THE SWANN AND THE DOLPHIN
We got to the Swann and Dolphin early. Early as in two months early. We had rented the conference room out so that we were absolutely sure we were comfortable in the room, we had been all setup and ready, and that everyone was already there. It was a lot to ask of 35 baseball professionals from all over the country to get together in one room, away from their families, for three months and sit and painstakingly go over the list of potential targets that we thought would be left off the list.
The room was dominated by computer monitors on every space of the four walls, a large conference room in the middle of the room with about 15 phones. Around it sat several baseball executives, all assigned their own team based on the relationships they had with people in the business. We made sure that we knew (or were able to predict) what would happen before it did.
We knew that we would be participating in the National League East. We had scouted the Mets, Braves, Nationals and Marlins up and down. We knew what we were getting ourselves into. We loved the travel schedule of having our furthest divisional opponent in Miami was tolerable, but made far easier to live with when we look at the rest of the division's proximity to us. Portland would be playing in the American League West.
We were drafting second and third in the draft. Portland would get the first overall pick of the Expansion Draft but that was something we were able to live with.
As we looked at the Expansion pamphlet I saw it for the first time on a Major League press kit – The Charlotte Speed. It was official. We took our name from a fan poll which obviously pays homage to the areas influence on stock car racing. The Speed can also be translated into a baseball reference as well, for the speed of a pitch or the speed of a ballplayer. It fit.
With their first selection, Portland selected Starting Pitcher Charlie Morton. It was now up to us..
COMPLETE ROSTER:
