Camarillo Team Must Look for Alternate Field

A proposed Ventura County minor league baseball franchise, lacking the financial backing to build a diamond at Freedom Park in Camarillo, probably will have to play its home games at a high school or college stadium next season.

“It looks like our only chance is to play day baseball at one of the local schools,” said Ken McMullen, who owns the Class-A California League franchise with Jim Colborn and Jim Biby.

McMullen said his group is exploring the possibility of playing at Oxnard or Ventura colleges, or at Ventura, Buena, Oxnard or Channel Islands high schools. None of those fields have lights, so McMullen said the games probably would start at 4 p.m.

Meanwhile, McMullen said his group has been talking with officials of the Toronto Blue Jays and the Cleveland Indians in hopes of securing a major league player-development contract.

Colborn described both teams as “noncommittal.”

The major league teams’ hesitation might have something to do with the uncertainty of the minor league franchise.

Saying it had come up with a private source of funding, McMullen’s group won approval last month from the Pleasant Valley Parks and Recreation District Board to use Freedom Park as the site for a temporary baseball facility for two seasons. But the deal fell through, leaving the group in search of the estimated $150,000 to build a diamond at the park.

McMullen, Colborn and Biby manned a booth at the Ventura County Fair earlier this month, attempting to drum up interest in the team and possibly attract a financial backer.

On one count, McMullen said, they were a huge success.

“We had at least 300 season-ticket requests,” he said. “The people are showing their support and interest in supporting the team and we haven’t even asked permission to move here yet.”

But nobody stepped forward with their wallet open.

“We’ve been very well received,” McMullen said. “Obviously, there are a lot of people out there who want it to happen but can’t afford to help.”

And so, seven months after they paid $125,000 to buy the Lodi franchise from Stockton businesswoman Michele Sprague, McMullen and his group are still looking for a place to play.

“We have the team and we want to move it here,” McMullen said, “and yet, unfortunately, there is no place to play and nobody willing to support us financially to get these things done.”

They could return the team to Lodi, but McMullen said his group is only interested in playing in Ventura County.

“If we can’t play locally,” he said, “then the club’s for sale. That’s the way we’re viewing it. We’re going to have to sell the ballclub if we can’t play locally.

“It’s not like we’re going to come in and make a million dollars. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, there’s a standing offer that if anybody wants to buy the ballclub for what we paid for it, they can have it,’ he said. “We’re sincere in the fact that we’d like to see minor league baseball in this area. We don’t have to own the team to have that.

“If somebody thinks they can make a lot of money off this, they can buy us out and try it themselves.”

McMullen said his group has had only “preliminary talks” with officials from Oxnard and Ventura colleges, and has not talked to any high school officials. Said Colborn: “I would guess we’ll get permission somewhere. In fact, we’re banking on it.”

Once it secures a playing site, the Ventura County group will also have to get permission from the league to move the franchise from Lodi, but that seems to be nothing more than a formality.

“If they’re convinced they can play in Ventura, or Oxnard, or Camarillo, then they have to tell the league that,” said California League President Joe Gagliardi.

The uncertainty over where the team will play next season will not affect the Camarillo Stadium Commission, which was set up to raise funds for a permanent multipurpose facility that would include the minor league baseball team as one of its tenants.

“Our job still is to pursue with the city a permanent site and get long-term financing and get the permanent stadium built,” said Dr. DeeWayne Jones, commission chairman. “We cannot react quickly enough to get something built by next spring.

“So, without that large donor who was going to help put in a temporary field at Freedom Park, the only alternative for Ken and his group is to find another field for one season,” he said.

Gagliardi hopes to have more answers by Nov. 16, when the league owners meet in San Jose.