Sea Dogs In 2020

Countless Memories at Hadlock in 2020

The moment that everything shut down last March, the Sea Dogs immediately shifted gears from baseball to how they could help the community and what they could do to stay engaged with fans and create Hadlock memories, despite a lack of baseball . In addition to keeping the Sea Dogs full time staff intact and paying game day employees, below are just a few examples of the ways the Sea Dogs were able to contribute to the community and create memories for fans in 2020 .

Slugger’s Homework Challenge In March and April, the Sea Dogs posted regular quizzes using baseball as a teaching tool to aid teachers and parents with at-home learning.

Blood Drive Answering the call for a desperate need for blood, The Portland Sea Dogs joined Maine Health to sponsor a “Distance Saves Lives” Blood Drive in partnership with the American Red Cross. Thanks to everyone’s efforts, 107 pints of blood were collected.

Food Drive The Sea Dogs, Maine Red Claws, and Maine Mariners teamed-up to help with the need for food during the pandemic. The “Fans for Food” campaign raised over $6,000 for the Good Shepherd Food Bank to assist those in need.

Home Run for Wishes The Portland Sea Dogs partnered with Make-A-Wish Maine to host a virtual 5K to fundraise to help Make-A-Wish Maine grant wishes. The event was able to raise $17,390. “During a time when so many fundraising efforts have been impacted by the necessary COVID precautions, we are so grateful to the Portland Sea Dogs for hosting this virtual 5K to benefit Make-A-Wish Maine,” said Make-A-Wish Maine President and CEO Kate Vickery. “While many of our wishes are on hold due to travel restrictions, we are still safely granting impactful wishes to children throughout Maine at a time when they need it most. As a longstanding community partner, the Sea Dogs have always stood behind providing this hope to our wish kids and this is a wonderful opportunity that they are extending to others to do the same.”

Virtual Sellout The Sea Dogs partnered with the Maine Children’s Cancer Program to attempt virtually selling out Hadlock Field to raise money for the Strike Out Cancer in Kids Program. Through generous donations and sponsorships, the Sea Dogs were able to raise over $20,000 for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program. I Miss Slugger T-Shirts “I Miss Slugger” t-shirts were created with all of the proceeds benefitting the United Way of Great Portland’s COVID Relief Fund. Through these one of kind t-shirt sales, we were able to raise $2,500.

Hadlinks With no baseball, the Sea Dogs transformed Hadlock Field into the Hadlinks Golf Club, a nine-hole target style golf course. The course was an instant hit selling out within hours, resulting in the Sea Dogs opening the course for additional weekends and corporate outings. Hadlinks will return in 2021. Dates and details will be announced this summer…stay tuned.

Dining on the Diamond In July and August, the Sea Dogs opened up the ballpark for “Dining on the Diamond”. Fans were able to reserve a social distanced table and enjoy a ballpark style dinner right on the Hadlock Field diamond. Slugger stopped by each table for a photo and entertained the crowd with his YMCA performance and 7th inning stretch routine with Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Over the course of the summer, 2,044 people joined us for dinner. If you missed the opportunity to dine at the ballpark last year, it will be returning this season. Look for complete details this summer!

Undefeated T-Shirts When the Sea Dogs season was officially canceled in June it marked the first time in Sea Dogs history that the Sea Dogs didn’t lose a game… Undefeated 2020 Season T-Shirts became the best-selling item for the Sea Dogs in 2020.

Halloween at Hadlock With many towns cancelling trick-or-treating due to safety concerns, the Portland Sea Dogs stepped up to deliver a safe trick-or-treating experience for fans of all ages. As fans walked the warning track at Hadlock Field, prewrapped candy was delivered through PVC piping, to allow for proper social distancing, at various stops throughout the ballpark. Fans were also able to take socially distanced photos with various costumed characters including Old Port Batman and Batgirl.