Jon Clemmons \u201908 jokes that he found himself on the fence in early November, watching what would be the deciding game of the 2023 World Series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clemmons is general manager of the Down East Wood Ducks in Kinston, N.C., the Single-A Minor League Baseball affiliate of Major Leage Baseball\u2019s Texas Rangers. That particular night, the Rangers were on the brink of clinching the Fall Classic in Game 5 over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Win that game on the Diamondbacks\u2019 home field, and it\u2019s the first World Series title in Rangers\u2019 history. Lose, they\u2019d have to return to Texas for a chance to clinch in Game 6. That would offer a silver lining to Clemmons, who was watching at his home in Greenville, N.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf they went to a Game 6, I was catching a flight the next day,\u201d says Clemmons, who had already taken in Games 1 and 2 of the series in person in Arlington, Texas. \u201cBut to be able to go ahead and win it in Arizona and be done with it was pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clemmons, 38, just wrapped his second season this past summer as general manager of the Wood Ducks \u2014 and his seventh overall with the team. So he was familiar with some of the Rangers he saw celebrating on television after the 5\u20130 Game 5 win. The Rangers\u2019 athletic strength and conditioning coach spent time in Kinston with the Wood Ducks, as did Rangers\u2019 first-base coach Corey Ragsdale, who managed the team in 2019. Center fielder Leody Taveras played in Kinston for a year and a half. And outfielder Evan Carter played for the Wood Ducks in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his day job, Clemmons focuses less on the plays those guys made with the Wood Ducks than on the off-the-field aspects of the minor leagues. It\u2019s what a 16-year career in the minors \u2014 from time with the Carolina Mudcats and the Asheville (N.C.) Tourists to the Wood Ducks \u2014 instilled in him as essential. \u201cMy goal is to make sure each fan has an optimal experience when they\u2019re here,\u201d he says of the Wood Ducks\u2019 Grainger Stadium. \u201cThat\u2019s saying \u2018hey\u2019 to the first-time visitor. Seeing our season-ticket holders. So I don\u2019t see a lot of the game. It\u2019s more about making sure that things are running smoothly from a business aspect and making sure fans here are having a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As GM, Clemmons comes up with a budget every fall for the following spring and summer. He and his team develop the different sales items and construct the schedule. They work to secure season-ticket holders and groups that can rent the pavilion area in Grainger Stadium for games. \u201cReally, we want to have all that taken care of before the first pitch of the season,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes that means trying to think outside the box for an unusual promotion. Clemmons says his wackiest idea came in 2012, when he was working for the Asheville Tourists. He was working with a tour company as a client. \u201cAnd we built a zip line in the stadium at McCormick Field,\u201d he says. \u201cWe would ask kids, fans, all different ages who were willing to do it to ride the game ball to home plate. That was probably the craziest adventure I\u2019ve been a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This offseason, he\u2019s got a more prestigious idea for a promotion during the Wood Ducks\u2019 2024 season \u2014 a World Series trophy coming to North Carolina. \u201cI certainly made that ask,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m waiting on the feedback on that. I\u2019m looking for a tour through Kinston so our fans can relate to that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n
Jon Clemmons \u201908 jokes that he found himself on the fence in early November, watching what would be the deciding game of the 2023 World Series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clemmons is general manager of the Down East Wood Ducks in Kinston, N.C., the Single-A Minor League Baseball affiliate of Major Leage Baseball\u2019s Texas Rangers. That particular night, the Rangers were on the brink of clinching the Fall Classic in Game 5 over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Win that game on the Diamondbacks\u2019 home field, and it\u2019s the first World Series title in Rangers\u2019 history. Lose, they\u2019d have to return to Texas for a chance to clinch in Game 6. That would offer a silver lining to Clemmons, who was watching at his home in Greenville, N.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf they went to a Game 6, I was catching a flight the next day,\u201d says Clemmons, who had already taken in Games 1 and 2 of the series in person in Arlington, Texas. \u201cBut to be able to go ahead and win it in Arizona and be done with it was pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clemmons, 38, just wrapped his second season this past summer as general manager of the Wood Ducks \u2014 and his seventh overall with the team. So he was familiar with some of the Rangers he saw celebrating on television after the 5\u20130 Game 5 win. The Rangers\u2019 athletic strength and conditioning coach spent time in Kinston with the Wood Ducks, as did Rangers\u2019 first-base coach Corey Ragsdale, who managed the team in 2019. Center fielder Leody Taveras played in Kinston for a year and a half. And outfielder Evan Carter played for the Wood Ducks in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his day job, Clemmons focuses less on the plays those guys made with the Wood Ducks than on the off-the-field aspects of the minor leagues. It\u2019s what a 16-year career in the minors \u2014 from time with the Carolina Mudcats and the Asheville (N.C.) Tourists to the Wood Ducks \u2014 instilled in him as essential. \u201cMy goal is to make sure each fan has an optimal experience when they\u2019re here,\u201d he says of the Wood Ducks\u2019 Grainger Stadium. \u201cThat\u2019s saying \u2018hey\u2019 to the first-time visitor. Seeing our season-ticket holders. So I don\u2019t see a lot of the game. It\u2019s more about making sure that things are running smoothly from a business aspect and making sure fans here are having a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As GM, Clemmons comes up with a budget every fall for the following spring and summer. He and his team develop the different sales items and construct the schedule. They work to secure season-ticket holders and groups that can rent the pavilion area in Grainger Stadium for games. \u201cReally, we want to have all that taken care of before the first pitch of the season,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes that means trying to think outside the box for an unusual promotion. Clemmons says his wackiest idea came in 2012, when he was working for the Asheville Tourists. He was working with a tour company as a client. \u201cAnd we built a zip line in the stadium at McCormick Field,\u201d he says. \u201cWe would ask kids, fans, all different ages who were willing to do it to ride the game ball to home plate. That was probably the craziest adventure I\u2019ve been a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This offseason, he\u2019s got a more prestigious idea for a promotion during the Wood Ducks\u2019 2024 season \u2014 a World Series trophy coming to North Carolina. \u201cI certainly made that ask,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m waiting on the feedback on that. I\u2019m looking for a tour through Kinston so our fans can relate to that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jon Clemmons \u201908 had a stake in the 2023 World Series as general manager of the Down East Wood Ducks. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":4302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"displayCategoryID\":6,\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"subtitle\":\"Jon Clemmons \u201908 had a stake in the 2023 World Series as general manager of the Down East Wood Ducks.\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9,10],"tags":[97,104,203,284,365,422,487,615,694,959,1140,1285],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"displayCategory":{"term_id":6,"name":"Campus Lens","slug":"campus-lens","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":6,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4300"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4300"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=4300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}