DiCarlo Resigns as Suns President; Official Promises New Investors

The sun has set on Pacific Suns founder Don DiCarlo, who reluctantly resigned as president of the minor league baseball team’s board of directors Friday following a power struggle among players, shareholders and management.

“It’s been a tumultuous two weeks,” DiCarlo said. He signed over control of his majority voting stock to shareholder Michael Koutnik, an Oxnard restaurateur who had publicly called for DiCarlo’s departure.

Two other board members, DiCarlo’s wife and father, also resigned, Koutnik said. A new board has yet to be assembled.

“I’ve wanted a baseball team in Oxnard for 15 years,” Koutnik said. “If this goes away, it’s not going to happen again.”

DiCarlo’s decision to step down came a day after players called a strike and forfeited a home game in retaliation for not receiving their most recent paychecks.

Less than three hours before a 6:35 p.m. matchup Friday against the Tri-City Posse, players unanimously voted to take the field when Koutnik promised that new investors had come on board and that paychecks would be delivered today.

Koutnik would not identify the investors, except to say that they were a San Fernando Valley couple who are baseball fans and have connections to the Western Baseball League in Portland, Ore., which oversees the Suns.

The terms of the funding have not been settled, but Koutnik said it would be enough to run the team for a month. DiCarlo has said monthly salaries for players total about $22,000.

“I’ve had an angel drop out of the sky,” Koutnik said of the financial agreement, which was the result of a single telephone call Friday.

Meanwhile, at game time Friday, only 71 fans had paid to see the hapless Suns play at Oxnard College. The Suns, with more losses than any minor league team in the country, won, 10-5.

Despite poor attendance that has plagued the club this inaugural season, Friday’s fans still rooted for a team whose slogan is: “Baseball like you’ve never seen it before.”

“I love baseball. I was determined” to see a game, said Thousand Oaks resident Richard Sejkousky, a 33-year-old teacher who came to the field for the second consecutive night after being turned away Thursday because of the strike.

Although some Suns fans remain loyal, players have said for weeks they are losing faith.

The promise of pay today follows several weeks of late pay, as well as some payroll checks that bounced, players said.

“This is the first positive thing we’ve experienced in so long,” said Ryan Brennan, a 23-year-old Suns outfielder. “It’s just a relief having somebody telling us a straight answer. It’s always been just empty wind.”

Mike Smith, 37, a veteran of such major league teams as the Montreal Expos and Pittsburgh Pirates, credited the players’ strike for the changes.

“We were tired of promises, and we had to make a stand for the team,” Smith said. “I don’t have any grudge with Don DiCarlo. I just expect to get paid on time.”

In a strange twist to the day’s events, Suns management Friday told Smith and another team leader, veteran Dennis Moeller, that they had been traded. The league office denied that a trade had occurred, however.

Players said Friday the situation has been so bad for so long that any newly arriving players who commented on the late pay and lack of equipment were told by fellow teammates: “Welcome to the Pacific Suns.”

“I was treated better as a high school player than as a professional,” said relief pitcher John Lynn, who joined the club in June.

Paul Regina, a minority shareholder who earlier sought to oust DiCarlo and who is suing the Suns founder for alleged fraud, was cautiously optimistic.

“We may find out we bought a situation that can’t be salvaged, but now everybody’s got the best chance we got,” said Regina, a Thousand Oaks businessman.

As for DiCarlo’s departure, Regina said: “He couldn’t meet payroll, and if the team doesn’t play after three forfeitures the team is seized and he loses everything. His thinking--to step aside--was that there was just no room left.”

DiCarlo, who wished Koutnik luck and told him he plans to return with his family to San Bernardino, has repeatedly denied that the team has excessive debts or that he mismanaged players or misled stockholders.

Friday’s announcements followed two days of frantic meetings and telephone exchanges among players, stockholders and management.

The day began with Suns General Manager Michael Begley sitting at his desk--next to a bottle of Scotch labeled “stress management”--and watching as DiCarlo’s father, Don Sr., moved trash cans around the office.

“We’re just arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,” Begley quipped.