Norwich — On a mild fall September day, Jay Miller sat at a picnic table at the empty Dodd Stadium and asked Norwich Sea Unicorns staffer Lee Walter if there was a game just then, what would the shortstop be doing?

Walter, director of business development and stadium operations, immediately realized the problem. Over the past 26 years, the evergreen bushes lining the left field picnic area had grown so tall, they blocked the view of the field — and the shortstop.

“You could have a great picnic here, but you couldn’t see the ballgame,” Miller said Wednesday.

Miller, a semi-retired 40-year baseball operations executive, was hired this fall by Norwich Sea Unicorns owner Myles Prentice as interim general manager and a consultant. Miller, of Texas, has worked in major league and minor league baseball for decades and has opened six new stadiums, most recently the new AA level park in Wichita, Kansas. He also had been president of Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan’s Round Rock Express AAA team in Round Rock, Texas.

Miller said he was eight months into retirement and “bored to tears” when his friend, Prentice, asked him to help invigorate the Norwich team. Former general manager Dave Schermerhorn left at the end of the 2021 season.

Norwich lost its minor league Detroit Tigers-affiliated team in the controversial contraction last year. Just three weeks before the start of the 2021 season, Norwich landed a team in the summer collegiate Futures League and a two-year stadium lease with the city. Team staff scrambled to sign players, hire coaches and trainers and sell tickets and sponsorships.

The team averaged 838 fans per game, sixth in the eight-team league.

“If you’ve got good crowds, it’s a lot more fun,” Miller said.

Miller introduced himself to the City Council on Monday with a welcomed announcement that the team had just made its full $86,146 lease payment. Mayor Peter Nystrom had met with Miller recently.

“I had the best time the first meeting with him,” Nystrom said. “His knowledge of baseball, his experience. The things that need to be done to solidify the team here, he’s checking off every box, dotting every i.” 

Cutting down the bushes was just one example of Miller’s task of bringing fresh eyes to the Thomas J. Dodd Memorial Stadium, which opened in 1995. He promises to spruce up the place with a stark “before and after” change. Miller also will help with marketing, ticket sales and sponsorships. He has sold two new outfield wall sponsor panels, and Walter has sold two more.

Miller had the old, expired sponsor signs torn down. He hopes to fill the two levels of panels with new signs by the start of the 2022 season in late May.

He is preparing a capital improvements budget for Prentice, including some new paint. The rough, rotting open picnic area floorboards will be ripped out and replaced with Trex Decking, a composite material designed for outdoor use. The covered picnic area decking will be repainted.

In the skyboxes, worn, dirty original carpeting already is being ripped out. The concrete floors will be painted with a durable Adobe finish.

Miller ordered broken and unused concessions equipment sold or discarded. The former team promotions van was sold. Any dingy, tired-looking fixtures will be cleaned and brightened, for what Miller called "mom appeal."

“Mom decides if you’re coming out,” he said. “If we get mom, we’ll be in good shape.”

Concessions will get a bit of a makeover, as well, with popular local restaurant Illiano’s contracted to run the pizza booth. He is not ready to say how the former Burger Barn on the right field concourse will be reused.

Although winter is now setting in, Miller, Walter and concessions and merchandise manager Heather Bartlett are getting busy.

Season tickets for 2022 are on sale for the 32 home games. The schedule is expected to be released soon, and partial season ticket packages will follow. There will be a new senior package for Tuesday games, called the Sea-nior Club, with discounts and giveaways. The staff now is seeking sponsors.

To boost skybox rentals, Norwich will offer businesses half- or quarter-season packages.

“If you take a quarter or half, it’s a lot easier on your budget,” Miller said, “and it gets used more.”

Miller headed home to Texas for Thanksgiving and Christmas and expects to return to Norwich about once a month in the off-season and for some homestands next summer.

A new permanent general manager is expected to be named in January.

Prior to the Sea Unicorns’ season, Dodd Stadium will be home to local high school baseball games, AAU games and most likely the return of the Northeast Conference college baseball tournament in late May.

c.bessette@theday.com