Late Paychecks Prompt Suns Players to Strike and Forfeit Ballgame

Players for the Pacific Suns minor league baseball team went on strike Thursday night and refused to play a scheduled home game because no one on the team’s roster had received their most recent paycheck, according to club officials.

A majority of the team refused to take the field following a players’ meeting held less than two hours before a scheduled 6:30 p.m. game against the Western Warriors, Suns General Manager Michael Begley said.

The decision meant a forfeit for the country’s most losing minor league team, which now has a 14-51 season record, he said. People in attendance, which has averaged about 1,200 a game, were told of the strike by team officials when they arrived, team President Don DiCarlo said.

The 21 players, who are not unionized, have told management they will not suit up until they receive their first bimonthly paycheck for August, which was due Wednesday night, DiCarlo said.

The players, who are paid on the 5th and 20th of each month, received both their July paychecks, officials said. The monthly payroll is about $22,000, DiCarlo said.

“Certainly, we would have hoped they wouldn’t have taken that tack,” DiCarlo said, adding that he expects payroll checks to be handed out before tonight’s game against the Tri-City Posse.

DiCarlo said Suns’ investors, of which he is the largest shareholder, are responsible for raising capital when there is a shortfall in the budget. DiCarlo said he met with an attorney Thursday night to work out a funding plan.

Begley said he received news of the strike after arriving at the ballpark at Oxnard College about 5:30 p.m. The players had met with one of the team’s minority stockholders, Paul Regina, a Thousand Oaks man who is suing DiCarlo in Superior Court.

Begley said several players told him they were not in favor of the strike. He added that he planned to consider consequences, possibly trades or terminations, against players who were outspoken in support of the strike.

Both Begley and DiCarlo said the strike violates players’ contracts, which allows for a seven-day grace period for late paychecks.

“They have the lowest winning percentage in the United States. Then compounding it by their unwillingness to play during a difficult financial situation. . . . Well, you certainly have to take a look at the roster,” Begley said.

Regina is suing DiCarlo and Channel Islands Sports Management, the Oxnard-based corporation that owns the team, for allegedly misrepresenting the value of team stock and conspiring to defraud stockholders.

Regina, who owns 18% of the corporation’s stock, has already lost a related court bid to have DiCarlo removed from the team’s board of directors. Neither Regina’s lawyer nor his spokesman could be reached for comment Thursday night.