Dec. 16, 2008
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech baseball team will hold the 14th Annual Baseball Benefit Dinner Saturday, Feb. 7, at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center. The event will kick off the Yellow Jackets’ 2009 season, which begins Feb. 20 in Atlanta, and features a keynote speaker, dinner and both live and silent auctions in the hotel ballroom.
Jeff Francoeur, the hometown outfield star of the Atlanta Braves, will serve as the keynote speaker for this year’s event, following in the footsteps of his 2008 teammates Chipper Jones and Mark Teixeira. A Gold Glove winner in 2007, Francoeur was selected by Atlanta in the first round of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft and finished third in the race for the 2005 National League Rookie of the Year award. A 2002 graduate of Parkview High School, Francoeur will begin his fourth year as an Atlanta Brave in 2009.
Francoeur continues a tradition of popular baseball figures to speak at the dinner. Major League stars Jason Varitek, Teixeira, Jones, Nomar Garciaparra and John Smoltz, managers Tommy Lasorda, Joe Torre, Jimy Williams, and Sparky Anderson, general managers Cam Bonifay and John Schuerholz, as well as popular ESPN analyst Peter Gammons have been featured in the past.
The 14th annual dinner and auction, with proceeds to benefit the Georgia Tech baseball program, will begin at 6:30 p.m. with registration, reception and silent auction, and dinner will be served at 7:30 p.m. The cost is $75 per person and $700 for a table of 10. In addition to the dinner, auctions and keynote speaker, attendees will have a chance to meet the 2009 Georgia Tech baseball team.
For more information on the event and to RSVP, call or email Nick Scherer (404.894.2261 / nscherer@athletics.gatech.edu) or send a check (payable to GTAA) to:
Georgia Tech Athletic Association
Attn: GT Baseball Benefit Dinner
150 Bobby Dodd Way NW
Atlanta, GA 30332-0455.
If mailing a check, please include the names of people attending, an email address, a mailing address and daytime telephone number. Please RSVP by Monday, January 19.
