RUBBERDUCKS, JUMBO SHRIMP, AND THE JOY OF MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL.
At just 32 years old, Ken Babby left a thriving career at the Washington Post to purchase a struggling minor league baseball team in Akron, Ohio, a city completely unfamiliar to him and located several hundred miles from his hometown. Akron, though, had a beautiful ballpark in the heart of the city, and Ken had a vision for transforming the franchise. His formula – including a creative but controversial name change and spending millions on improving the fan experience – not only worked, Ken used the formula twice, first with the Akron RubberDucks (AA affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians) and later with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (AAA affiliate of the Miami Marlins).

Sharing a special 10-year-old bottle of bourbon and two classic baseball-themed cocktails, Ken reveals what it’s like to operate two professional sports franchises nine hundred miles apart, how minor league teams dream up new promotions, and how baseball and Ken’s vision of “affordable family fun” can compete in a world of diminishing attention spans.

Drinks in this Episode:

Cleveland Bourbon Whiskey, Limited Production Black Reserve, poured over a big ice cube >> Purchase your local minor league baseball team and be gifted a special edition of Cleveland Bourbon Whiskey, wait 10 years for it to age properly, and share a glass with a fan.

Cooperstown cocktail >> 1 ½ oz gin, ¾ oz rosso vermouth, ¾ oz dry vermouth, 2 dashes orange bitters, 2 mint leaves; add the gin, vermouths, orange bitters and mint leaves to a mixing glass with ice. Stir until well-chilled and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a mint sprig, and pat yourself on the back for making a hall of fame cocktail.

Gold Glove cocktail >> 2 oz white rum, 1 teaspoon Cointreau, ½ oz lime juice, freshly squeezed, 1 teaspoon sugar. Add the rum, Cointreau, lime juice and sugar into a shaker with ice, and shake until well-chilled. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh crushed ice, garnish with a lime half-wheel and tip your cap to America’s pastime.

If you’ve been enjoying the 3Q3D podcast, please subscribe and consider giving us a rating, a review, or sharing an episode with a friend.

Follow our social sites here:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/3drinkspodcast/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/3Drinkspodcast