IN the San Diego Padres' media guide, there's a section with the heading, "Padres say aloha to Hawaii in 1997." Padres throw
Hawaii baseball fans
a curveballThe Padres played the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-game series here in April -- the first regular-season major league games ever played here. The historic series, which included a Sunday doubleheader, drew 77,432 and was obviously a big hit with the fans. Both dates set baseball attendance records for Hawaii.
Well, there will be no such blurb in the Padres' media guide next year, unless they mean aloha as in good-bye. The Padres won't be back next year.
The National League team told Aloha Stadium officials that it has no plans of playing here next season. Padre officials were unavailable for comment.
"They looked at the schedule they just got and told us they would not be coming back," Aloha Stadium manager Eddie Hayashi said.
He said the Padres had hoped to play several spring games here against another major league team and two teams from Japan. But things didn't work out, and Hayashi isn't optimistic about next year, either.
The San Francisco Giants also were interested in coming here in April, according to Duane Kurisu, Hawaii Winter League owner. But with the Giants opening the 1998 season in Houston, the trip to Hawaii would have been too much of a logistical problem. Giants' owner Peter Magowan told Kurisu he would keep 1999 in mind.
SEEING live major league baseball -- with the wins and losses and statistics actually counting -- proved a real treat for the fans. San Diego's Tony Gwynn went 5-for-13 in the three games and, golly, if he didn't go on to win his eighth NL batting title.
Besides Gwynn, the fans had a chance to see another future Hall of Famer in Rickey Henderson.
That got local baseball fans' juices flowing. But now it might be a while before baseball returns to Hawaii.
Here's hoping that Padres' president Larry Lucchino meant what he said back in April:
"We hope it's not a one-shot deal. This could be the beginning of regular visits of major league teams."
So if not next year, here's hoping for 1999. And if not the Padres, then the Giants, the more popular team here.
Padre officials probably wouldn't admit it, but Hawaii was only a steppingstone in their visionary plan of expanding internationally.
The Padres played in Mexico the year before coming here and yesterday signed a two-year working agreement with Yucatan of the Mexican League. They also have a working agreement with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan's Pacific League.
NO question, though, that Lucchino intends on taking his Padres to Japan next. But with Japan's economy the way it is, no wonder the Padres aren't pushing things. Vision is one thing, the bottom line is another.
Also, despite the rave reviews, the Padres lost around $250,000 by playing the Cardinals here instead of in San Diego, according to Lucchino.
The prospect of a major league team coming here in 1998 looked so promising after the Padres-Cardinals series. Everyone seemed so upbeat, except maybe the Cardinals, who groused about having to come here only to be the "bad guys."
San Diego players and club officials were optimistic. Ditto for Aloha Stadium management, the governor's office and the Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism. Even National League president Leonard Coleman, who was here for the series, said it was a "definite thumbs-up for Hawaii."
Unfortunately, it turned out to be thumbs-down for 1998.