Over the years, the entertainment business has seen its share of many successful pairs. Burns & Allen, Lewis & Martin, and Abbott & Costello come to mind. As the Williamsport Crosscutters recently opened the doors to another season of baseball at Bowman Field, Estes & Sinicropi began their 31st year bringing enjoyment to the area community.
Formerly billed as VP General Manager and VP Marketing and Public Relations, Doug Estes and Gabe Sinicropi may not be as well known, but they aren’t exactly frick & frack either! Together, the pair continue to provide Williamsport with an entertainment opportunity not seen in most communities our size.
The more laidback of the duo, Estes’s introduction to baseball came as a six-year-old in his hometown of Chelmsford, Massachusetts. A good friend of his family was a scout for the Baltimore Orioles. The families would take trips together to Cape Cod, where the friend was scouting players in the Cape Cod Summer League, which provided his first taste of watching baseball.
Although his formal ‘baseball playing career’ ended after Little League, his love of sports continued, and Estes enrolled in college to study physical education. At the end of his junior year, he responded to a business reply card displayed on a bulletin board at school describing a sports management program at Northeastern University in Boston.
“I didn’t realize it was a brand-new program that entailed three semesters of class and a semester of internship,” Estes recalled. “Needing an internship, many moons later, I reached out to our family friend, the Orioles scout. Unbeknownst to me, he contacted the general manager of the Geneva Cubs and got me an internship for the summer of 1991.
“It wasn’t a glamorous start. I lived with four players, where I was basically the maid. But it opened the door, and in 1992, I became the number two man on a two-man staff. At the end of that season, the general manager left, and I was the last man standing. Gabe had been working for several years as the team’s PA guy, and the two of us moved to Williamsport when the team relocated here in 1993.
“Once here, we still had a very small staff, and you needed to wear many hats. That’s when we began what today are our current roles. I can best describe it as Gabe does the fun stuff, and I do the boring stuff.
“When we came to Williamsport, I had never in my life written a check for the team. At that point, I took on the administrative role. Gabe and I were the only two people here in a facility brand new to both of us. We didn’t know anybody and literally started from scratch. I had no clue. In the Minor League Baseball world, sales are the biggest thing. We weren’t selling baseball; we were selling entertainment.
“Being a General Manager at the minor league level is not like being a general manager of a Major League team. Our job is not to recruit players. Our job is to put butts in seats, sell sponsorships, sell ads and get people to come to the park. We are the support mechanism for the baseball team.
“Today, our staff has grown to six full-time people, and roles are more defined. Gabe is the out-front man, doing the entertainment and marketing. I’m more involved with the stadium operations and grounds.”
While Gabe and Director of Smiles Rhashan West-Bay prepare their day for fun with the fans for Estes, fun is in the eyes of the beholder.
“Some people would consider it onerous, and while it may not be the definition of fun, I’m a numbers guy. Bookkeeping and doing budgets are things I enjoy. It is all about goals and objectives, and it is incredibly important for us and the team ownership to run this as a business. We have the actual baseball season, and we have what I call the prep season, and my role stays consistent throughout the year.”
Asked about what has provided the most satisfaction over his three decades in Williamsport, Estes was quick to respond.
“I’ve worked for great people. I’ve been very fortunate in my work life to have worked for people who care about people. Having the relationships we have been able to build with the staff and community has been rewarding. Over the thirty years we’ve been here, we’ve had close to 2,000 people work for us.
“Not being affiliated with a particular Major League team makes our job a bit harder, but we are community. We have always looked at ourselves as the community’s front porch. We are the stewards of this community club, and we continually strive to make coming to the ballpark a wonderful experience. We want to provide fans with a few hours of fun every night where they can come out, enjoy themselves, and forget about their cares, regardless of the outcome on the field over which we have no control.
“Both Gabe and I each enjoy our roles. I know myself, and it’s not being out in front of the crowd, and he is a much better public speaker than I am! Our staff has interests and abilities that complement each other, and every day, they are giving their best efforts to make Crosscutters baseball a positive experience for everyone that comes through the gates, and we hope to continue to be doing that for a long time.”
While Estes may be Gabe’s straight man, the duo’s talents have made Crosscutters baseball a local treasure!
