New GM, New Season

A look at what’s ahead for the Pit Spitters in 2023

By Ashlee Cowles | April 22, 2023

Imagine it’s the opening day of the Pit Spitters’ 2023 season. The weather is pitch-perfect—75 degrees and sunny. Turtle Creek Stadium is packed. There are almost as many enthusiastic children waiting in line for Moomers ice cream as there are climbing the stadium’s playground/zoo enclosure behind right field.

And of course, the Pit Spitters win the game with a home run.

From Texas to Iowa to Michigan

Jacqueline Holm, the Pit Spitters’ new general manager, is hard at work doing what she can to make this opening day dream a reality. (Minus the controlling the weather part—if only.) A native of Sugar Land, Texas, Holm grew up with baseball in her blood as an avid Houston Astros fan, watching clips of Nolan Ryan and always rooting for the home team.

But it wasn’t until Holm pursued a summer internship with the Houston Dynamo professional soccer club that she started thinking about sports as a viable career path.

“That internship really sparked a fire for me,” says Holm, who was then hired to do group sales for the Sugar Land Skeeters, now the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros known as the Sugar Land Space Cowboys. Holm stayed with the Skeeters for four seasons and became the director of corporate partnerships, allowing her to hone the sales skills that have proven to be a major asset in her career.

In 2016, Holm was offered an opportunity to move from Texas to Davenport, Iowa, to take the position of assistant general manager for an affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. “Within 11 days of receiving that call, I was living in Davenport,” she says.

Holm remained with the Quad Cities River Bandits for several seasons and eventually became the general manager. According to a Pit Spitters’ press release, while she was with the River Bandits, “Holm’s leadership saw the team transform their social media presence, substantially grow season ticket usage and retention, and win a Midwest League Championship, all of which garnered her a nomination for the Rawlings Midwest League Female Executive of the Year award in 2017.”

A Seat at the Table

Not being afraid to stand out is a big part of Holm’s approach to pursuing a career in sports. Baseball has always been a competitive industry, but now that there are fewer minor league teams, there are also fewer management positions. Getting creative and having a “yes and” approach are a few of the ways Holm has sought to differentiate herself. “If they needed someone to get in the mascot suit, I was the first to jump up and do it,” she says.

Holm believes that many of her accolades have come from her sales prowess, an area of sports that tends to be especially male-dominated in an already male-dominated industry. Some might consider this lack of gender diversity a drawback to the career field, but Holm sees the challenge in an alternative light: “I’m the different one. I’m the one who can bring a new perspective… I always felt like I deserved a seat at the table.”

Still, the fact that Holm may be the only woman at most of these tables means that finding female mentors at the management level isn’t easy. While Holm was with the River Bandits in Davenport, there were only five female GMs across the entire country for 150 baseball teams. One of those other women happened to be in the Midwest League, and she and Holm were able to establish a sense of camaraderie.

Holm has chosen to wear the blazing of this new trail as a badge of honor. “This is an opportunity I may never get in another industry,” she says. “To pioneer things and be a part of the conversation.”

A Stadium Destination

It’s this attitude that also gives Holm confidence when it comes to building a strong foundation for the recently rebranded Pit Spitters. As a transplant to Traverse City, Holm recognizes the importance of listening to what the community has to say about what it wants and needs when it comes to the Turtle Creek facility.

Holm says she was delighted to discover that Midwestern hospitality may be Southern hospitality’s biggest rival. Based on her interactions with northern Michiganders so far, Holm claims, “They are second to none. Everyone I meet here…loves it here. They are fiercely attached to the identity of being a Traverse City citizen, and they are so exhilarated and excited about what they are doing… You can see there is a reason why talent is coming to the area.”

Supporting the growth of this talent base is an area of community building that Holm is eager to bolster. “I want to be a good partner to our community partners,” she says. That could mean brainstorming with local businesses on how to recruit and retain employees or reaching out to well-established organizations—Interlochen Arts Academy, for example—to see how the Turtle Creek facility might support their programming by giving students more opportunities to come and enjoy the stadium.

In fact, one of Holm’s major goals as general manager is positioning Turtle Creek Stadium to be a full-service facility beyond baseball season. Her promise to the Grand Traverse community is to work to bring more marquee events like concerts to the region to help Traverse City become even more of a year-round destination.

One of the first of these marquee events was recently announced in March. On June 22, the Fully Loaded Comedy Festival will be coming to the stadium, a tour featuring Bert Kreischer, Tiffany Hadish, Fortune Feimster, Big Jay Oakerson, Jay Pharoah, and Chad Daniels.

On the baseball side of things, for the 2023 season, the Pit Spitters will play 36 games. Turtle Creek Stadium will also host the inaugural Great Lakes All-Star Game on July 24-25, featuring 24 teams from around the region. Spectators can look forward to the return of the Corks Dorks, as well as $2 beers and hot dogs on Thursdays, and fireworks after games on Fridays.

According to Holm, “We’ve won a championship in every odd year since the team’s been in business,” so here’s hoping baseball fans will have that winning streak to look forward to in 2023.