The president and CEO of the San Diego baseball team said yesterday that he is encouraged by early ticket sales for his team's three-game National League series with the St. Louis Cardinals at Aloha Stadium April 19-20.
But he said that a sellout for both the Saturday twi-night doubleheader and the Sunday single game is the key if Hawaii wants more major-league baseball in its near-future.
"I think it is progressing quite well, but it is still work in progress," said Lucchino, who has engineered the Padres' turnaround since 1995 after being president and CEO of the Baltimore Orioles from 1988 to 1993.
"This is the first step toward having games played in Hawaii on a regular basis, but it needs to be a successful one," he added. "Selling out would be an unequivocal success -- and it looks good so far."
Les Keiter, assistant director of Aloha Stadium, said the Padres' battle plan for a baseball sellout looks very encouraging at this point.
"I honestly think we'll sell out both dates," said the longtime Honolulu sports figure. "The Sunday sales so far are positively super."
As of last Saturday at 5 p.m., there were 22,027 tickets sold for the April 19 twi-nighter, which leaves 19,749 available.
For the April 20 single game, 27,737 tickets have been sold -- including 5,269 last weekend alone -- leaving 14,233 available.
"I think there will be a surge after (college) basketball is over tonight and opening day games are over tomorrow," Keiter added.
Lucchino, who helped develop Oriole Park at Camden Yards and the renovation of Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, said that the new baseball frontier is Asia.
"The market most passionate about baseball is Asia -- and not just Japan," said the Pittsburgh native, who played on the same Princeton Final Four basketball team with U.S. Senator Bill Bradley. "And Hawaii is the obvious link, geographically and culturally."
Last season, the Padres made major-league history in Monterey, Mexico, by hosting the New York Mets in the first game held outside of the United States or Canada.
Lucchino said the San Diego players are looking forward to playing in Honolulu, which is a former Triple-A stop.
"The players' reaction has been favorable," he said. "Many of them have played there before or have been there before, so it's not an unknown quantity like Mexico."
Tickets for both dates are available at the Aloha Stadium box office, which is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 486-9300.
"We want to plant the Padres' flag in Hawaii and make it in conjunction with trips to Asia," said Lucchino. "And I really think it is going to happen."
The Padres won the National League West division title last season, while the Cardinals were the NL Central champs.
San Diego lost to St. Louis in the first round of the NL playoffs. The Cardinals were defeated by the Atlanta Braves in the league championship series.