripken Jr. and his Ripken Baseball Group purchase the team just before the 2006 season.
Season ticket holder Kevin Enright said he's seen the team make many improvements during Brown's tenure.
"Ripken Baseball made a huge difference when they came in," Enright said. "Overall, I think Nick does a great job. I think upper management has to be impressed with what he does here considering what he has to work with."
Enright pointed to a change in concessions and a rushed but quality job in correcting a broken scoreboard as evidence of Brown's quality work this year.
The GreenJackets dropped their concessions provider in the offseason and brought the food services department in-house, adding new items to the menu and hiring a director of food services.
A few days before the home opener, the stadium's electronic scoreboard, more than 30 years old, went blank and technicians deemed it unable to be fixed. Brown and his staff created a manually-operated scoreboard on the right field wall in fewer than 48 hours.
"What they came up with worked, and it made it through the whole year," Enright said. "That was a miracle in itself."
Brown almost didn't make it to his 17th season in minor league baseball. He experienced a life-threatening illness in November that resulted in a four-day, medically-induced coma. Doctors said Brown most likely caught the H1N1 flu virus, which led to pneumonia in both lungs and a weeklong stay in the intensive care unit at Doctors Hospital.
Brown made a full recovery and led the GreenJackets' front office in the 23rd season of minor league baseball in Augusta.
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