North Shore Navigators open season against Dirt Dawgs tonight

LYNN – Bill Terlecky, the general manager of the North Shore Navigators, wears many hats ? and he wears them all proudly.But he never forgets perhaps the most important hat of them all.?I am the general manager of fun,” he says.Paul McCartney once said that fun is the one thing that money can?t buy, and Terlecky would agree. Fun, he says, is actually a lot of work. But in the end, if it gets people into Fraser Field on game nights, the work is worth it.The Navigators open their home season tonight (7) at Fraser Field against the Wachusett Dirt Dawgs. They play in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, which is a summer program for college baseball players who need to stay sharp while school is out. The Futures League mandates that at least half the rostered players either live or play for schools within the immediate area of the franchise?s location. Hence, the Navigators will take the field with such former local stars as Kyle Gauthier (Classical/Hartford), Alex Markakis (Lynnfield/St. John?s Prep) and Joe Grontkosky (Peabody), both of St. Joseph?s in Maine. In addition, the Navs have two graduating high school seniors playing this summer: Kyle Devin (Classical) and Riley MacEeachern (Saugus/Salisbury School).Although Chicago attorney Patrick J. Salvi owns the team, the man he?s enlisted to tie up all the diverse elements of running this kind of a club is Terlecky, a man of considerable minor league baseball experience. And Terlecky knows that his job isn?t to be Theo Epstein.Thursday, for example, he was at the park practically at the crack of dawn to supervise media day, and then to play front man for an exhibition game between the Navigators and a team of local former high school players such as Ryan Beliveau (St. Mary?s, who is a shortstop for Salem State), Scott Zukowski (Classical) and Mike Roberts and Brandon Dooley (English).(Beliveau, who works for the Lynn Department of Public Works, actually helped get the field ready, played on it, and then redid the field for Thursday night?s St. John?s Prep-Peabody state tournament game.)Along the way, the Navs entertained 1,800 fifth graders from Lynn-area school systems.It was a win-win type of thing for Terlecky. He got a chance to show off the fun of going to game at Fraser and the kids got a real show in return. Interns tossed footballs and T-shirts into the stands, and a man and his dog played Frisbee between innings.?Some of those things,” Terlecky says, “can seem kind of trivial. “But without them, there?s no fun at the park. And we?re selling fun as much as we?re selling anything else.”His philosophy is simple.?I don?t care how I get you there,” he says, “just as long as I get you there. I?ve never heard anyone leave the field saying it was terrible, or that they?re never coming back. But they won?t know how good it is if they don?t come here.”All of this takes work, he says.?Not all of it is glory, that?s for sure,” said Terlecky, whose day included hanging around Thursday, bagging popcorn and selling hot dogs at the Prep-Peabody game.There again, he says “awareness is the key thing. We have to make people aware of who we are.”Salvi, who owns a string of minor league franchises, purchased the team two years ago. On the field, the Navigators have been consistently successful, and the won a title when they were in the New England Collegiate Baseball Association). Last year, was Salvi?s and Terlecky?s chance to observe how things ran, and what needed to be done.?And,” said Terlecky, “we need to grow attendance and make our way toward being profitable,” he said. He?s leaving no stone unturned. Terlecky reached out to the School Department in February to plan for Thursday?s exhibition.?Getting 1,800 kids in one place, however you get them there, is a real accomplishment,” he said. “It takes an awful lot of planning and hard work.?We?ve reached out to Little League teams, we cater to families, we do fireworks on Fridays, dollar hot dog nights ? we?re continuing all the thin