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January 12, 2026
GRAND CHUTE – Rob Zerjav – president of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers – said America’s pastime has been his life’s passion since he was four years old, and it remains so today.
“Baseball has been everything to me,” he said. “Never did I think I’d work in it.”
Now, not only has he “worked” in the sport much of his adult life, Zerjav said he’s led the Grand Chute-based minor league team through nearly three decades of growth and recently earned Minor League Baseball’s (MiLB) 2025 High-A Executive of the Year award.
Despite the fact his name adorns the award, Zerjav said the MiLB recognition is a testament to not only his dedication to the Timber Rattlers but to his staff as well.
“I feel like it’s still an organizational award, at least to me, because we have such a talented group of people here, and I can’t do anything I do without them,” he said. “Everything we did this year was [a result of] everybody contributing, and I feel very fortunate to work with such a great group of people… I truly feel this is a team win.”
Zerjav said he’s been with the Timber Rattlers for the entirety of his professional career.
“The Timber Rattlers is my first and only full-time job,” he said. “I got an internship here in college and fell in love with it.”
Zerjav said the Timber Rattlers’ growth from a baseball team into a true “community asset” stems from him encouraging staff creativity and fostering a culture where “no idea is a bad idea.”
“I think everything is a collaboration,” he said. “I’m really big on us working together and stacking good ideas on top of good ideas…, whether it’s the food items we have here, the ballpark experience, adding new areas to the ballpark, [etc.].”
Mission entertainment
Because the team itself has received recognition from the league – “we’ve been recognized by Minor League Baseball for several years” – Zerjav said he believes the Timber Rattlers stand out against the league’s larger teams despite their size and standing.
“One of our goals is, ‘How can we be the best in all of Minor League Baseball?’” he said. “We’re not a Triple-A team – there are a lot of things maybe going against us – but we look at it as if we can do just as good a job as anybody… So, we punch above our weight, and we have been recognized numerous times.”
Receiving the High-A Executive award, Zerjav said, is simply a result of business as usual at the Timber Rattlers – “continuing to strive to be the best.”
In 2025, across the MiLB, Zerjav said game attendance went down – except at Neuroscience Group Field (2400 North Casaloma Drive).
“We didn’t follow that trend – [our] attendance went up,” he said. “We went in the opposite direction, in the positive direction.”
Zerjav said the Timber Rattlers one-off rebrand games – where the team plays as an alter ego such as the Wisconsin Udder Tuggers, Brats or the newly debuted Frozen Pizzas – have also drawn national attention.
“We’re getting recognized [by the MiLB] for something almost every year,” he said, “but, again, I think it just speaks to the talent and the desire for us… [to] be the best in all of Minor League Baseball.”
Zerjav said his passion for Minor League Baseball began with his internship with the Timber Rattlers – and spent the next “25-plus years” bolstering not only the fan experience but the organization’s year-round operations as well.
“Our mission statement is all about the entertainment experience for us,” he said. “We can’t control whether we win or lose, but we can hopefully control how much fun you have at the game, the promotions around the game and everything else we’re doing.”
In addition to himself, Zerjav said the Timber Rattlers staff includes several employees who’ve been with the organization for 10-20-plus years, as well as many young professionals who “bring in new and creative ideas.”
“I think it’s a good mix, [but] it does take some time, especially for the younger staff, to feel comfortable,” he said, “but you really try to keep pulling it out of them to make everybody comfortable to share.”
Zerjav said it’s “really fun” when a staff member – junior or senior – identifies a new, creative idea or opportunity.
“We had to add protective netting from foul pole to foul pole, and with that, we had to add these giant, 40-foot black poles stuck 40 feet in the ground to hold the tension of this netting,” he said. “Instead of just keeping a giant black pole there, [a staff member had the idea to make it] a giant Ticonderoga No. 2 pencil… Ticonderoga is located right here in Appleton, and it was a great partnership.”
The Timber Rattlers’ giant pencil, Zerjav said, personifies the kind of creative and fun culture he aims to foster as the organization’s president.
“How can we take this black pole that’s a necessity, and make something fun out of it?” he said. “That’s why I think we’ve been so successful – everybody contributing. It doesn’t matter if you’re in operations, marketing, food and beverage, tickets or accounting, everybody has good ideas. Especially when it comes to family entertainment.”
A field of dreams
Zerjav – a Green Bay native – said he was attending the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater when his career counselor encouraged him to apply for an internship with the Timber Rattlers.
“I never went and talked to my career counselor until my senior year, and he was fantastic,” he said.
At the time, Zerjav said the Timber Rattlers had just completed their stadium, and he would drive past it on his way home from college – never once imagining he’d end up working there.
“[My advisor said], ‘Did you ever think of applying for a job there?’” he said. “And I [said], ‘I did not.’ I applied, and the rest, I guess, is history.”
Joining the team in 1997, three years after its inaugural season, Zerjav said – aside from meeting his wife – some of his biggest achievements include securing a Milwaukee Brewers affiliation, expanding year-round revenue opportunities and overseeing stadium renovations that added a second level, a club and banquet space.
“We were able to create a 360-degree concourse, add the slide, better handicap-accessible seats, widen our concourse – there were so many things we were able to do in this last renovation,” he said. “The renovations have been extremely stressful, and I always tell myself I’ll never do it again. But, now I’m ready. I’m chomping at the bit again, [because] it’s just fun to continue to build here, expand on the experience, make it better and never rest on our laurels.”
Though his passion for baseball spans a lifetime, Zerjav said he didn’t realize how influential the MiLB would be on his professional career in the sport.
“I got my foot in the door, and I thought, ‘Okay, this will be great – I’ll get an internship, then I’ll move on to Major League Baseball’ – because I didn’t know a ton about Minor League Baseball at the time,” he said, “but I just fell in love with everything. The family experience [and] the entertainment we provide, but it’s still around a baseball game.”
Throughout his nearly 30 years with the Timber Rattlers, Zerjav said he’s come to appreciate not only the opportunity to be involved in baseball professionally, but the opportunity to use baseball as an avenue for giving back to his community.
“I had that passion for baseball, and got to be around that,” he said, “but [to] make a difference in the community and be close to home – [I] knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
Luckily, Zerjav said so far, that’s exactly what he’s been able to do.
“Every time I was ready to maybe move on, a job opened up here, and my goal was always to become the general manager or the president of a Minor League Baseball team,” he said. “Never did I think it was going to happen here in my backyard.”
Regardless, Zerjav said he, his staff and the Timber Rattlers team and organization are only able to do what they do because of the community’s support.
“There are 120 minor league teams, [but] back in 2019 there were 160,” he said. “If the community isn’t supportive, they move, then you lose it, and once you lose it, it’s pretty hard to get that team back… I think it’s very fortunate we have Minor League Baseball [in Northeast Wisconsin], and hopefully, that never changes.”
For more information on the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, visit its website – milb.com/wisconsin – or Facebook page.
