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Hooks: Built to last
BY Greg Rajan Caller-Times
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The opening of Whataburger Field and the first hom game for the Corpus Christi Hooks marks the end of a nearly three-year-journey. |
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Reid Ryan wasn’t exactly trying to land a second baseball franchise when he stopped by the Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau office in November 2001.
Ryan, the CEO of the Round Rock Express, and general manager Jay Miller were meeting with Kimberly Lemley, the CVB’s director of tourism sales about doing something to promote Corpus Christi among Express fans.
During that meeting, Lemley uttered the words that would alter Corpus Christi’s sports landscape.
“I just said, ‘What about baseball in Corpus Christi, have you ever thought about that?’” Lemley said. “We talked about could there be an interest and how much interest is there and if you were to build a stadium, where would you think of putting it?
“I had told Reid because I had heard plenty of conversation about the port and developing that area and knew that maybe they had the land. I just put them together and we started the ball rolling. It’s been a fun ride ever since.”
In recalling that day, Ryan, the son of Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, still couldn’t believe that the process of bringing a team to Corpus Christi started with such an innocuous question.
“When she said that, it was almost like divine intervention,” he said. “A light went off and it was like, ‘Let’s do this.’”
Lemley told Ryan the people he should first get in contact with the Port of Corpus Christi Authority and Ron Kitchens, the CEO of the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Commission.
THE PROCESS BEGINS
Bringing a baseball team to town wasn’t a new concept for Kitchens. He said he had been working on it for close to a year before his original conversations with Reid Ryan and his younger brother Reese, the Express’ chief financial officer.
However, what Kitchens mostly encountered was a dead end, as “people didn’t give us a lot of hope when we were going through the process.”
He said the Central Baseball League told him Corpus Christi was too big and “not a good fit” for the independent circuit.
“And I agreed with them,” Kitchens said. “Talking with them, we were setting our hopes too low.”
Next up was the Texas League. Kitchens said he was told by the league brass that they didn’t believe there was a team interested in relocating to Corpus Christi and it would be too hard to make a deal happen.
But when he talked to the Ryans, the feedback was much different.
“It was dramatically different than everybody else we talked to,” Kitchens said. “We talked about how they really grew up loving Corpus Christi and how they wanted to help us do something and they’d love to help us move forward with that.”
The fact the Ryans had a soft spot in their hearts for Corpus Christi certainly helped.
Reid Ryan recalled childhood trips to South Texas for cattle auctions with his father. As an adult, Corpus Christi became a favorite spot for family vacations. The family also has significant business interests and land holdings in the area. Of course, Nolan Ryan was born in Refugio, as if the Houston Astros legend needed more reason to be a South Texas icon.
“We’ve always believed in Corpus Christi,” Reid Ryan said. “I can remember back to after we started the Express in 2000 and I came down to Corpus Christi and saying ‘Corpus should have a baseball club’ and us saying it’s too bad they don’t have one down there.
“When that opportunity presented itself, we said if Corpus Christi was serious about it and they wanted a team and the community got behind it and built a stadium, we were going to do everything we could to bring a team.”
SELLING THE CITY
One of the first obstacles the Ryans and Kitchens faced were the memories of Corpus Christi’s previous two baseball teams.
The Sea Gulls, who played in the Gulf States League from 1976-77 and the Barracudas, a Texas-Louisiana League franchise in 1994-95, played at Cabaniss Field, a high school venue not suited for pro ball. And with their quick demises, they left a legacy of being fly-by-night operations.
“The first reaction was we had baseball here in the past and it didn’t work and it wasn’t very good and that’s not where we want to go,” Kitchens said.
A letter to the editor published in the Caller-Times on June 1, 2002, epitomized that hardened cynicism.
“Why does anyone think this time would be any different? Corpus Christi is a high school town - always has been, always will be. … If I am going to vote for any increase in the sales tax, it is going to be for something more worthwhile than a sure-to-fail baseball team.”
Reid Ryan and Kitchens said the key to changing people’s minds was through education. Kitchens said he went to nearly 100 games in Round Rock to give Corpus Christi citizens a glimpse of minor-league baseball.
“The reaction was ‘It’s too nice, we’ll never get something this nice in Corpus Christi,’” Kitchens said. “We had to set higher standards. Cabaniss Field is not the end-all, be-all of baseball.”
One of the chief educators was Nolan Ryan, who along with his sons made several appearances in Corpus Christi to pitch the new team.
“The learning curve for Corpus Christi and for the baseball fans has been the difference between independent and affiliated baseball and the difference between all the leagues that have come and gone through the community in the past and exactly how our relationship with the (Houston) Astros is structured,” Reid Ryan said.
“The problem has been in the past, you had people playing that were not suited for professional baseball. You can’t do what we’re going to do at a high school facility. It can’t be done and you can’t offer the big-league experience. This is going to be the big-league experience at minor-league prices.”
The Ryans also got plenty of assistance from local leaders. Kitchens said the most instrumental was city manager Skip Noe.
“This certainly wouldn’t have happened without Skip Noe,” Kitchens said. “I made the statement before that I’m the starting pitcher and took it seven strong innings, but without Skip taking us the last two, we wouldn’t have gotten there.
“But when it came to negotiating with the port, and negotiating to get (the stadium) built and negotiating with the Ryans. It takes somebody with Skip’s skills and his personal style. We would not have gotten there without Skip.”
Despite some local opposition and the arrival of the Coastal Bend Aviators in Robstown, the education campaign paid off. In the November 2002 election, the referendum for construction of a new baseball stadium was approved 55 percent, or 32,666 votes, to 45 percent or 26,433 votes.
However, the process of bringing baseball to Corpus Christi still was far from finished.
FINDING A TEAM
Corpus Christi voters lived up to their end and voted for the stadium. The onus was then on the Ryans to bring in a team for the 2005 season.
During baseball’s 2002 winter meetings, they tried to get Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball to change their rules about owning two teams in the same league.
That was voted down, meaning there was no possibility of buying another Texas League team and moving it to Corpus Christi. That meant buying a Class AAA team and moving it to Round Rock, with the Express’ Class AA affiliation moving to Corpus Christi.
“We started negotiating with several different groups,” Reid Ryan said. “At times, it looked like it wasn’t going to happen and times like it was going to come together.
“We had a lot of options. I would say it was never at a point where it wasn’t going to happen.”
On Oct. 23, 2003, the Ryans agreed to purchase the Pacific Coast League’s Edmonton Trappers and move them to Round Rock in 2005 under the Express banner, with Corpus Christi getting the Class AA team.
However, it wasn’t until last spring, when the Edmonton sale closed, that Reid Ryan said he really knew Corpus Christi would have a team in 2005.
GOLDEN TEAM
Once it was known Corpus Christi had a team, it didn’t take long for people to jump on the bandwagon. The club leased all 18 luxury suites by January 2004, less than two months after they went on sale. In March 2004, Whataburger signed a 15-year agreement for the naming rights to the new stadium. Team president J.J. Gottsch said the team has sold 60,000 for the first 10 games. Merchandise sales have been brisk. To many, that’s no surprise given the track record of the Ryans.
In Round Rock, they set Class AA attendance records for five consecutive years, drawing 686,286 fans in 2004. The Express has been so successful that Texas League president Tom Kayser said the franchise “has been instrumental in the redevelopment of baseball.”
Former Round Rock infielder David Matranga once said “everything the Ryans touch turns to gold.”
Immensely popular as a player, Nolan Ryan has had the same impact as a businessman.
“They’ve been great owners to work with,” Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr. said. “Nolan really has a great feel for baseball and that makes him so highly respected.
“I’ve been in baseball for 13 years but they’ve been the best (affiliate) that we’ve ever worked with. They’re honorable people and they have been a pleasure and success to work with.” Kitchens said the city’s association with Nolan Ryan bodes well for Corpus Christi.
“When you’re Nolan Ryan and you’re Reid Ryan, you have a choice on where to do business,” Kitchens said. “To pick Corpus Christi says volumes about their commitment to this area.”
THE LONG TERM
Corpus Christi has seen eight baseball franchise roll through town before the Hooks. None lasted longer than five years.
But when it comes to the Hooks, it’s hard to find anyone who thinks they won’t be a successful, long-term fixture in the Sparkling City.
“I’d been in El Paso for 20-plus years,” said Hooks general manager Ken Schrom, a longtime minor-league executive. “I uprooted my family and I’m not going to uproot them for a short-term, jump in and jump out. That’s not the way (the Ryans) do business and that’s not the way I do business either.
“Everybody that’s on board is on board long term. It’s a wonderful city, we’re going to have a great stadium and there are a lot of good things going on in this city. It’s a long-term commitment.”
The Ryans still maintain their home base in Round Rock, but Reid Ryan said they will be anything but absentee owners in Corpus Christi. He said himself, his brother or his father would be at each Hooks home game.
“We’re going to be as much a part of the Hooks organization as we are a part of the Express organization,” said Reid Ryan, who has been making weekly visits to Corpus Christi.
“We have a 15-year lease with the city and I don’t see any reason why the club won’t be there for that lease and hopefully for another 15 years after that.”
Contact Greg Rajan at 886-3747 or rajang@caller.com
This article originally published in the Caller-Times Hooks special section.
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