Pictured above: Brett Washburn and Robert Frazier - Orlando, March 2018
Written by former Dragons manager and founder, Robert Frazier............
1991...after two plus decades of baseball futility, the Atlanta Braves were actually winning, the city was abuzz with Braves fever, tomahawk chop and worst to first. Really cool time to be a baseball fan.
In '91, I was bartending at a Bennigans restaurant with some buddies and it just happened that the rest of the staff were mainly guys, hardcore sports fans and supposed "athletes". The smack talk that went on was constant and unrelenting, so much so that 10-12 of us decided to find out who was the best athlete in the restaurant. We went as far as designing a round robin, Olympics type tournament to settle it once and for all. Never did get through the whole thing but one of the things we started doing was taking infield/outfield practice. We would do it for hours and really enjoyed it, we weren't interested in playing softball, wanted to play baseball but had no idea how to go about it.
In '92, one of the guys, Brad Reece found a fall ball wooden bat league and a team that was looking for some guys so myself (Robert Frazier), Mitch Jolley, Brian Reece and Brad Reece joined the Cubs and the seeds for the Dragons were sown.
Had a great time that year playing baseball and as the season came to a end we were trying to figure out what to do about next year, I had found out about the MABL/MSBL and we decided to give it a shot. I started my own team and with the core four we began recruiting. I knew what kind of team I wanted, obviously, I wanted to win but more importantly I wanted good guys, good teammates, guys you would want hang out with after the games. I had seen teams where the games were life and death and always arguing, crying about this call and that call...those were the guys I did not want, didn't care how good they were. So in '93 we joined the MABL/MSBL as the Indians.
In '93 we were not good, want to say we were 4-17, something like that. Did have a lot of fun that year, good group of guys and I did start to notice towards the end of the year we, the Indians, were getting a lot of compliments from other teams and managers about what a good group of guys we were, how they wished more teams were like us.
In '94 we were the Indians again and had a much better year .500 or so. Guys on the team were getting tight with each other and we were spending a lot of time hanging out and getting girlfriends and wives involved, the "Dragons" and "Dragonflies" culture was coming together. The only downside to that season was the MABL/MSBL. A new commissioner took over that year and they were a lot of issues, basically the league was being sloppily run.
In '95 we joined a new league and got a sponsorship with Hooters, so changed from Indians to Hooters. It was a long season, 30 games I think. '95 was the year we picked up some of the Dragons core guys, Billy Whitfield, Todd Edwards, Mike Hanelin, Brett Washburn (someone ask him how that year was for him). Much better team that year, played very well.
In '96 we heard that the MABL/MSBL had a new commissioner (the late great Steve Rosenberg) who really knew his stuff so we decided to rejoin the league. Hooters didn't sponsor that year (putting all their money into the Olympics) we needed a new team name. One night after a practice Brian Reece and I were trying to come up with a name and Brian, who had just seen Mr. Baseball, suggested the Dragons. That was that.
From '95-'99, absolutely fantastic time, the games, parties, Buckhead, spring training trips that we did for 12-15 consecutive years, end of year parties, the reading of fines, how incredibly tight we were as a team and friends. One of the best periods of my life. Made lifelong friends.
In '99 I decided to move to Japan and turned the team over to Brett. He didn't want to do it at first but I knew if he didn't take the team over the Dragons would never survive. Brett has done a fantastic job with the team like I knew he would and it was so rewarding to see us finally win it all in 2017, in fact, one of my proudest accomplishments is more than 15 years after I stopped playing, the Dragons are not only still going strong but the culture in 2017 has remained the same as when I started it '93.
Down by two...
1995-1999 Dragons core - Annual Braves Spring Training Trip, March 2018.
Pictured from left to right:
Michael Wildstein, Wayne Hauenstein, Robert Frazier, Brett Washburn, Billy Whitfield, Ken Taylor, Todd Edwards, Paul Brooks, Michael Hanelin.
