- May 5, 2024
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Daytona Tortugas president and general manager Ryan Keur was once the youngest general manager in Minor League Baseball.
That was with the Appalachian League’s Burlington Royals as a 24 year old. Now with the Tortugas, Keur is 28 and turning the Daytona Tortugas into a main attraction in Volusia County.
“We wanted to embrace the beach theme and we wanted to call our games the 9-inning vacation,” Keur said. “Whether you’re in Volusia County or on vacation, and that’s the big gist. We’ve really gotten out there and seen how we could make a difference.”
Since his family had season tickets to the New Jersey Cardinals when he was a boy, Keur has always loved Minor League Baseball.
Attending Elon University in North Carolina, he studied sport and event management and graduated in 2012. He met his girlfriend Brittany Ison there, who also studied for the same degree. Keur was looking more for the sports side, and Ison, who now works in event management, wanted more of the events, so it worked out for both of them.
“Overall what’s been exciting is seeing how much he’s grown and become a leader,” Ison said. “He has so many people looking up to him and it’s been really cool to see the outreach and following of people who sees where he’s going.”
The Tortugas have an initiative to be the best-dressed team in Minor League Baseball this season by wearing a different specialty jersey on every Friday home game.
This past week, the team hosted a Sager Strong night in memory of the late TNT broadcaster Craig Sager. Daytona raised money toward Sager’s foundation and hosted his family for the evening.
Keur is naturally charismatic and uses his youth to cater to fans that desire an exciting experience at the ballpark.
When it comes to his youth, it doesn’t come with inexperience. After two internships in college, Keur joined the Burlington Royals as a 22-year-old straight out of college. He instantly became the new assistant general manager.
He fondly remembers a turn of the calendar representing a shift in his life. His first day in Burlington was January 2, 2012. In his tenure there, he won the Appalachian League Executive of the Year for three straight years from 2014-16.
“Prior to the 2015 season, one of the sponsors here started calling me the baby-faced assassin,” Keur said. “The baby face will never go away, but I try to shift that, and I like to counter that by saying we’ll always have unique ideas. We’re having a lot of fun, and if we’re not having fun, then our fans probably aren’t either.”
Attendance is already up 25% this year, and Keur likes the direction the club is going in heading into the rest of the season and going into 2018.
As far as Port Orange is concerned, Keur’s main initiative with the club has remained simple — be Volusia County’s team.
"The biggest thing and the thing we’re trying to stress this year is we pride ourselves on being Volusia County’s team,” Keur said. “We’re the only professional sports team in Volusia County and we draw a ton from Port Orange, so we’re involved with those schools and families. It really is Volusia County’s team."
