An ode to Long Island Ducks, past and future

Whether you've been to one Long Island Ducks game or 100, the experience is unmistakable. The ballpark. The logo. The (often maddening, always appropriate) sound of hundreds of kids blowing those little plastic duck-beak whistles in unison.

It's pure Long Island. It's summer nights. It's community.

I was thinking about this after the news broke that Frank Boulton had sold the Ducks to REV Entertainment, the official sports and entertainment arm of the Texas Rangers.

The Ducks are as much a regional staple as Billy Joel, Montauk or sitting in traffic on the Long Island Expressway. That doesn't happen by accident. It happens because one person had the vision, courage, and business sense to imagine something that didn't yet exist and make it real.

In 2000 Boulton brought professional baseball to Long Island, reviving the Ducks name in a nod to the beloved hockey franchise that had ceased operations in Commack years earlier. It was a brilliant move: familiar, nostalgic and instantly local. What followed has been nothing short of generational impact.

Boulton's background is as a Wall Street executive in the U.S. Treasury and mortgage-backed bond industry. His baseball fandom is well-documented, as he owned three farm teams, two affiliated with the Yankees and one with the Kansas City Royals. But it was the Ducks that allowed him to live his dream of bringing pro baseball to Long Island.

How many people can say they've entertained countless Long Islanders, year after year, for more than 25 seasons through America's pastime? Think of the memories tied to that minor league ballpark in Central Islip: a child's first game, first ballpark hot dog, first autograph. Maybe it was a Ducks youth camp, learning the game from legends like Buddy Harrelson or Lew Ford. Maybe it was being in the stands for one of the franchise’s four Atlantic League championships, witnessing real, local sports history. Every one of those moments traces back to Boulton.

What makes his impact even more meaningful is his presence. Boulton wasn't an absentee owner. He was, and still is, a fan. You'll find him in the same seat behind the Ducks' dugout, chatting with fans, taking photos, talking baseball with players and coaches, and reacting to fair-or-foul and safe-or-out calls just like the rest of us. That matters.

He founded and had a significant influence on the Atlantic League, now known as a national hub for baseball innovation. It's also worth noting that many of the game's most creative experiments were tested in Central Islip because of Boulton’s foresight and willingness to evolve the sport.

So, on behalf of Long Island: Thank you, Frank, for creating the Ducks and giving us a quarter-century of memories.

And to REV Entertainment: Evolve, innovate, and dream big, but never forget what Long Island fans have come to cherish, what Frank built, and what we hope always remains at our local ballpark.

This guest essay reflects the views of Chris R. Vaccaro, a media executive, author and professor from Lake Grove who is president of the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame and president of the Society of Professional Journalists.