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Let's Don Red, And Practice The Dance Of Negotiations For Spring Ball

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By Tom Jackson / The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 20, 2007

Once upon a time, long before John Gallagher acquired his asterisk (*longest serving county administrator in Pasco County history), he and a group of influential Pasco personalities performed an elaborate mating dance with the aides of George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees.

Yes, it's hard to imagine: Pasco and the Yankees, as odd a couple as Michael Cox and Jack Mariano. Nonetheless, the dance not only unfolded more hopefully than anyone hereabouts had any right to expect, the Pasco delegation briefly thought it had struck a deal to move the winter home of baseball's most storied team to 100 acres near Interstate 75 and State Road 54.

That was 15 years ago last summer, and much has happened since, mostly for the Yankees, who scored a prime location in Tampa, and a $31.5 million spring ballpark that is the envy of baseball. In Pasco, the experience has remained such a nightmare that no subsequent discussion of what to do with the tourist-tax fund has so much as mentioned professional baseball.
Pasco Makes Perfect Sense

Perhaps it is time to get over the hurt. Maybe it's time to break out those dancing shoes.

As noted on the Pasco Tribune's editorial page last week, the Cincinnati Reds are free agents. Sarasotans recently voted down a proposal that would have committed the city to a $16 million renovation of the aging Ed Smith Stadium; the team would have kicked in $10 million. Now, the Reds, with more than a half-century of history wintering in the greater Bay area, say they are "considering all options."

Three of those options are Arizona, Arizona, Arizona, led by Tucson. The Cactus League has been aggressive about recruiting teams that formerly trained in Florida, landing the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Dodgers to pump up the estimated $311 million spring baseball annually brings to Arizona.

Plainly, in terms of geography alone, Pasco makes more sense. We share a time zone and an interstate connection with Cincinnati. There's convenience: Seven teams train within a 90-minute drive of a presumed Pasco stadium location along I-75. And there's a fan base already in place. Everybody here from Ohio, raise your hand. See?

Additionally, Pasco has a bondable source of revenue - the same tourist tax that was the fulcrum of the county's leverage during the Yankees negotiations. Meanwhile, it's hard to imagine the Reds would take the money off the table it offered to do the Sarasota deal.
Baseball Fans Already

Anyone who doubts that Pasco should at least get into this game should beg, borrow or buy a copy of Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell's "Why Time Begins On Opening Day," a decades-old love letter to the national pastime.

"By and large," writes the unsurpassed Boswell in the title chapter, "baseball fans tend to prefer pastoral, slyly anecdotal, proven-if-slightly-dated things over those which are urban or pretentious or trendy." Is that not us? Were not the vast majority of Pasco residents lured by an affection for spaces that are at least comparatively open? Do we not sniff at change as though it arrived wrapped in coal-black fur with a white stripe running down its center?

We are, then, baseball naturals. All we need is the ballpark. And a little friendly persuasion.

Tom Jackson can be reached at (813) 948-4219.

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