Shorebirds Kickoff 2024 Season with Hot Stove Banquet featuring Ben McDonald!

Though the weather outside was decidedly February – gray, chilly and breezy – Gil Dunn was immediately transported to his seats at Perdue Stadium as soon as he walked through the doors of the Midway Room at the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center on February 8.

The only things missing were the crack of the bat hitting a ball, the smell of leather gloves and the chatter from the dugout. But make no mistake, Dunn had moved from the mid-winter doldrums right into baseball nirvana in the form of the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds’ annual Hot Stove Banquet.

“I think it kind of gets everybody in the mood for Shorebirds baseball,” said Dunn, who has had season tickets behind the home dugout since the Shorebirds debuted in 1996. “You get a lot of the Orioles people down here to talk about it, and that gets me fired up. I think it just gets everybody in the mood and ready to go.”

The Hot Stove Banquet returned after a one-year hiatus and a sellout crowd of more than 400 packed the room to meet new Shorebirds manager Collin Woody, discuss how the parent Orioles could improve on their 101-win campaign, and listen to former O’s pitcher and current MASN broadcaster Ben McDonald heap praise on the organization’s farm system.

In doing so, fervent fans also boosted the Shorebirds Fly Together Fund, raising thousands of dollars that will be returned to the community through various charitable donations. The Shorebirds Fly Together Fund at the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, established in 2009, benefits youth sports programs and community initiatives helping enrich the lives of people on Delmarva.

Shorebirds general manager Chris Bitters remembers the Hot Stove Banquet starting as a gathering of 80 people in the home stadium’s enclosed second deck. It’s grown into a much-anticipated offseason event that heralds the impending start of spring training.

“It’s an event that’s been going on for over two decades now, and … it gives us an opportunity, as football season is winding down, to gather everybody up in a room and kick off baseball season,” he said. “We’re a little old-school still. We like getting together for a nice Banquet and talking baseball. The fans enjoy it, they look forward to Hot Stove every year.”

Most of the chatter around tables or in line at the silent auction centered around the Orioles’ top-ranked farm system and which prospects might soon be in a Shorebirds uniform. That’s not surprising to Ben McDonald, who traveled from his home in Denham Springs, La., to serve as keynote speaker at the event.

“Mike Elias did what he said he was going to do when he took the job,” McDonald said in praise of the Orioles GM. “He was going to start from the ground floor up and he was going to build a winner. He’s done it. In order to do that, you’ve got to hit on your draft picks.”

Several players ranked as the top prospect in the minors have already made their ways through Delmarva, including catcher Adley Rutschman and infielders Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday.

“Think of the ’19 draft when you get Gunnar Henderson and you get Adley Rutschman in the same draft with back-to-back picks,” McDonald said. “That’s going to go down as an historical draft for the Baltimore Orioles because you’re talking about two difference-makers.”

The Orioles are excelling at mining young talent through the draft and an enhanced international presence.

“It’s never been done before in baseball – we’ve had three years in a row of the No. 1 prospect in baseball,” McDonald said. “And with Samuel Basallo, if he does what they think he can do this year, there’s a chance he’s in the conversation (to make it) four straight years. That’s off the map, that’s unheard of. I think with Mike Elias, it’s not luck. He did it with the Astros, he built them from the ground floor up into the juggernaut they are today, and he’s done it with the Baltimore Orioles now, too.”

Vicki Vegis knew little about the Shorebirds when she relocated from Oakland, Calif., to Eden, Md., three years ago. A former marketing executive and salesperson with General Motors, she now tends a lavender farm and raises goats – along with cheering her adopted team with her husband.

“I was not that much of a baseball fan when I moved here. You live in Oakland and you have the A’s and the Raiders, that’s it. … When I moved here, I started learning the nuances of baseball and it was a lot more than I thought,” she said.

Now she can’t wait for the 2024 season.

“I really, really like baseball,” Vegis said. “And I am looking forward to opening day. We have to get all the games we have and put them on the schedule. These farm teams make it so much fun to go to games. You’re up close and personal. There’s a lot of activity going on. It seems like they’re more intimate. I love the camaraderie.”

Opening Day for the Shorebirds is Tuesday, April 9 against the Salem Red Sox. For more information on the Shorebirds schedule, tickets, and more please visit theshorebirds.com.