Richmonders know and love their minor league baseball team, with its quirky name, goofy in-game fan contests and Nutzy, the playful mascot who dresses like a superhero. Ten years ago, however, when the franchise started, it wasn’t smooth sailing for the Flying Squirrels. The team was replacing a longtime franchise, the Richmond Braves, in a city that’s known for its love of history and tradition — and its aversion to change.
Todd “Parney” Parnell, who moved to Richmond to become the team’s vice president and chief operating officer, remembers those days and recalls them with a laugh now, but it took a serious effort to win over former Braves fans, who had cheered for that team for more than 20 years.
“When we went about naming the team, that’s when we heard a lot of naysayers,” Parney says, speaking from Alabama while on a business trip, adding that he made the rounds as a public speaker to introduce the idea of a new team. “There would always be one person, seems like, that would wait for me by the door to tell me how ridiculous and silly the Flying Squirrels’ name was. We heard it a lot.”
A Prince George resident submitted the name, one of several that was voted on by Richmond Times-Dispatch readers and selected as the winner. Parney, a Locust, North Carolina, native, says the name fit into the core values he and other team officials discussed when listing three goals for the franchise.
“We’ve successfully hosted over 4 million people in The Diamond over the last 10 years. ... I’m really proud of that fact.” —Todd Parnell, Flying Squirrels vice president and COO
“We wanted to be fun. And … we wanted to be different in everything we did, and we wanted to be impactful,” he says. “The first two of those principles — core values that I just mentioned to you — were very much involved in naming the team the Flying Squirrels.”
The name stuck, and so has the team. “We’ve successfully hosted over 4 million people in The Diamond over the last 10 years,” Parnell says. “I’m really proud of that fact.”
Mascots Nutzy and Nutasha (left) make sure kids have a ball before the game. (Photo courtesy Richmond Flying Squirrels)
On the field, the team, a Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, hasn’t made the playoffs since 2014, when they lost in the championship round to the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, 3-1. Many Richmonders might struggle to remember a notable player, but that’s by design. Since a good player can be called up to the major leagues quickly, the mascots — led by Nutzy and Nutasha — are the faces of the franchise. The love between the Flying Squirrels and River City can’t be quantified by a stat sheet or analytics.
“We’re not about the wins and losses during those 70 home games at The Diamond, we’re about all the people that we try to impact 12 months out of the year,” Parney says.
Michelle McGrady was a baseball fan before the Squirrels threw their first pitch. She says she goes to as many games as she can, but it was a connection made off the field that turned her into a devoted fan. Several years ago, her daughter was a pediatric cancer patient who was part of a support group through ASK Childhood Cancer Foundation.
The 53-year-old administrative assistant noticed that the Squirrels were one of the organization’s partners.“That’s when I really fell in love with the Squirrels,” she says. “They seem like a part of Richmond.”
After every Sunday game, children can run the bases at The Diamond. (Photo courtesy Richmond Flying Squirrels)
The nonprofit Flying Squirrels Charities was formed in 2014 as the team’s philanthropic branch, dedicated to “renovating Richmond’s recreation facilities.” Projects include improvements to baseball fields at North Side’s Hotchkiss Community Center, BelleMeade Field in South Side and Powhatan Field in Henrico County. Funds for these renovations are raised via events such as jersey auctions, the Turn Left Golf Classic, the Charity Hot Stove Banquet, and Nutzy’s Rotary Funn Run & Block Party. The team is also involved in area schools, with programs that encourage reading, art and academic achievement. There are other efforts as well, and they all have helped the club establish itself as a pillar of the community.
In recent months, the Navy Hill development plan that includes a new arena, replacing a venue where various local sports teams have played, has been in the news. But there has been little chatter in recent years about replacing The Diamond, aka “The Nest,” the aging ballpark where the Squirrels are based. Team owners have spent $3 million to make sure The Diamond doesn’t lose its luster. Parney concedes he didn’t think the team would still be in the same location 10 years after they started, but he’s not pining for a new home yet.
“When somebody tells us that we’re going to get a new ballpark, we will prepare to get a new ballpark,” he says. “But until then, we’ll keep doing what we’ve been doing so successfully for the last 10 years.”