One Happy Wolves Fan.
Just a nod. She’d done it.
The Madison Wolves were hers.
The league confirmed what insiders had buzzed about for weeks: Gertie Haines, architect of one of the most bizarre and brilliant financial campaigns in league history, had finalized her purchase of the Wolves from Ahmed bin Mohammed just days earlier in early November. The deal reportedly closed at $1.9 billion in a package that included cash, a deferred legacy clause, access to her private analytics staff for three seasons, and a clause ensuring Ahmed could name one concession stand at Shotz Stadium after his mother.
Ahmed was graceful in parting, telling reporters:
“I wouldn’t sell to just anyone. But Gertie? She’s a lunatic I trust.”
THE PLAN GOING FORWARD
In a brief but fiery press scrum that afternoon, Gertie laid out what she called “Phase One” of her ownership plan. Gone was the cryptic spending of last year. This time, her goals were simple and razor-sharp:
Replenish the Farm System
“The Wolves used to grow ballplayers like corn in July,” she said. “We’re getting back to that.”
Gertie announced that she’d already hired two new player development directors and was investing heavily in international scouting and analytics “We’re not buying a championship—we’re growing one.”
Win the City Back
Attendance had declined over the past four seasons. Gertie took that personally.
“Shotz Stadium will become the place you take your kids, your grandma, and your book club,” she promised.
Plans include flexible ticket pricing, fan appreciation days every homestand, a permanent “Kids Run the Bases” Sunday tradition, and the long-anticipated return of Pretzel Hat Night.
Reopen the Ballpark to the People
Gertie wants the gates at Shotz open year-round for community use—offseason farmers’ markets, winter skating on the outfield tarp, and “Open Dugout Days” where fans can sit and imagine what it’s like to manage the Wolves.
“This is Madison’s team, not some hedge fund’s math project.”
A WORD FROM THE PACK
The reaction inside the Wolves’ clubhouse was swift—and emotional.
Veteran CF and clubhouse leader Gary Keller spoke to fans directly via Instagram Live:
“We met her. She told us straight up: ‘I didn’t buy you boys to babysit. I bought you to win.’
That hit different. We’re ready to run through a wall for her.”
Rookie pitcher Jugnu Sampath posted a photo of his glove resting on the dugout bench with the caption:
“First time in a long time it feels like someone’s got our backs. #RunWithTheWolves”
Meanwhile, on the concourse outside Shotz, lifelong season ticket holder Ron “Corn Dog” Ziemke held up a hand-painted sign that read: WOLVES BACK. GERTIE RULES.
“I’ve been coming here since ’97,” Ron said, gripping a brat in one hand and his thermos in the other. “It’s been dead in there. But this? This is something new. You can feel it. She’s waking us up.”
A WORD FOR NASHVILLE
Later that evening, during a quiet moment on the hotel’s cigar porch, Gertie was spotted clinking glasses with the GM of the Nashville Bluebirds, @Dington her face lit with real warmth.
“You saved me in those old days,” she told him. “Those golf tournaments? Lifesaving. I’d be out there trying to decode estate law with a bottle of gin and a rusty calculator if you hadn’t kept me laughing on the back nine.”
She thanked him again, presented him with a commemorative Wolves-branded golf towel (“WOLVES FORE!” stitched in Wolves gold), and floated the idea of a Madison–Nashville spring charity golf event in 2063.
“We'll call it the Gertie & Grits Classic,” she joked.
Back at Shotz, workers were already installing a new scoreboard—not bigger, just brighter. Gertie doesn’t need glitz.
She needs wins, and fans who believe again.
“It’s not about empire-building,” she said before heading to her suite.
“It’s about bringing this pack home again.”
