The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 333

THE BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE OCTOBER 9, 1 988 NH 21 Former pitcher buys minor league franchise The Boston Globe's VtollpQper to go I lit lUBTim MUMS 6 1 N- Gives your messages their Sunday (The best not hurt, either. "We weren't close to being in contention from 1982 Thousands of In-Stock until last year, preseren said. "And that's hard to do when there weekly Sunday audience in New Hampshire!) mm are two halves every year." Special Order Patterns Incredibly low prices "How To" videos Expert decorating Custom color paints advice Major credit cards Coordinating window Open 7 days a week fashions fabrics 891-2125 139 Daniel Webster Highway Nashua, NH HRS: M-F 10-9; Sat 10-6; Sun. 12-5 1650 Elm Manchester 1-800-852-6555 within NH, 644-3900 in Manchester 2 By beating Shreveport two games to zero in the first round of the playoffs and the El Paso Diab-los 4-2 in the finals, the Drillers gave Tulsa, which has had pro baseball since 1905, something to cheer about. Because the title was won on the road the city did not 'I had no interest in major leagues whatsoever.

I don't begin to have the equity to permit sole ownership, and I have no interest in being a minority owner. You have no say in the operation at all 9 -WENTWORTH HUBBARD have a chance to celebrate a great deal. The Last Thing A Burglar Wants Not that Hubbard is big on rid ing in parades or accepting the keys to the city. Neither is he into io see. celebrating in the locker room with the players, nor adorning his home or grandchildren with Drillers' pennants, caps or tiny baseball bats.

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03103 BGNH Easy To Afford. py with his franchise. He says the Rangers' front office staff, his players, manager, and the people of Tulsa are all great. And he is happy for his players, four of whom joined the Rangers when the Drillers' season ended. He "hates the whole concept" of VIP boxes, so don't expect to see him wearing a Drillers cap and cheering from one.

His quiet. New England style has been well-accepted in Tulsa. "He's one of the most thoughtful individuals I've ever encountered," said John Ferguson, who has written about the Drillers for the Tulsa World for 24 years. "He always seems obliging. He's a prince of a fellow." Either in Tulsa, where he spends 50 to 60 percent of his time, or Walpole, where he is a director of a bank and president of Kurn Hattin Homes, a home school Just over the river in Westminster, Hubbard Just wants to go about his business.

He says that now 50 percent of minor league franchises make a fair to good profit, 25 percent break even, and 25 percent lose money. Hubbard will not say how much he paid for his franchise, or how well it does, but he does say it is one of those in the 50 percent bracket. And that, of course, is the bottom line. Or at least most of it. He got involved with baseball and the Drillers, "because it was a going, successful business and had the potential to be a good business investment," Hubbard said.

"And the fact is the business is all about baseball, which I love. I'm a fan at heart." a little bigger, and he did not want to be involved at the major league level. "I had no interest in major leagues whatsoever," Hubbard said. "I don't begin to have the equity to permit sole ownership, and I have no interest in being a minority owner. You have no say in the operation at all." He does not envy major league owners.

"They are contending with tremendous burdens and that's taking a lot of the fun out of it, negotiating contracts that have grown all out of proportion," he said. Hubbard, like other minor league owners, does not have anything to say about the team he will put on the field. All the players and managers are paid, and placed, by the major league owners. The major leagues are not going to force a manager on an owner and if they continue to provide poor quality teams, the minor league people can push for changes, Hubbard said. "But legally you don't have any rights at all." Where Hubbard can make a difference is in promotions and the kind of nonbaseball experience his fans have.

That is why he is a little distraught now that he has been in town for two years, and his team has won a title. It is not so easy for him to wander through the stands and solicit unbiased comments on what he can better do for the fans. But he will keep trying. The fact the Drillers turned it around and were a winner last year did HUBBARD Continued from Page NH 1 At one time Hubbard had "a humming fastball, people around here say." said Jeff Hubbard. Wentworth's son and a minor league baseball player.

But that tvas before Wentworth hurled a snowball, and with it the better part of throwing ability, in a vi-eious fight at UNH. Somehow, it's hard to imagine Hubbard, 59, involved in a vicious snowball fight. It was probably Just as hard for UNH coach Hank Swasey and the Red Sox to imagine at the time. The Red Sox, who had been watching Hubbard, had him see their doctor. He was told to forget pitching.

Swasey kept him around the UNH team his sophomore year, waiting for the arm to come around. It never did. A couple of weeks ago, Hubbard spent the day at Ball-Roentsch Field helping George Gage, whom Hubbard says is responsible for Walpole's having One of the best Legion fields in the state, pull down signs and get ready for winter. A few days later he was on his way back to Tulsa, to help Joe Preseren, whom he says is really responsible for the recent increases in Tulsa Drillers attendance, in the front office. Two years ago Hubbard was planning his early retirement from his position as president and chief executive officer of Hubbard Farms, a chicken breeding company gone worldwide that was started by his father and had been sold to Merck Pharmaceutical Co.

in 1974. And what is a retired Walpole gentleman to do with his spare time? Buy a baseball team, of course. Hubbard, who in the previous few years had become a connoisseur of minor league baseball, stopping in at games and many fr6nt offices, settled on the Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League. Most major league teams do not own minor league franchises, but the Texas Rangers, to ensure they would have a franchise not too far from their home base, had purchased the Drillers a couple of years before. And, according to Preseren.

they had done well by it, but had probably taken it as far as they could. Enter Wentworth Hubbard. The Drillers' attendance continues to rise. This year it was 188,375, about double what it was in 1984 and fourth best in the Texas League, which leads the Double A leagues in attendance. Big cities, better weather and distance from major league markets are what help the Texas and Southern leagues outdraw the Eastern League and are what helped head Hubbard west.

Hubbard said he is "reasonably pleased" with the attendance. He thinks it can get better. "Tulsa is a big market," Hubbard said. "The metropolitan area is about three-quarters of a million. People around here have no idea Tulsa is that big." He said a season attendance total of is possible (the Little Rock Travelers led the Texas League with just over 250.000 this year) and as the Drillers approach the 250,000 mark they will start thinking about Triple A.

Not that Triple A is Hubbard's only goal. If it were, he said, he wolild have shopped around more at the beginning. He was sure of two things going in. He wanted to be in at least Double A so the business side was The new Safewatch system can be installed in your home for only $395. It's your best investment in safety.

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