Ronnie Palmer has built a winner in baseball at the community-college and now Division II college levels. It’s now Palmer’s task to rebuild the Waynesboro Generals after a season that saw the team miss the Valley League playoffs for the first time in three years.

“The history of the Valley League goes without saying with the players that you guys have had in this league. It’s certainly an honor to be a head coach in the league,” said Palmer, 34, the head coach at Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, W.Va., who was named the manager of the Generals on Sept. 29.

Palmer will work for his former college coach, Lawrence Nesselrodt, the director of baseball operations for the Generals and a former Waynesboro manager.

Palmer’s Senators improved from a nine-win season in 2008, his first year at the helm of the program, to 24 wins and an appearance in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament in 2009. His 2007 team at Salem (N.J.) Community College won a conference championship at the tail end of a four-year run that saw the team increase its win total each year.

Palmer is a Davis & Elkins alum, graduating from the school in 1999 after hitting a school-record 16 homers and driving in a school-record 45 runs as a senior.

“I’ve still got to learn about the game. No question about that. Every time I step out on the field, I try to learn as much as I possibly can, I’m looking for different avenues to grow. When you stop learning about the game, you might as well stop being involved with it,” Palmer said.

And Palmer looks forward to learning more about the game in Waynesboro and in the Valley League.

“When you get the opportunity to coach players from an LSU, a Mississippi State, a Vanderbilt, a WVU, it’s an honor, no question. But one thing I learned coaching in summer leagues is they all want to learn about the game, they all want to progress as players, regardless of who their coach is or who they’re around. Whether you’re from a big school or small school, you do things differently, and that could spark somebody and help them progress,” Palmer said.
“That’s what’s exciting about the game. Baseball sets itself apart from other games by whether a player is at a Division III school or a Division II school or JUCO, they could be just as good as that guy, they just might not have the opportunity to go there,” Palmer said.

Palmer had a whirlwind-type day in Waynesboro the day he was introduced as manager in September, meeting team and community leaders and getting a feel for the River City.

“The people I’ve met with the organization and outside the organization have been great. I think the organization is very passionate about what is going on in Waynesboro. I’m a small-town guy myself. Elkins is a similar setting. I think being in a small town is just nice,” Palmer said.

“What I hope to bring to the organization is just a passion about the game, and getting our players to understand that they’re not just here to play baseball. Waynesboro as a town has accepted them into their community, and some people are even going to open their homes to them. So they’ve got to give back to the community while they’re here as well. That’s just as important as them coming out here and playing every night,” Palmer said.

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

The uncertain future of the Waynesboro Generals was a hot topic of conversation for a lot of baseball fans in and around Waynesboro. Among those talking around the proverbial hot stove were a pair of Waynesboro-based businessmen who decided they could perhaps do more than engage in idle talk.

“I was surprised to hear that the team was up for sale. I read the article in the paper, and of course another article came out, and there was talk that the team might not even be in Waynesboro any longer, and may even fold. And that was disturbing to us,” said Jim Critzer, whose name might be familiar for his successful run as owner of the Valley League team for much of the past decade, before selling the team to Jerry Carter in 2009 and riding off, ostensibly, into the proverbial baseball sunset.

David Gauldin II was at the office at Mathers Construction talking about the articles in the paper when the conversation turned to, Hey, Dave, why don’t you try to buy the team?

“So many sit around and talk about what should be done. I said, Well, maybe it’s time to step forward and be a little more active,” said Gauldin, who with Critzer joined in an agreement with Carter to purchase the team in a deal that was made public on Jan. 20.

It was a whirlwind year in Waynesboro for Carter, a Luray-based businessman who had been involved with the league for several years in a couple of different capacities, including a self-initiated 2008 promotion that enticed fans to see a game in all 11 VBL ballparks that summer.

Carter’s enhanced PR efforts pushed attendance at Generals games up 15 percent over 2008, but the team still struggled behind the scenes to make ends meet in the down economy.

Things got to a point in the ‘09 offseason where Carter made the tough decision to put the team up for sale with the prospect that the franchise might have to fold if a buyer didn’t step forward.

“I just never could find the right group of people that would help me take this thing to the next level,” Carter said at the Jan. 20 news conference at Kate Collins Field.

“When it came time for somebody to step up and say, Put me in, coach, the man found me once again,” Carter said, referring to Critzer.

“We’ve come full circle,” Carter said, symbolically handing Critzer a baseball to signify the change in ownership.

Critzer praised Carter for his efforts to raise the team’s profile in the Waynesboro community.

“We’re really proud of what he’s tried to do with the organization this year and the people that he’s surrounded himself with,” Critzer said.

Carter handed Critzer and Gauldin an organization that was preparing for a 2010 season as if the business side of the operation was on a stable footing. Lawrence Nesselrodt, who managed the team to the 2007 VBL championship, is still on as the director of baseball operations, and Nesselrodt has been working with new manager Ronnie Palmer to get the baseball side of the operation ready for the summer.

“If you were starting from today to play in the 2010 season, it would be on the verge of a disaster. But because of what was done and what has been done here, you’re right up on a par with all the other teams in the league as far as preparing for the 2010 season as far as players and coaches and recruiting,” Valley League commissioner Dave Biery said.

“I think Jerry has handed the ball off to two very capable sets of hands.I couldn’t be more pleased that that happened. Things are going to continue, and I’m sure very well,” Biery said.

Also excited about the news is Staunton Braves co-owner Kay Snyder.

“We’re very pleased to have the Waynesboro Generals continue,” Snyder said. “It just wouldn’t be the same without the Waynesboro Generals. The Staunton fans feel the very same way. We’ve had a lot of people calling that were really concerned about what was going to happen over here.”

Carter is confident that Critzer and Gauldin will be able to take the Generals “to the next level.”

“These gentlemen will be able to get the Waynesboro Generals franchise to where I think it should be, which is the crown jewel of the Valley Baseball League,” Carter said.

More important to Gauldin – “we’re keeping the Waynesboro Generals in Waynesboro.”

“I’m a hometown kid, lived here, grew up here, I went away for a few years for work and school, and back here working again, and it’s been a tradition all those many years. And it’s important that you keep traditions in Waynesboro, especially in these days where business is struggling, the economy is bad. Certainly there’s a lot of bad things in the news. This is something that should be positive,” Gauldin said.

“I’m pretty excited. I love baseball, I love the community of Waynesboro, and looking forward to getting involved with this,” Gauldin said.