Courtesy / Portland Sea Dogs
Charlie Eshbach, founding president and general manager of the Portland Sea Dogs, died at age 70 after a lengthy illness.
Updated: July 13, 2022
Charlie Eshbach, Portland Sea Dogs founding president and GM, dies at 70
Charlie Eshbach, the founding president and general manager of the Portland Sea Dogs, has died at age 70 after a long illness, the Minor League Baseball team announced Tuesday.
Eshbach was the Sea Dogs’ first employee in 1994, hired by team founder Dan Burke to lead his franchise and the return of professional baseball to Portland for the first time since 1949. The Sea Dogs are the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
Eshbach served as the team’s president and general manager through the 2010 season and stayed on as president through the end of the 2018 season. After that, he remained with the club as a senior advisor.
Under Eshbach's leadership the Sea Dogs have been one of the Eastern League's model franchises. In the team’s inaugural season in 1994, the Sea Dogs led the league in attendance, attracting over 375,000 fans. Since then, the Sea Dogs have consistently drawn some of the league's biggest crowds.
In 2000, the Sea Dogs won the John H. Johnson President's Trophy, Minor League Baseball's top honor presented to teams on the basis of franchise stability, contributions to the league, contributions to baseball in the community and promotion of the baseball industry.
In 1995, Eshbach co-founded the Strike Out Cancer in Kids program, which has raised over $5 million for the Maine Children's Cancer Program.
“All of us at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center and the Maine Children’s Cancer Program are sad to hear about the loss of Charlie Eshbach, who was a great friend to our organization and our patients," Maine Medical Center President Jeff Sanders said in a prepared statement.
"The Portland Sea Dogs’ Strike Out Cancer in Kids program that Charlie co-founded has made a difference in the lives of countless Maine children, and we will always be grateful for his generous community spirit.”
Eshbach was honored as the Eastern League Executive of the Year in 1994 and 2002. In 2013, he was crowned the "King of Baseball," Minor League Baseball's highest individual honor. He was inducted into the Portland Sea Dogs Hall of Fame in 2018.
In total, Eshbach's career in Minor League Baseball spanned 45 years.
Before joining the Sea Dogs, he served for 11 years as Eastern League president and was presented the inaugural Warren Giles Award for outstanding service as a league president in 1984.
During his tenure as league president, Eshbach spent three years on Minor League Baseball's executive committee and served as interim president of Minor League Baseball in 1988. He began his career in Minor League Baseball in 1974 with the Elmira (N.Y.) Pioneers.
In 1975, he joined the Bristol Red Sox, then Boston's Double-A team in the Eastern League. Eshbach also served as general manager of the Reading Phillies in 1978.
Eshbach is survived by his wife, Ann-Marie, and sons Brian and Scott, along with grandchildren Charlie and Audrey Eshbach.
Brian Corcoran, chief engagement officer at Shamrock Sports & Entertainment in Portland, posted a tribute to Eshbach on social media.
"Our heads hurt," Corcoran said in a LinkedIn post. "We lost an icon of our community ... a man who inspired us all to lead by example. Someone always willing to go the extra mile to give a 'Sea Dogs smile' to kids of all ages. Confident Charlie's legacy will live on proudly in many of us that are grateful for the countless contributions he made — on and off the field."
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