Marty Lurie Talks San Francisco Giants Baseball
//

The First Hispanic owner


Congratulations Arturo Moreno

you are going to Disneyland !

Arturo Moreno is the first

Hispanic baseball owner

of a Major League franchise

and he brings a lot to the

table.

By Amaury Pi-González

It was bound to happen,

a Hispanic buying a

MLB franchise. But he is

not just another Hispanic

billionaire. Arturo Moreno

made a real fortune in

the advertising world.

He says he doesn’t plan

to made any immediate

changes to his World Champion

team. The first title for this

organization since they

started play in 1961.

He bought the World Champion

Angels for $180 million from

Disney. That is a bargain.

in the huge Los Angeles

area market any team for

$180 million has to be a

bargain.

But wait….the other L.A.

team is also for sale ! The

Dodgers are for sale by

News Corp who bought them

for $311 million in 1997.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers

owners are talking with

News Corp and are very

interested in buying the

Dodgers.

Wow, big changes in the

Los Angeles market, one

without an NFL franchise

(not counting Raiders a few

years ago) it seems this

huge market is changing

constantly.

In Seattle the majority interest

is owned by Hiroshi Yamauchi,

who is also the guy from Nintendo

Co. But unlike Moreno who is

controlling the Angels, Yamauchi

gives that away to Americans

Howard Lincoln and Joe Ellis

in the Emerald City.

How would Mr. Moreno promote

the Angels ? He will go for more

of a Latino attendance which

has not been seen in Orange

County for years, since Disney

and Gene Autry never really

marketed to the huge Latino

population of the L.A. basin.

However, all you have to do

is drive to Santa Ana just

minutes away and you will

hear Spanish spoken everywhere,

or for that matter most places

in the Los Angeles basin with

something like 14 million people.

Baseball cannot have it both

ways. I hear a lot: “baseball

is going international, playing

openers in Mexico, Japan,

Puerto Rico”.

Then I also hear a lot: “..baseball

is not the American game anymore”

What is it ? If we want to make

baseball international we must

admit that the whole world is

not only the USA. I for one, do

not subscribe to that theory

that baseball has to

be like Soccer, that we must have

a World Championship with all

over 100 or so countries in

the world to prove the best

team. I disagree with that,

MLB is the best league in

the world, therefore the

World Series here is correct.

Major League Baseball is the

best professional baseball league

in the world. The best baseball

players in the world already are

playing here, from the US,

Latinamerica, Asia,Australia.

We do not need another

ruling body to make it like

the World Cup each four years.

Do we need another Bud Selig?

This one would be an international

version….please. And you know,

Bud already has a leg up with

the Soccer people since he

favors “tie games”. And in

Soccer some of the best

international matches have

ended 0-0 !

Bud Selig would love to have the

A’S, Expos or Marlins move to

San Juan, Puerto Rico, although

it will not happen since Puerto

Rico cannot support a MLB

franchise. Mr. Selig should know

that and do not rush to conclusion

in looking for investors in San Juan

with the present economic

enviroment. The Commissioner

is presently talking with

Puertorican promoters and

trying to find a way to have

a team there permanently.

What we need is owners that

like the game of baseball that

want to run their teams in

a profitable manner and take

it to the community, promote

within their communities and

market correctly.

According to Forbes Magazine

Mr. Arturo Moreno, the Angels

new owner has a net worth

of $940 million. He made this

fortune in the billboard

industry and using both

main markets in this country

#1 English #2 Spanish.

It is sad that it takes a Hispanic

owner to realize the potential

of the Hispanic market in

regards to baseball. Some

MLB teams put little or no

interest into the Hispanic

community (mind you that

30% of players are Latinos).

Why are they missing on

this, many places un-tapped

market? I have no idea,

you have to ask some of these

owners that are always

complaining they’re loosing

money, but they cannot

set up a marketing department

that would promote to the

largest minority in this

country which happens to

be Latinos and at the

same time increase their

attendance and their

revenues.

I have also heard that Latinos

only like Soccer. WRONG !

People that tell you that are

people that like Soccer and

dislake baseball and they’re

saying that to promote their

cause. Look at the MLS

(Major League Soccer) there

is nothing “major”about it

but its name. The best

Soccer players in the world

DO NOT PLAY in the MLS

here in the USA.,they play

in Germany, Italy or Spais,

that is where the best

Soccer leagues in the world

are located.

Of course you are not going

to market to Hispanics in

Kansas City,Minnesota or

Cincinnati since there are few

there. But -reading the latest

US Census of 2000- Hispanics

are now in most areas of the

US, including places like

Portland, Salt Lake City

(were there are 24-hour

Spanish radio stations).

Seattle just began a 6 station

radio network in Spanish

with stations not only in

Seattle but how about

Boise, Idaho ? Yes, it is

happening. But do not make

the mistake of thinking that

Latinos are only in agricultural

areas, more and more Latinos

are presently moving to

urban areas and in places

like Miami have a percapita

income higher than the national

levels.

Most simple minded people

when you talk about Hispanics

think of Los Angeles, New York

and Miami….well that was 30

years ago ! This is a different

world today, different demographics

some executives are finally realizing

what they have been missing.

The new owner of the Angels,

Mr. Arturo Moreno brings to the

front the importance of the

Hispanic fan in today’s game and

gives notice to others than

the Hispanics are here in the

US to stay,we are not going

anywhere.

Like Mr. Moreno said:

“I think we are all Americans,

most of us are immigrants

from someplace and we do

our best to be Americans”.

———————————————————-

Amaury Pi-González is broadcasting

all 81 home games this season for

the new Seattle Mariners Baseball

Radio Network and also on his 9th

season as Spanish Announcer for

the SF Giants on wekend home games

over KZSF 1370 AM(La Caliente)

San JOSé.

0 comments

There are no comments yet...

Kick things off by filling out the form below.

You must log in to post a comment.