The U.S. Military WarDogs will be competing against the Greater Cleveland Adult Baseball’s Lake Erie Sea Dogs at Classic Park in Eastlake.
As part of their 2025 United We Stand Tour, the WarDogs, a touring military baseball team, will be coming to town to play the Sea Dogs on July 11 at 35300 Vine St.
“Our inaugural season was last year, so this is a fairly new event, said Michael Gandee, owner and general manager of the Sea Dogs.
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The U.S. Military WarDogs will soon be competing against the Greater Cleveland Adult Baseball’s Lake Erie Sea Dogs at Classic Park in Eastlake. (Michael Gandee)
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The U.S. Military WarDogs will soon be competing against the Greater Cleveland Adult Baseball’s Lake Erie Sea Dogs at Classic Park in Eastlake. (Michael Gandee)
Prior to the nine-inning game, there will be a flag ceremony at 4 p.m. to honor local veterans who may be struggling with PTSD. Additionally, a Gold Star Family will be recognized.
“We like to try to identify a local Gold Star Family to honor,” Gandee said. “Sometimes people want to be honored, sometimes they don’t, but that’s near and dear to my heart as a father with two kids. I can’t imagine what parents would go through losing a son or daughter, so by identifying a Gold Star Family, we already won because we get to honor them and their son or daughter.”
A local veteran will throw out the first pitch at 5 p.m.
“Last year, it was a competitive game,” Gandee said. “We won 13-9 and they were beating us, but we came back to win. We’re their last stop of the tour, so this is going to be a big game for them.”
A post-game party will be hosted at the Tricky Tortoise Brewing Company in Downtown Willoughby, which will feature a performance by Shannon Book, who is flying in from Austin, Texas for the event.
Book will also be singing the national anthem at the game.
Proceeds from ticket sales will go to the WarDogs to support their mission, as well as to anyone involved in the game’s flag ceremony.
“We’re going to try to raise money for the Gold Star Family and then we have another veteran who’s struggling with PTSD,” Gandee said. “She needs assistance with her service dog, so whatever money we raise for that would go to cover her cost to train her dog. Those service dogs are incredibly expensive, so the money would help to go toward that. Once everything’s said and done, the WarDogs will receive a check from the Captains.”
Tickets for adults are $20 at mlb.tickets.com or at the gate. Tickets for children are $10. Veterans will be able to get into the game for free via vettix.org and first responders via 1sttix.org.
Last year, between $7,000 to $10,000 was raised.
“We had a lot of people donate to the WarDogs when they came to the game,” Gandee said. “That was just from ticket sales. The WarDogs will have a booth in the concession area.”
Without the Lake County Captains, the game would not be possible, Gandee said.
“The Captains have been so gracious — everybody there,” he said. “Ultimately, this was all just an idea and the Lake Erie Sea Dogs as a whole. The WarDogs are a nonprofit; so I’m just a guy who loves baseball and was able to put together something special. It’s amazing that it’s happening. What would be amazing is if we were able to pack the house. If we sold out every seat, we could raise a tremendous amount of money for our veterans or active duty. If anything, let’s get people in the stadium.”
The WarDogs have teams throughout 12 military installations in the United States.
“It offers an opportunity for the guys who are on base to play baseball, and what the WarDogs do is they’ll take an all-star team out of those 12 teams,” Gandee said. “They tour the country playing other collegiate, semi-league baseball teams. The majority of the players on my team play in the Greater Cleveland Adult Baseball League, so almost every single guy on our team plays college baseball or they play minor league baseball, so we’re a competitive baseball team. We participated in the Pan-Am Games that were in Cleveland last year. We won the gold.”
“The WarDogs rely on donations,” Gandee said. “If anybody wants to donate, they could always go to the website. There’s a QR code where they can donate to their mission.”
People are positively affected by this game, Gandee said.
“My short-term goals are to make this a beautiful, patriotic, fun, loving experience for everybody who attends,” he said. “I want them to leave with a real feeling of being proud to be an American and what so many have sacrificed. Long-term, I would love for this to continue to grow and build. The more people we can support and help, the better.”
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