Ball Team Comes In Out of the Sun

A year after ditching steamy Palm Springs for coastal Ventura County, the minor league Pacific Suns baseball club has pulled off a public relations comeback to behold.

The Suns--notorious for an outlandish “Nude Night” promotion in Palm Springs--have been on their best behavior in Oxnard.

Forced to sit out the 1997 season by Western Baseball League officials after the move to Oxnard left them searching for a home field, the newcomers have spent a long off-season building close ties with school districts, civic groups and city leaders.

Suns players visit classrooms, telling students to stay in school, study hard and steer clear of gangs. Youngsters swarm around Sunny the Penguin, the team mascot. Preaching volunteerism and togetherness, team officials have ordered players to spend at least 12 hours a month on community service.

The team’s aggressive marketing--which targets working-class Latinos in south Oxnard as well as affluent suburbanites in Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley--is often hard to distinguish from the philanthropic campaign.

On both fronts, the team seeks to promote baseball as old-fashioned family entertainment.

“We’ve had time to work out the kinks, bring the community together and listen to what the community wants,” said team owner Don DiCarlo. “And the strong message is, ‘Give us a place to go with our kids.’ ”

When the Suns cleared out of Palm Springs in November 1996, many in the desert community cheered, snickering at Oxnard for embracing the controversial, financially troubled club.

The team had shocked desert residents with its 1996 “Nude Night” promotion, designed to allow fans to cool off by stripping down and watching the game from inside a tent. The gimmick attracted enormous publicity and became the butt of jokes on the Jay Leno and David Letterman shows.

Later, the team’s “Drag Queen Night,” which DiCarlo remembers as extremely funny, ignited controversy again.

“We kept those going so everybody would know who we were,” said DiCarlo, 50. “They weren’t designed to offend the community, and we got incredible exposure.”

In Ventura County, however, DiCarlo and his wife, Karen, said they would not consider such stunts.

The couple, devout Presbyterians who grew up in San Bernardino and met as youngsters in Sunday school, said they never fit in with Palm Springs society.

“We’re just average people,” said Karen DiCarlo, the team’s director of community relations. “Most of the philanthropic organizations in Palm Springs are run by Barbara Sinatra, Dolores Hope. It’s a certain group, and we were not in that circle. It’s much more down-to-earth here.

“We got dragged into a couple of off-the-wall promotions,” she said. “Those were more in desperation than anything else.”

City Councilman Dean Maulhardt, who lauded the club’s free Little League clinics, is one of many local leaders who said they have been won over by the team’s good deeds.

“Sure, any organization does those things for marketing purposes,” Maulhardt said. “But I feel in talking to both the DiCarlos that they really enjoy the community here. Any time you ask them for support, they’ve been right there.”

For some residents, opening day in May at the Oxnard College field can’t come soon enough.

With its high rate of juvenile crime, south Oxnard desperately needs the Suns, said Kelli Jo Travers, who lives in a mobile home park near the field.

“If you look around, all we have is 7-Eleven and the college,” Travers said. “I’d much prefer kids learn to hit a ball than things or people.”

But Martin Jones, who lives in the same mobile home park, contended that the team will bring unbearable traffic congestion and noise to his neighborhood. Even more troubling, Jones said, are the team’s unsavory marketing promotions and history of debt.

“This particular team has shown itself to be irresponsible,” Jones said.

The DiCarlos acknowledge that problems arose during the team’s rocky two seasons in the desert.

The team recently settled a $28,450 debt owed to the city of Palm Springs for game and concession fees and has settled other bills too, DiCarlo said.

Officials from the Portland-based Western Baseball League, who ordered the Suns to sit out this year and secure a home field for 1998, said they are satisfied with the club’s efforts to clear its debts and build community support. Ventura Community College District trustees are expected to make final arrangements for the ballpark lease in January.

The biggest problem in Palm Springs, the DiCarlos said, was the stifling heat. To cool down sweltering fans and players, the DiCarlos spent $500,000 on a misting system and other stadium improvements. The mist was no match for the weather, and the fans stayed home. Moving to Ventura County made sense, said Bill Fulton, a Ventura-based urban planner.

At the very least, Fulton said, the comfortable weather in south Oxnard should help the team draw bigger crowds. And Fulton agreed with the DiCarlos that the demographics in Ventura County are right for minor league baseball. Still, he doubts that the team will draw many fans from eastern Ventura County, who can just as quickly get to Dodger Stadium.

Over the long term, the Suns face another hurdle, Fulton said. If it is to keep fans coming back, the team cannot stay at the Oxnard College field forever. The Suns need a stadium, he said.

DiCarlo said he has been working on a stadium deal but might have to keep the team at Oxnard College through 1999. He is optimistic that fans from Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley will trek to Suns games. He said about 30% of the 400 season tickets sold have gone to eastern Ventura County residents.

And DiCarlo said that fans will be attracted by the prices. Tickets for Suns games are $3.50 to $7.50. Hot dogs and drinks are expected to cost about $1 each.

“I’m absolutely convinced of the success of this market,” he said.