Story by Debra Zimmerman Murphey

On a frigid winter night - the kind that can take your breath away - close to 40 Southern Marylanders gather inside the locker room at the Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf. It's not spring baseball season, but their minds, nonethless, are on this beloved American sport.

The group, including Waldorf citizen and fan Ann Waters and her 75-year-old father Charlie, make up the newly formed Blue Crabs' Booster Club. The club is evidence that the minor-league Southern Maryland Blue Crabs team has made an indelible mark on the tri-county region, in what could be seen as a public relations homerun. (A booster club membership runs $20.)

Owner of Fred's Liquors in Charlotte Hall, booster club president Bob Sorrells is a diehard Blue Crabs fan who is helping lead the local charge to support the team. Club plans include strengthening the team's grassroots support and planning events - such as hosting a welcome dinner for the 2009 players - as well as boosting the Blue Crabs brand and fanbase.

Major-league baseball may be about the wow of the best players and the national buzz that can be rallied, but minor-league ball is all "about affordable family entertainment," said Omar Roque, the Blue Crabs new assistant general manager. For the 2009 Blue Crabs season, an adult field box seat will run $13 a game, compared to a similar Orioles seat, which runs between $50 and $80. Other benefits include free parking and a shorter trek for tri-county residents who want to go to a professional sports game.

On opening night last year, 7,180 guests turned out to watch a cadre of recruited pros who are not paid hefty salaries, but rather, "play for the love of the game," said Wayne Evans, vice president of the booster club and Blue Crabs clubhouse manager. The maximum a Blue Crabs player can make is $3,000 a month, said coach Andy "Squeeze" Zwirchitz, a down-to-earth, 32-year-old who is recovering from an injury and works with team manager Butch Hobson on the players' side of the Blue Crabs outfit. Zwirchitz has made a career pitching in the Alantic League, but has also played for the farm systems of the New York Mets, Atlanta Braves and Seattle Mariners.

Propelled by smart marketing, the movie "Bull Durham" and fan-friendly players, minor-league baseball has built a national following in the past 15 years or so, said Rick Snider, a well-known sports journalist in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

Communities such as Southern Maryland are indicative of the kind of synergy that can exist between minor-league ball and anywhere America. Some fans, such as those in Charles County, are so enthusiastic about having a professional sports team in their area that they invite players to live in their homes for free. In the same vein, Blue Crabs players understand that public relations is important. They make community appearances and happily give eager kids autographs, said Courtney Freeland, marketing manager.

Minor-league baseball is made up of players at various stages in their careers. Some may be rookies, while others may have once played for the majors and suffered injuries or career setbacks, but they all "have the dream to make it (or go back) to the big leagues," explained Snider. Snider worked at the Maryland Independent in the early 1980s and for 20 years with The Washington Times. He now writes a column for The Washington Examiner and has dug into the blogosphere at thericksniderreport.com.

But Snider isn't just a newshound - he's also a Waldorf resident who has attended a handful of Blue Crabs games and likes having the team here. His praise includes descriptors such as "reasonably priced," "safe," "family-oriented" and "100-percent positive" - which just happens to gel with the brand-building that the Blue Crabs organization is doing.

Blue Crabs executives know that building a strong community presence and marketing to children and moms are key, but meeting bottomline goals literally requires "thinking outside of the box." During the off season, management and staffers work long hours to firm up player contracts, partnership deals, sponsorships, group events, promotions, publicity, fresh marketing materials and tactics, and ticket sales. "Putting people in the ballpark happens now," Roque said back in January.

The "Crustacean Nation" 2009 season encompasses unique ticket packets, birthday parties, up-to-date Web content at www.somdbluecrabs.com, open auditions for talent, group picnics, military discounts, special dinner gatherings at the Legends Club and fireworks. But there are also outreach initiatives such as the "Field of Dreams" program costing $15 that invites Little Leaguers and other youth groups onto the field to stand alongside their favorite players prior to each game; visits from team mascot Pinch and Freeland to local schools; the "Pinch Onto Books" reading program (a partnership with the Educational Systems Federal Credit Union) through which students read books and earn free lawn tickets for their schools' designated nights at the ballpark; and the Backfin Buddies Kids Club, sponsored by Chick-fil-A, with free loot such as an autograph book, pencil, T-shirt, temporary tattoo, and a free kid's meal.

"The Blue Crabs have been a wonderful addition to St. Charles and to Charles County," said Craig Renner, assistant vice president of community relations at American Community Properties Trust, the company that donated land for the stadium. "They are heavily involved in the community, supporting numerous charitable endeavors. We have a box at the stadium and I distributed tickets to the box to hundreds of people, including our employees and people in our community. I can't think of one person who reported a negative experience."

"When I came here (to Blue Crabs games), I fell in love with baseball again," said Sorrells. He is one of nearly 225,000 guests the Blue Crabs pulled in throughout the inaugural 2008 season, which ran from May 2 through Sept. 17, and included 70 home games. To prove his support of the Blue Crabs and that he believes the stadium is a valuable venue and amenity for the area, Sorrells is putting his money where his mouth is. He pays $25,000 annually for a stadium Sky Suite.

The 2008 season "fulfilled all of our expectations and hopes in terms of being a focal point for the community," said Charles County Commissioner Gary V. Hodge, (D-District 4). "We had never had a facility in Southern Maryland that fulfilled that purpose, so this was a breakthrough for the region. This is our first professional sports enterprise here." Hodge has worked in various capacities - from a Tri-County Council of Southern Maryland consultant to a Charles County commissioner - to see the stadium and funding come to fruition.

Despite several hiccups - including Hughesville residents who did not want the stadium in their area - and decades of trying to bring minor-league baseball to Charles County, the region prevailed. The response from area citizens has been overwhelmingly positive, according to new Blue Crabs General Manager Chris Allen.

Driven, young and savvy, Allen represents the essence of minor-league baseball: build a name on the grassroots level and success will follow. A sure sign of this philosophy is the more than $100,000 the Blue Crabs helped raise for various local and national nonprofits throughout 2008 and its announcement that the Charles County Hospice House is its 2009 "charity of choice."

In defining the success behind the stadium and team, Hodge emphasized that the stadium and baseball team were never intended to be a direct "big money-maker" for the county. He primarily views them as a "quality-of-life" amenity that helps spotlight the county, for instance, for companies considering to locate here, and provides both a professional sports experience and a top-notch recreational outlet for families.

Hodge and others, however, said the stadium and Blue Crabs have created an offshoot economic engine. To illustrate this, Allen points to the jobs that were created to build the stadium as well as maintain both full-time and seasonal staff; the money that is spent in the area for hotel accommodations for guest teams; recruited players, management and employees who live, shop, pay taxes and eat in the region; the more than $120,000 in admission and amusement taxes and $100,000 in sales taxes that were generated in 2008; and the businesses whose profits are tied to the stadium.

And this kind of boost, fans agree, is welcome during these economic times. Still, Bob Richardson, district commissioner of St. Mary's Babe Ruth Baseball, said the impact of the Blue Crabs and stadium is more about good, clean fun. "It's terrific," he said. "The kids just love it and the stadium is very nice. We're tickled to have it down here."

To find out more about the Blue Crabs and view its schedule of games, visit www.somdbluecrabs.com.