Portland Sea Dogs Owner Dan Burke dies at the age of 82.

John Howard Sanden Portrait of Dan Burke

So what kind of person could make a person like me, stand in line, overnight, in the dead of winter (February 25/26 to be exact) for freaking baseball tickets. Dan Burke could and Dan Burke did.

Me and hundreds of other rabid baseball fans braved below zero wind chills that February night to line up in front of an incomplete Hadlock Field. It was quite a scene. I was bundled head to toe thinking about baseball. I was 12th in line, will never forget that number! The prize that day was a temporary trailer standing where the handicapped parking lot entrance is now. In front, a series of rope lines to weave the baseball crazies like myself toward the goal of Opening Day tickets. We didn't know the players were going to be, not really. We knew the Florida Marlins were going to be the parent club, but we didn't fully understand who the players were yet.

You have to understand where we were as baseball fans. The Maine Guides we our appetite for what minor league baseball in Maine could be like. Dan Burke was able to get people who had previously fought baseball in Portland to come together for the cause. get people EXCITED to create Hadlock Field. Get people excited for baseball in Maine. Dan Burke got that accomplished.

I remember vividly standing in line Opening Day. I was 2nd in line, see what kind of freak I am! My brother, furthest thing from a baseball fan, understood what was happening, and was excited to be there. Steve Buckley, now of the Boston Herald, was with NESN or NECN or some other entity, interviewed me about why it was important to me to be there. I explained being a Sox fan, being crushed the Guides left and how pumped and jacked I was to be here when baseball was reborn in Portland.

There are so many memories. I will never forget the day I brought my daughter to her 1st Sea Dogs game. I think I was more excited than she was, that was until Slugger came calling. Then it was on. How many games have I sat and watched with my little girl, watching pro baseball a mile from where I was born and where she was born.

What a spectacular 17 plus years. Thank you, Dan Burke. Thanks to you and the vision you had all those years ago. This baseball fan owes you a debt that can never be repaid. Rest in Peace.