The Wichita Eagle from Wichita, Kansas • 87

V- k- Sunday October 26 1986 3G THE WICHITA EAGLE-BEACON Schmittou Prides Himself on Running a Class Act goal is to entertain people from the time he cornea in to the time he Larry Schmittou right says Last weekend when he met with his new Wichita staffers for the first time Schmittou gave them a list of 15 rules they must follow before meeting with local businessmen Pylant said Among the rules: fingernails must be dean ties straight hair combed teeth brushed and so on "The thing I try to teach Is that may be the only Impression you ever get to Schmittou said wants us to be the ultimate said Pylant who has worked for Schmittou since 1981 "You always conduct yourself in a way where it would be Impossible to embarrass the dub Is the word that most reflects how Larry wants us to carry ourselves a positive image of what we're doing an honest image to the people and loyalty to the AND HE said "Larry makes no bones about the fad that in a business and in business to make But Schmittou also believes in spending money to make money Pylant said That means hiring more staffers than an average double-A team (seven In Wichita versus four In other cities) paying them higher salaries than average keeping his ballparks dean and brightly painted keeping the restrooms as pristine as possible using quality merchandise in his give-away promotions and selling first-rate food at the concession stand Pylant said Traditionally ballpark food is hardly gourmet fare but Schmittou said he considers himself to be in the restaurant business when it comes to concessions He serves hot dogs that realty are hot and that consist of 100 percent meat no additives he said Buns are fresh not refrozen Popcorn is fresh popped right in front of group also bought the Daytona Beach Islanders which it has Just sold to the Texas Rangers who plan to move the club to Port Charlotte Fla where they are building a $6 million complex that will house the Rangers during spring training and serve as the new home in the Florida State League Schmittou said he does not buy teams to sdl them He still regrets selling the Salt Lake City and Salem teams he said He decided that Salt Lake City was too far away from his base of operations and he got an offer for the Salem dub that was too good to pass up he said GROUP has dwindled and there are now six people who own the Wichita dub indudlng Schmittou Twitty Sterban Reese Smith a homebuilder in Nashville Walter Nipper owner of a Nashville sporting goods store and George Dyce general manager of the Nashville Sounds Wichita fans do not have to worry about heartless absentee owners who will sell the team at the first hint of trouble Schmittou said "If things went wrong I guess that possibility is always he said "but I certainty don't plan to go to cities where things can go wrong Yes we're absentee owners but our people who operate the dubs absentees I put strong people in to run the And he keeps close track of them Pylant said Schmittou checks with his dubs almost daily and sometimes makes surprise phone calls to make sure somebody is in the office Pylant must submit daily and weekend reports to Schmittou he said Schmittou also schools his employees thoroughly In the Larry Schmittou style of management are impressive when you realize that the city of Huntsville has a population of only 160000 Gitson said Though a double-A team Huntsville was 10th In the nation among all minor-league teams in attendance last year outdrawing 18 of 26 triple-A teams said Kent Pylant vice president and general manager of new team who was Interim general manager In Huntsville last season How did Huntsville do it? "In Hunstvllle you walk into our ballpark you'll see 22 ushers one for every Pylant said "The place will look dean bright You walk into a lot of double-A parks you see any ushers "Some people have a program We have a 72-page program with a lot of color In it go into a lot of parks see concession people in whatever they want to wear Ours see in a uniform "A lot of clubs will have two batboys have five batboys and a ballboy for each bullpen" TDIsl Best Known For Quality Since 1914 your eyes Pizza Is made fresh at the ballpark too Ice cream is served in miniature batting helmets representing the 26 major league teams clubs also are noted for thdr stability Pylant said While the Wichita Aeros changed general managers like other teams change undershirts Nashville has had only two GMs in nine years Greensboro has had four but those who left either moved up within Schmittou's organization or like Romenesco in other areas of baseball One of them John Hopkins became the president of the Class A Carolina League I know there's been a lot of turnover in the GM Pylant said say that happen here unless somebody wants to offer me something Just out of this world or Larry was unhappy with what I was Schmittou said "I think we have to earn the respect of the people of Wichita I know there will be lot of doubting Thomases happened in the past I cant be held accountable for and I plan to make excuses he said Just going to go out and do our best Job We have a very good track record and I hope people take a look at that and know this will not be a fly-by-night PHYSICIAN Excellent Opportunity far a family practitioner doing Obatatries to locate in a aami-rural community Practice opportunity ii unlimited Contact! P8 Laraoa JUminiatrater Edwarda County capital Kinaloy Kaaaaa 17547 I1S-SSS-36II I1MSS-Z441 capital GARRISON TIRE 3072 Hillside 683-3931 COLLEGE HILL APCO 3020 Central 681-3501 UNRUH ALIGNMENT 6333 Harry 685-5404 SCHMITTOU From IQ AND THE 360-foot hannnn split was a Schmittou Idea to fill time between games of a double-header one time In Nashville where he owns the triple-A Sounds The gooey confection was placed In wood troughs that extended from home plate to first base first to second second to third then back to the plate again forming the physical representation of a soda home run It took 10 minutes to set up and five minutes for about 1500 people to eat it Schmittou said The $10000 scramble was another Nashville promotion Schmittou and his staff wadded up $10000 worth of dollar bills marked one of them with an to represent $5000 scattered the money around the Infield then held a drawing to pick a fan who was given 60 seconds to gather as much of the money as he could The fan spent so much time running around the Infield that he collected only $160 Schmittou said It took Schmittou and his staff seven hours to un-wad all the unclaimed dollar bills Schmittou also has given away used cars at ballgames He guarantees only that the care will make it out of the driveway SOME OF these things will be repeated in Wichita Schmittou said "Our goal is to entertain people from the time he comes in to the time he leaves" he said But Schmittou is strictly a behind-the-scenes guy His manner is quiet even though he heads a group of investors with such noisy names as Conway Twitty Jerry Reed and Larry Gatlin Schmittou works out of an office in Arlington Texas where he has been director of marketing and administration for the major league Texas Rangers since 1983 He hires others to oversee the daily operations of the four minor-league franchises Wichita which will become a member of the Texas League pending the anticipated approval of the league's board of directors Tuesday Nashville of the American Association Huntsville Abu of the double-A Southern League and Greensboro NC of the Class A South Atlantic League (Tbs group recently sold a fifth team Daytona Beach Fla of the Class A Florida State League to the Rangers) bottom line Is before he's a crazed baseball fan a businessman" said Clarkson whose Barons used to compete in the same league with Nashville before the Sounds became a trlple-A franchise "HE IS an excellent business person knows baseball inside and out and works well with the mayor and other local officials" said Ralph Gitson assistant to Joe Davis mayor of Huntsville Abu where Schmittou put a team in 1985 "He brought a quality double-A baseball franchise to this city It to well run well organized and his employees are outstanding to work with" Pat Nolan executive assistant to mayor Richard Fulton of Nashville where pro baseball had been dead for 15 years before Schmittou revived It said of Schmittou's team: been much more successful than anybody thought It was going to be A number of people on the (city) council think it would work but Instead we have a nice facility in an area that the city was getting no use out of at all" Nashville to where it all began in the mid-1970s A Nashville native Schmittou was head baseball coach and a football recruiter at Vanderbilt University where earned a business degree in 1962 He had coached sandlot ball most of his life starting in Junior high At Vanderbilt Schmittou was Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year in 1973 and 1974 He loved coaching It Just pay enough "I HAD five kids and I was starving to death as a coach" Schmittou said "And I kind of burned myself out on all that football recruiting But if college coaching had paid made what I needed to bring five kids up I'd probably still be there" He looked around for something etoe to do He tried building houses for awhile but nobody bpught them he said So he decided to return to what he knew best which was baseball Nashville had not had a pro team since the early 1960s One attempt to revive a pro team had quickly foiled and locals doubted pro ball would ever make it in Nashville again Nolan said Schmittou saw it differently fhuttannnga had Just revived pro ball and he slipped down there to take in a game He saw a big crowd and he figured "Heck if they can do that in Chattanooga we can do It In he said He found investors including Reed a friend of his who was a big fan of Vanderbilt athletics and Richard Sterban bass singer of the Oak Ridge Boys and another Vandy fan Twitty wanted a piece of the action and bought In tor 20 percent Schmittou said Twitty also recruited another investor Cal Smith author of the country-western classic "Hello Country COOPER TRENDSETTER AW Superb Performance On All Wheels in All Weather AS LOW AS $3710 SOON THE number of investors had swelled to 15 Schmittou said And soon Schmittou felt like a country bumpkin out of his depth in a world he knew little about "I said many times if I knew what I was getting into I have he said In Nashville he started from scratch The ballpark had been torn down for a parking lot but the city gave Schmittou's group a long-term lease on 20 acres of land that included four unused softball diamonds and the group started to build a new ballpark They barely made it In time for opening day Construction on a 7000-seat stadium was slowed by 30 consecutive days of freezing weather Schmittou said The team's front office was a 12-by-B-foot hut with cracks in the door for the snow to drift through "It pretty but it got us said Schmittou who still was coaching at Vanderbilt at the time Because of the cold winter the ballpark had no grass for opening day Schmittou displayed an early flair for promotions by holding a Sod Party the night before About 100 people brought clumps of grass to the park and spread them around the Infield He had to put straw In right field Bulldozers had to be brought In during one home stand to regrade the outfield SCHMITTOU ALSO did his homework He studied other minor-league franchises to see how they operated He visited unsuccessful teams first then successful ones "I wanted to go In myself and see the he said His model was the triple-A team in Columbus Ohio "It had a nice clean stadium with a large staff of professional people young people a lot of promotions nice clean uniforms the batboys traditionally dressed ushers he said others were dirty the sanitation was bad the hot dogs were bad and the groundskeepers looked like wlnos off the decided if Fm going to go going to go first he said Nashville drew 380000 people the first season in spite of 13 rain-outs and a last-place team Schmittou said In the first four years the club drew 15 million Today Nashville which started as a double-A team but became trlple-A two years ago continues to draw about 400000 per season Nolan said It has the third-best attendance among all minor-league teams In 1978 Schmittou's group bought a financially troubled team In Charleston SC and moved It to Greensboro NC That situation resembles the recent relocation of the Beaumont Texas team to Wichita Schmittou said The Greensboro ballpark is about the size of Lawrence-Du-mont Stadium the market area is about the same size and Greensboro also had had pro baseball but lost it he said SCHMITTOU PUT Tom Romen-esko currently director of player development for parent club the San Diego Padres in charge of the Greensboro team changed the logo changed the uniforms It sold like they had never missed a day of pro ball" Schmittou said Greensboro set several Class-A attendance records and It continues to draw more than 200000 fans per season he said (The trlple-A Wichita Aeros who were sold to Buffalo in 1984 drew 128000 and 131000 their last two years in Wichita) Greensboro which plays In a stadium that was built shortly after World War has 25 to 30 promotional nights a season with many give-away and discount nights said the club's assistant general manager Kevin Carpenter Another touch: Sunday is All-Faith Day at the ballpark Flans who bring a church bulletin with them get a dollar discount Schmittou's group also bought teams in Salem Va Eugene Ore and Salt Lake City The teams did well but they have since been sold The group bought Evansville of the American Association In 1984 and moved the franchise to Huntsville a year later Huntsville had never had a pro team of any kind "The first year we won the Southern League championship and drew almost 300000 Gitson said Last year the team did not inn the title but still drew more than 250000 Gitson said THOSE ATTENDANCE figures DISCOVER MS For Light Trucks P23575R15 7413 Load Range COBRA Speed Rated Radial 20S70SR14 66s4 21570SR14 22570SR15 7507 LT31-1050 R15 Load Range 69 FET Other Sizes Available WICHITA DEALERS theTEHTore 1458 Broadway 267-4381 MARKS UNCOLN STREET APCO 1002 Lincoln 265-4584 SHIVELY TIRE 925 Central 264-5388 TIRE 2489 Meridian 942-8449 KENS CONOCO 3202 Seneca 522-2356 EMPORIA QUALITY AUTOMOTIVE 7th Mechanic 342-7769 ROSE HILL MIDTOWN SERVICE 137 Berry 776-2721 WELLINGTON RAUSCH TIRE TOWANDA TOWANDA AUTO SERVICE AREA DEALERS WINFIELD REEVES SONS AUTO 114 West 9th 221-4860 ARK CITY JACKS APCO 615 Summit 442-9420 MARION TIRE SERVICE 407 Main 536-2271 NEWTON GARRISON TIRE 1107 Washington Rd 283-8051 124 Harvey 326-3911 PRICES GOOD AT GARRISON TIRE LOCATION CHECK WITH OTHER DEALERS 426 Main 382-2115 FOR THEIR PRICING 1 -nUU 4 'v'fliYi T).