Dave Heller is the president and CEO of Main Street Baseball and the majority owner and Managing Partner of three minor league baseball teams: the Quad Cities River Bandits (Advanced-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals), the Wilmington Blue Rocks (Advanced-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals), and the Billings Mustangs (Pioneer League, independent).
In 2016, Main Street Baseball earned Ballpark Digest’s coveted “Minor League Baseball Organization of the Year” award – one of the industry’s highest honors. His Quad Cities team, the River Bandits, was named Ballpark Digest’s 2021 “Team of the Year” and one of Baseball America’s “Most Accomplished Franchises of the 2010s.” In 2022, the Kansas City Royals presented Heller with their Matt Minker Award as the outstanding person in their minor league system. Quad Cities was the only non-MLB city to host the Baseball Hall of Fame traveling exhibit (2016) and the only minor league team to host a game at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville. Heller’s teams are known for fun, innovative promotions; making significant ballpark improvements; and giving back to their home communities. In 2021, Stadium Journey magazine named both Modern Woodmen Park (Quad Cities) and Frawley Stadium (Wilmington) to its Top-5 list of best game-day experiences in Advanced-A ballparks.
In the Quad Cities, Heller’s River Bandits have enjoyed a stunning resurgence, becoming the only team in Midwest League history to win four championships in ten seasons, setting per-game attendance records, and earning numerous awards. His team has set records for group and sponsorship sales, attendance, concessions, and merchandise sales. The team’s home, Modern Woodmen Park, has earned as many accolades as any ballpark in the country. It was twice named “best minor league ballpark” by USA Today and 10Best.com and chosen the Midwest League’s best ballpark by Baseball America. It earned a 5-star rating from Ballpark Digest, one of the top 10 by Parade Magazine and “the#2 Coolest Minor League Ballpark in America” by Complex Magazine. The team even won multiple awards for best TV commercial!
"Across Minor League Baseball, many ownership groups bring a level of quality to their operations year in and year out. Main Street Baseball has always been among the standout organizations, but took it to another level in 2016."
-Ballpark Digest, November 18, 2016
Under Heller’s leadership, the Bandits have added many fun new features to the ballpark, including two outfield bars, five concourse-level “loge boxes,” an 80-foot HD ribbon-board, a 36’ x 42’ HD video board, new sound system, playground, a renovated suite level, new playing field, and alarge, multi-purpose banquet hall with glass garage doors that open/close based on the weather. The team also added a new Diamond Club, a triple suite, a Hall of Fame autographed jersey display, three new group areas, a special seating area for our nation’s veterans, a 58-panel solar farm, a permanent home for the Quad-Cities Sports Hall of Fame, and a (sponsored) corn field from where the players are introduced at the game’s outset. Last, the team added more than $4 million worth of new rides, including a 105-foot-tall Ferris wheel, a spinning kids’ coaster, two thrill rides, and a 30-foot-tall Drop-N-Twist to go with a myriad of bounce houses, a kiddie train, and Iowa’s only double-decker carousel.
The team has also seen improvements to the “back of the house”: the entire ballpark is now flood-protected, the batting cages enclosed, three large storage spaces have been added, the home and visitors’ clubhouses were renovated, new weight and workout rooms added along with a new players’ parking lot, the playing field and irrigation system was redone, new protective netting covering every seat in the park was added, the kitchen facilities expanded, the HVAC system replaced and updated, and the team added a video classroom, nutritionist’s office, and new trainer’s room. Modern Woodmen Park was even the first Single-A ballpark in the country to install new, energy-efficient LED lights.
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"All four Main Street Baseball teams are leaders in their leagues, and all four are distinguished by a commitment to providing the best fan experience possible.”
-Ballpark Digest, November 18, 2016
Heller and the Bandits love giving back: the team has donated more than $5 million to area charities, helped raise $101,000 for flood relief, and won multiple U.S. Army Gold Awards for its community service. Its “Bandit Scholars” program, which pays an entire year’s college tuition to three area colleges. In addition, the team annually pays for free flu shots for every Quad Cities child, helps fund Camp Genesis (for kids dealing with cancer) and the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit, and supports the Genesis Family Connects program. In 2015, 2017 and again in 2019, Ballpark Digest honored the River Bandits with its “Commitment to Charity” award, the only minor league team to win that distinction three times (no other club has won twice).
Heller’s second club, the Wilmington Blue Rocks, has also garnered its share of accolades. The Blue Rocks earned league-wide awards for Marketing & Promotions, Community Service, Female Executive of the Year, and, five years in a row the club won the league’s award for its charitable work. Its mascot, Mr. Celery, was named one of the top 5 mascots in minor league baseball by USA Today. The team even won an ESPN award for best new food item! Its ballpark, Frawley Stadium, was voted Best Ballpark in Advanced-A baseball by Ballpark Digest. The team has also improved its venue: more than $8,000,000 worth of structural improvements to the park have been made since Heller and his friend Clark Minker took over, including new seats, new netting, a new concourse floor, an expanded Batter’s Eye, two new outfield bullpens, two new video boards, new dugout flooring, new home and visitor’s clubhouses, two new trainers’ rooms, a new dressing area for female coaches, and new energy-efficient LED field lights.
"The local baseball franchise never has been healthier and more vibrant than it is right now. Heller knows what he's doing."
-Quad-City Times, November, 17, 2015
Heller’s third club, the Billings Mustangs, have also been tremendously successful. Since Heller purchased the club, it has consistently ranked among the top three in Pioneer League attendance and has seen increases in every area – from corporate sponsorships to concessions and merchandise sales to in-game promotions. The team has also earned league-wide honors for its playing field and its charitable work. In 2019 and again in 2022, it was awarded the prestigious Jim McCurdy Award for Excellence – the only Pioneer League Club to win that coveted honor twice. Since taking over, Heller has added a new beer stand, a new dessert stand, and several new portable concessions carts. He also negotiated a 10-year lease extension with the City of Billings, securing the Mustangs’ future through 2026. The team’s home, Dehler Park, was voted by Ballpark Digest “the best minor league ballpark in Rookie Ball.”
Heller is also regarded as a top political media consultant and campaign strategist. As president of Main Street Communications, an award-winning political media firm, he compiled the best won-loss record among media consultants in the Democratic Party. His clients won 15 out of 19 general election open seat races for Congress, including many of the nation’s toughest races, such as Governor John Baldacci (D-Me.); U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.); U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.), who in 2012 won in a redrawn R+13 district; U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas (D-Ky.), who in 1998 won a seat the Democrats had not won since 1964 (and have never won since); U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), who repeatedly won re-election in a district in which Hillary Clinton garnered just 30% of the vote – the nation’s “reddest” district to be won by a Democrat – and U.S. Rep.Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), who in 2022 earned the largest winning percentage of any Democrat running in a Trump district. Heller has helped elect more “Blue Dogs,” the party’s most conservative voices, than any other media consultant, as well as more members of the Congressional Black Caucus (10), including the late civil rights leader, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the late John Conyers (D-Mich.), Rep.Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), and his dear friend, the late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who in 2003 performed Heller’s wedding.
"Heller is well known in baseball circles. With the success he's had and the life he has breathed into his franchises, baseball is only too happy to have him."
-Lowell Sun, June 11, 2016
Heller graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with honors from Brown University, then earned a Master's Degree in Politics from Oxford University (Nuffield College), where he was awarded an Overseas Research Scholarship. He went on to Yale University, where he completed his Masters thesis and designed and taught an undergraduate seminar on Political Protest Movements in 20th Century America. Heller and his wife June live in Davenport, Iowa, with their two sons, Dylan and Cade.
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