Stepping up to the plate is East Bay Baseball Academy President Jonathan Burke at his newly renovated training facility in Bristol.
Baseball trainer makes his field of dreams a reality with Bristol academy
East Bay Baseball Academy
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President: Jonathan Burke
Employees: Nine independent trainers
Location: 47 Gooding Ave., Bristol
Type of Business: Baseball/softball instruction
Year Founded: 2001
Annual Revenue: WND
From Little League to the majors, baseball players are starting to warm up for the 2005 season and for New Englanders that means training indoors.
That’s where Jonathan Burke and his staff of professional trainers at the newly renovated and expanded East Bay Baseball Academy in Bristol step in.
Most players already know what to do to keep from striking out – keep your eye on the ball – but few actually know how to do it, Burke said.
“Everyone knows you have to keep your eye on the ball, but few people actually know how to,” Burke says quickly, demonstrating the ideal swing.
A first lesson at East Bay Baseball Academy involves more verbal instruction than it does hitting – which tries the patience of many students who just want to swing away – but once the rules are ingrained in the memory, a slugger is born.
“When a kid you’ve been working with runs up to you and says they hit their first baseball during a game, or parents – who pay you – thank you and say how proud they are, that’s what it’s about. This business isn’t about business,” Burke said.
Burke first opened a batting cage in Bristol four years ago in a garage with no bathroom or heat where he instructed about 24 kids after he finished work at his full-time job as head of the behavior department at Valley Community School, an alternative school in Middletown for children with special needs.
After the first year, word started to spread about Burke’s instructions and he had a schedule of 78 kids to teach the second year. By his third year, his side job as a hitting instructor began to take over and he had a waiting list of 150 kids.
He moved his instruction space into a warehouse-type building in Bristol and bought a second batting cage, all the while saving up to build his fantasy business: a baseball academy where he could spend all his time instructing kids with the same major league aspirations he once had.
Burke attended Community College of Rhode Island and went on to earn a degree in human development from Eckerd College in Florida – but the only reason he went was to play baseball, he said. He signed with the independent minor league team Newburgh Night Hawks of New York, but only played with them a short time before hurting his shoulder and calling it quits.
“There’s nothing worse than someone telling you you’re done. I went into a baseball mourning period and then decided I had to keep doing something with baseball,” Burke said.
After operating the two cages out of a portion of the building at 47 Gooding Ave. in Bristol for a year, Burke had enough capital to lease the entire 6,500-square-foot facility and renovate it into a replica of Cardines Field in Newport.
In early December he and a friend started the renovations, turning the dingy warehouse into a place reminiscent of that green stadium built in Newport in 1937.
They built bleachers high above the main floor where parents can watch their kids train, they laid down artificial grass, a mound for pitching practices and added three more of the 480 pound
batting cages – which cost about $2,200 plus $1,900 to ship from Missouri – and there are two dugouts where the players wait their turn. The bathroom is disguised as a concession stand and the main office looks like a ticket booth – though the refund window is always closed.
“Batting cages are usually all the same – they look like warehouses. I wanted to make this into a place that when people walk in, they look up and say, ‘Wow,’” Burke said.
Burke invested about $30,000 of his savings to create his dream business. Some local businesses pitched in a bit and he finished the job in a month – opening his doors on Jan. 3 to the 300 baseball players ready to train.
Lessons go from 3 p.m to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and weekends from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at $170 for six half-hour lessons. There are 10 independent trainers at East Bay Baseball Academy who mostly have full-time jobs but stay long past closing time helping kids perfect their swings.
The trainers have either played baseball or softball all their lives, made it to minor league teams or have made a name for themselves in the game. There is also a certified personal trainer who focuses on baseball techniques.
The success has been almost all word-of-mouth – Burke has only spent about $300 on advertising the past four years – and it continues to grow.
