Rosenfield evolving with the Tides

Dave Rosenfield, veteran general manager of the International League's Norfolk Tides, takes pride in his intimate knowledge of all aspects of his team's operations.

Nonetheless, the major ballpark event that took place on June 18 was planned and executed entirely without his knowledge. While finishing dinner within the Tides' Harbor Park restaurant, Rosenfield was told that he was needed immediately. Descending toward the field, he found an idling convertible ready to transport him to the center of an on-field pre-game ceremony.

Waiting for him was a large array of city and league dignitaries, out-of-town family members and friends from all stages of his sprawling career. The resultant ceremony included many heartfelt speeches as well as videoboard tributes from the likes of Bobby Valentine, Clint Hurdle, and Andy MacPhail.

The occasion? The 2011 season marks Rosenfield's 50th as the Tides' general manager.

"[My staff] got it all by me, I had no idea anything was happening whatsoever," said Rosenfield, clearly still reveling in the memory. "I told them that there's one of two things happening here: either you're getting smarter or I'm slipping!"

A constant amidst the changing Tides

A half-century of uninterrupted service is certainly worthy of celebration, and a lasting memory of June 18's ceremony exists in the form of a left-field billboard that features a picture of Rosenfield along with the words "50 years of Tides Baseball." Rosenfield, ever the businessman, expressed mock disdain for the billboard.

"We should be having a sponsor pay for that space!" he said.

During his time with the Tides, Rosenfield has overseen a number of significant transitions: from Portsmouth, Va., to Norfolk, from the Carolina to the International League, and from Metropolitan Field to the current home, Harbor Park. Over that period, the club has been affiliated with the White Sox, Phillies, Mets and, now, the Orioles. Rosenfield has served as the International League's vice president since 1977, is a four-time league executive of the year, and was named "King of Baseball" at the 2004 Winter Meetings.

And, after all these years, he still takes on the annual task of creating the International League schedule.

"We all scratch our heads at how he does it," said IL president Randy Mobley. "Dave has a real knack for being able to envision and understand many things at the same time. My guess is that he'd be a real good chess player."

Rosenfield has also been immortalized within pop culture, in a manner sure to strike jealousy into the hearts of comedy fans worldwide. In a 1990 episode of The Simpsons, Homer got a job as a Minor League mascot but was soon fired by a fulminating general manager by the name of Dave Rosenfield (the episode, entitled "Dancin' Homer," was written by former Tides broadcaster Ken Levine).

Rosenfield admits to not being much of a fan of the show, but said he's reminded of it often.

"Every time that episode re-runs," he said, "I get a phone call from somebody."

He also shows no remorse regarding his animated namesake's hard-line treatment of Homer.

"He was a bad mascot!"

Bygone eras

When Rosenfield started his professional baseball career, however, the most well-known TV show in the country was I Love Lucy. The year was 1956, and the team was the poorly-named "Boosters" of Bakersfield, Calif. (The Boosters played at Sam Lynn Ballpark, now occupied by the California League's Bakersfield Blaze).

In addition to running the business side of things, the 25-year-old Rosenfield coached third base and, in a pinch, inserted himself onto the active roster as a catcher (he had previously spent a season as a player in the Minor Leagues). This now-unthinkable job description belongs to a different era of baseball history in which the relationships between Major and Minor League clubs weren't so rigidly defined.

"When I started out, we paid the players and in some cases even signed some of our own," recalled Rosenfield. "And once player development contracts came along, we would pay a certain amount toward player salaries with the Major League club paying the difference ... but every business changes, whether it's a hardware store, a restaurant, or a baseball club."

Mobley attributes Rosenfield's continued vitality to his involvement in and knowledge of all facets of Minor League Baseball.

"Dave is from an era when the general manager role included not only the business side but also the player development side, and he genuinely loves both sides," said Mobley, who has been head of the IL since 1990. "Every day he'll talk baseball with the field manager in addition to taking care of the business side. ... I think that's been a big part of his longevity."

After five years in Bakersfield, Rosenfield took a job with Topeka of the Three-I League. The venerable circuit folded after the season, however, leaving him looking for a job at the 1961 Winter Meetings. When a desired position in Santa Barbara didn't materialize, Rosenfield and his wife packed up their belongings and headed toward their next-best option: Portsmouth, Va. They've been in the area ever since, with Rosenfield calling it "a wonderful place to spend a lifetime."

And in that lifetime, Rosenfield has adapted to an ever-changing business model that has since evolved to prioritize family-friendly entertainment above all else.

"Along the line, there was the realization that the game of baseball is no longer enough. You have to provide more," he said. "There have always been promotions, whether it's bringing in Max Patkin or the Phillie Phanatic or Reggie or whoever. The difference is now you've got the games on the concourse, the face painting, the speed pitch, the inflatable bounce house, the between-inning contests. Those were things you didn't used to have to do. Now you have to entertain all night long."

What it comes down to is providing as many fan options as possible, from entertainment to merchandise to seating to concessions. But one change of relatively recent vintage still seems to shock Rosenfield above and beyond everything else.

"Years ago, if you had told me we'd sell bottles of water at the stadium, I'd have said you were a certified lunatic," he said. "But now we sell boatloads of water! I guess I'm just old and stuffy. I still drink tap."

Chapters yet to be written

To fully tell the story of Rosenfield's career would take a book, and as it happens, he's currently working with Albuquerque Isotopes general manager John Traub on just such an endeavor. (The Tides and Isotopes share the same president in Ken Young. The latter club was named after the same fictional Minor League team from The Simpsons that had once employed mascot Homer.)

"So much has happened along the way, but I can't tell you right now because it would ruin the book sales," he joked. "But the book, how we envision it, is about much more than just one person. It's about the evolution of an industry."

And even though he is now 80-years-old, Rosenfield plans to keep on evolving right along with it. "Retirement" is not a word in this man's vocabulary.

"Working with young people has kept me thinking young," he said. "We have a great young staff, and we're dealing with young players, and that makes you feel young. I'm grateful to all of them, they motivate me."

This motivation, combined with the diverse skill sets needed to work in Minor League Baseball, has led to the ideal professional situation.

"If I had to do the same thing every day, I don't think that I could do it because I'd be bored to death," he said. "But doing this job has never been dull, because it's ever-changing. ... To steal from Jimmy Stewart -- it's been a wonderful life!"