The Danville Dans start play for their summer season with a June 1st home opener at Danville Stadium. Managing Partner Jeanie Cooke from the Danville Area Visitors Bureau joined Laura Williams on 1490 WDAN’s Community Connection. Jeanie Cooke says, when you look back to Danville Stadium’s birth in 1945, 200 major league players and coaches have passed through the area, 34 of them connected with the Danville Dans. Prior to the Dans, which is a summer team for active college players, there was the summer collegiate team the Danville Roosters; and there were plenty of affiliations with major league clubs.
AUDIO: Because of its age, it’s one of the only ones left in the country that’s one of the original wooden baseball stadiums still in existence. It is unique the the number of minor league affiliated clubs; the White Sox, and the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Minnesota Twins and the Brewers.
Cooke says, Danville residents became fans of various teams because of those affiliations, including her dad’s love for the Dodgers. As for the birth of the Danville Dans, you can actually go back to 1988, when there were plans to tear down Danville Stadium. Jeanie Cooke’s reaction was, ‘Oh no you don’t!”
AUDIO: I got a call from my business partner who said, “Did you know they’re going to tear down Danville Stadium?” And I said, “oh no!” He said, “Well, let’s do something about it.” We were able to get a lease from the city which we still hold today, and thanks to the city we have a new exterior, which was so needed; which will preserve that ballpark for the foreseeable future.
For this Dans season, players will start arriving this Saturday, May 28th. As Cooke explained, volunteers keep so much going every summer. And, there are opportunities for organizations to volunteer in the concession stand, and it pays off for the team, and for them.
AUDIO: So you will have like the Danville High School Tennis Club volunteering to help in the concession stand that night. And then, a nice donation goes to that particular club. It might go to a church; it might go to any not-for-profit.
And as we mentioned last week, the Dans need 11 more families to volunteer to be host families for players this season. If you’d like more information on becoming a Danville Dans host family, or about volunteering this season, call 217-918-3401, or e-mail to DansBaseball1@gmail.com.
To hear all of Laura Williams’ interview with Jeanie Cooke, just go to https://vermilioncountyfirst.com/the-community-connection/.
