THE San Diego Padres tried to be Hawaii's Team, playing the St. Louis Cardinals -- before Mark McGwire -- in some real baseball at Aloha Stadium in April, 1997. Magowan explains the
business of baseballIt was one of the sports stories of the year locally: real baseball -- major league games that counted in the standings, wooden bats not aluminum ones that go ping, no designated hitters.
The three-game series, including a Sunday doubleheader, drew 77,432 fans, who saw future Hall of Famers in Tony Gwynn and Rickey Henderson.
The Padres might have made a few converts by their innovative move to bring major league baseball to Hawaii. But when it comes to baseball, the hearts of most of the fans here still belong to the San Francisco Giants.
They've been the "it" team for a long time. Perhaps because of "The City," as Bay Area folks like to call San Francisco. Or because the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League used to train in Hana, Maui, before major league baseball came to the West Coast.
The other team in San Francisco -- the 49ers -- also had a lot to do with winning the hearts and minds of the local populace. Two for the price of the one loyalty.
That's why some 250 top businessmen being honored at a luncheon hosted by First Hawaiian Bank and KPMG Peat Marwick paid close attention to the featured speaker, Peter Magowan, president and managing general partner of the San Francisco Giants.
Magowan talked about the business of baseball. It is a business after all. Overall revenue, a team's payroll and its won-lost record all go hand in glove.
WHILE baseball is as popular as ever -- 98 million fans last year couldn't be wrong -- there are some storm clouds brewing, Magowan said.
The biggest, not surprisingly, is the growing disparity between the haves and have-nots and the very close correlation between spending and winning. No wonder the New York Yankees, who have the majors' biggest payroll, are running away with it all.
What perked the ears of the businessmen listening to Magowan, though, was his expressing interest in bringing the Giants to Hawaii for a National League series in the near future.
"It can't be next year," said Magowan, "because the schedule is made up." Nor can it be in the Year 2000, he added. "That's when we open our new stadium."
Magowan is excited about the Giants' new 42,000-seat, baseball-only stadium that will be located by the Bay Bridge in an area called China Basin.
Like the retro Camden Yards, Coors Field and Jacob Fields, it won't be a cookie-cutter stadium. For one, the distances will be irregular and the outfield wall will be of varying heights because of the differences.
A towering home run over the right-field wall will splash into San Francisco Bay.
IN keeping with baseball's business needs, the Giants got $50 million from Pacific Bell for the naming rights to the ball park, which will be called Pacific Bell Park, what else?
"We couldn't have built the ball park without private funding," said Magowan, who added that Coca-Cola, Anheuser Busch, Chevron and VISA are other major sponsors.
Magowan said he'd be interested in bringing the Giants here in 2001 if everything can be worked out.
"We need to find a team to play with and they would need to be on the West Coast for its next series to make it feasible for them," Magowan said.
In the more immediate future, Magowan would like to see an international baseball series started with Hawaii as a possible host for teams from the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Japan, Korea and all-star teams from both the American and National League.