Flashback Friday: Play ball?
After the 1993 season, the
leaders of the Appleton Foxes had reached a point of decision.
Do they stagger on at old Goodland Field?
Do they look into building a new stadium?
Do they look into selling the team to someone who would move it out of
town?
We know how it turned out and
we are glad for the decisions made by those in charge at the time.
But this week's Flashback takes us to an article from December of 1993 where the
process had just begun and no one knew if there was going to be a happy ending
or if
The reason for a look back at
this time in Appleton Baseball history is because John Wollner was just
recognized at the recent Red Smith Award Banquet with the Forgotten
Man Award. John was integral
to the building of the home of the Rattlers and he has a part in the article
below.
A special thank you to Steve
Prestergard for the permission to reprint the article titled Play ball? By Ann
Del Ponte in the December 7, 1993 issue of Marketplace
Magazine. Steve is the editor of
Marketplace
Magazine, has been to several Timber Rattlers games, and also runs the Marketplace
of Ideas blog.
====
Play Ball?
Club
executives are hoping local business will pitch in to build a new stadium and
save minor league baseball in Appleton
by Ann Del Ponte
"If you build it, they will
come." It was the public relations man at the table who couldn't resist
using the line from the popular baseball movie "Field of Dreams." But the
other two businessmen agreed that it summed up what they see as the best hope
for the Appleton Foxes - a new baseball stadium.
The minor league baseball team
has been struggling to attract fans and to remain competitive among other
franchises in the Midwest League.
It is not alone in its misery.
In the last three years, three Wisconsin Class A teams have been sold and
moved out of the state. Only two
clubs remain in
The Appleton Baseball Club, the
not-for-profit group that owns the Foxes, wants to build a $5 million,
4,000-seat stadium as the best insurance to keep the team here and solve some
pressing problems wit its current facility.
John Wollner, Doug Hahn, and
Timothy Robertson, all club members, talked about the stadium project and their
efforts to raise funds in a recent interview.
It was Robertson who quoted the Kevin Costner film as the trio made a
pitch for a new ballpark.
If a stadium is to be built, it
will be up to the generosity of area businesses, said Hahn, past-president of
the club.
The club has an option to
purchase a 40-acre site along U.S. 41 near Fox River Mall in the Town of
"We're convinced this thing
will be successful if we can get it built," Wollner said.
Goodland Field is in the heart
of
A group of Fox supporters
recently contacted 15 of the Fox Cities' largest companies.
Wollner and Hahn said it was too soon to know how much money may be
pledged for the stadium, but they were guardedly optimistic.
"Generally, things seem to be
going well," Hahn said. Wollner
agreed. "I'm cautiously optimistic. Nothing
has happened that would make us believe that it (the building drive) can't be
successful."
Attendance at the Foxes' 61
home games averaged only 900 people during the 1993 season.
Hahn said a new stadium would at least double that figure because it
would be a fun place to go.
The Class A teams that have
left
Wausau
lost its team to
A Midwest League franchise is
worth at least $1 million, Hahn and Wollner estimated, but the Foxes are not for
sale.
The biggest difference between
those teams and the Appleton Foxes is that the Foxes are community owned, not
unlike the Green Bay Packers.
Profit is not a motive for the
Appleton Baseball Club, Wollner and Hahn stressed.
Anyone can become a Foxes'
owner by simply paying $5. The
membership each year elects a 21-member board of directors.
Unfortunately, it is not only
the membership that determines the fate of the Foxes.
The organization is dependent on a major league ball club to use it as a
home for its farm team.
"I wouldn't expect to have
any team after 1995," he said, if major renovations at Goodland, or a new
stadium, are not completed.
"They've upgraded the
league as a whole. We have to stay
competitive to survive. We're
going to be the ore thumb in the league. They'll
ask, 'Do you want to play in
A 1991 agreement between the
major and minor leagues sets standards for all minor-league facilities.
The standards must be met by 1995. Improvements
at Goodland Field, to meet and exceed standards, could cost $500,000 to $1.3
million, Hahn said.
The money would go for things
like locker rooms, lighting, and restrooms, he said.
Major problems at Goodland Field, such as public visibility, parking and
uncomfortable seating, would not be touched.
Hahn and Wollner are frustrated
by what they perceive as a lack of commitment by the city to professional
baseball.
"Do we want to put a million
dollars into something we don't even own?" Wollner remarked.
The City of
Next year, the city will not
give any money to the Foxes, club officials and Mayor Richard De Broux said.
The mayor said the Foxes made a request for funds after his budget was
already prepared. Hahn said he made
the request at least three months earlier than he had in past years.
De Broux said the city can't
afford to help the Foxes funs a new stadium or make major improvements to
Goodland Field.
"The Foxes are so far down on
the list of projects the city needs that it'll never be done (with tax
dollars)," the mayor said.
According to De Broux and club
officials, the city offered to sell Goodland Field to the Foxes for $1, with
some stipulations that proceeds be split should the club ever leave the area.
"Obviously, our offer was not
acceptable, because I read in the paper that the Foxes were going to build a
stadium. I felt they could have at
least communicated that to me," he said.
A different view was expressed
by Hahn, who said the Foxes are still waiting to hear from local businesses
before deciding whether or not to build.
"We may go back to the city
if the dream fails," Hahn said. He
explained that if money cannot be raised for a new stadium, then the only
alternatives are to make renovations to Goodland Field or sell the ball club.
American Legion and area high
school teams also use Goodland Field. If
the Foxes should move into a new stadium, the city would maintain Goodland for
the amateur players, De Broux said.
Officials from the Foxes said a
new stadium could be used by those groups, as well as for concerts, flea markets
and fireworks.
Another alternative would be to
sell the old stadium to a developer for other uses, and spend the proceeds on
developing a youth sports complex, the mayor said.
The Foxes have an unexpected
ally in a university professor who earlier this year completed a study of the
economic impact minor league baseball has in the state.
William Raabe, a business
professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, estimates that the Foxes
bring $3.88 million of economic activity to
Much of the money comes from
out of state and is spent on area hotels, meals and transportation, Raabe's
study shows.
Raabe is a CPA and is the
author of 11 books on taxation. As
part of his position at UW-Milwaukee, he assists small businesses and others who
contribute to the state's economy.
He acknowledged that he is a
fan of the Beloit Brewers, a minor league team near his home, and so initiated
the study of his own. Government and
private groups need to find a way to support the minor leagues, he said.
"A fair target would be to
have local governments contribute $1 million, matching $1 million from local
businesses," he said.
"An investment in minor
league baseball is an easy decision to make even in today's political
environment. For an investment of $1
million, what you get back is $4 million in economic activity every year as long
as the team is there," he said.
"Over a 10-year period, you
could pay off the debt (on the facility)," he said.
Bill Welch, executive director
of the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce, said the Foxes have an intangible benefit
to the area, primarily because it circulates the
He was unsure whether or not
the business community would support a new stadium.
"What really has to happen is
to have a number of large donors believe that it's important enough," he
said.
"I know some of the
fundraisers involved and I have a high regard for them."
====
NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS:
1.) 61 home games in 1993.
Nine rainouts. We had 61 home
games a few years ago and it was a very tough year at the gate. They
must have cursing the weather in
2.) It is nice to someone
undersell their projected their attendance figures.
Attendance at the Foxes' 61 home
games averaged only 900 people during the 1993 season.
Hahn said a new stadium would at least double that figure because it
would be a fun place to go. I
think that we have more than doubled 900 people per game, but how many people
oversell and say stuff like: Oh, we'll draw 5,000 fans a game without even
trying. Easy as pie.
3.) I am not going to pretend
to be an expert on
4.) There is a Wall of Fame at
Time Warner Cable Field. The middle
three cabinets have plaques, and bats and balls and nameplates to recognize
those who contributed money to the building of the stadium.
Take a minute or two the next time you come out to a game to see all the
local companies and residents who thought the Foxes were important enough to the
community and stepped up when the team needed them the most.
5.) If things had gone the
other way, where would the Foxes have gone?
Would they have stayed at Goodland Field and staggered along?
Would they have been another team from
6.)
7.) Professor
Raabe is now at the Fischer College of Business at
8.) . You can still be an owner
of the Timber Rattlers. It's not $5 anymore, but the
details are right here on the main website.
9.) Even in 1993...when Field
of Dreams had been out for just four years...If
you build it, they will come was a cliché.
Love the movie. Hate using it
to try to sell a new stadium. Glad
it worked in this case, though.
Previous Flashback Fridays:
10/16: Organist at Goodland Field
11/13: The Beginning of the End
1/15: Flash