Vigilantes Could Ride Off Into Sunset

The Vigilantes will finish their 1998 season in Mission Viejo. After that, however, what will happen to the Western Baseball League franchise is anybody’s guess.

Negotiations over financing renovations to Saddleback College’s baseball stadium, home of the Vigilantes, ended last week after the South Orange County Community College District’s board of trustees rejected the latest proposal from the city of Mission Viejo.

The lease agreement between the city and college ends Oct. 1. Among $500,000 of improvements made by the city were the temporary grandstand seats. When the season ends, either the college must assume the lease agreement for the seats, or they will be removed.

City Manager Dan Joseph said there is nowhere else in the city to build a new stadium.

“We talked of building one at a high school, but because of land restraints and [lack of] parking, it’s just not feasible,” Joseph said.

Interim Saddleback Chancellor Kathleen Hodge said college officials “are not pursuing a deal [with the city] at this time.”

Vigilantes President Pat Elster, who moved the team to Mission Viejo two years ago from Long Beach with hopes of having a state-of-the-art playing facility built for it, said this latest setback has left the team in a difficult spot.

“There is no time to look somewhere else. We are in Mission Viejo or nowhere for 1999. I don’t want to sit out a year and look for somewhere else.

“What we have to do now is keep playing and get through the season,” Elster said. “We still have a month to play and will do our utmost to put the best team and best show we can on the field. But we have to figure something out very quickly. When the season ends, we don’t want to be in limbo.”

Elster said he doesn’t want to leave Mission Viejo, but doesn’t think the team can prosper in the stadium in its current condition. Among the things the stadium lacks are running water and permanent bathroom and concession facilities.

“Maybe we can find a solution to keep us in town,” Elster said. “We do want to stay. We could continue to play there if there were no changes, but we would play and lose money. So that’s not a good solution.”

Around the WBL, most stadiums were in existence before the teams that inhabit them. The oldest facility is Vince Genna Stadium in Bend, Ore. The home of the Bend Bandits is 42 years old. The Tri-City Posse play in Tri-Cities Stadium, which was built in 1995 in hopes of attracting a minor league team to Pasco, Wash.

Some stadiums have received recent face lifts. Reno’s Moana Stadium, built in 1961, was remodeled in 1996. Sonoma County’s Rohnert Park Stadium, built in 1981, was remodeled in 1995. Nettleton Stadium, home of the Chico Heat, was remodeled in 1996.

“What has happened to Tri-City or other places is not germane to our situation,” Elster said. “We came here on the promise of a new stadium.

“The most uncomfortable thing for me is that no one wants to take responsibility for this. Clearly someone has to.”

As expected, both the city and the college are sharply divided as to why the negotiations collapsed.

“I will say in my 25 years in the business, this was most frustrating experience I’ve had in trying to negotiate,” Joseph said. “It just seemed no matter what we offered, it was never good enough. And I point out, from Day 1, we never asked the college to put in one nickel on the deal. We told them, ‘Let us make your field a fancy baseball field.’ The city was putting up all the money.”

Mission Viejo Mayor Susan Withrow was also critical of the college.

“In hindsight, it feels they have never dealt with us in good faith,” Withrow said. “We felt we have bent over backward for them. We thought we offered a win-win situation for college and city. The last deal was the best one and absolutely the most we could do. Obviously, the college did not see it that way.”

Hodge responded by criticizing city officials.

“[The city] has consistently vilified the district in the press instead of meeting at the negotiating table, which made for a difficult relationship,” Hodge said.

Brad Morton, a Lake Forest attorney, represents the Committee For Integrity In Government, a grass roots group that fought using city funds to build the stadium. He said he was not surprised the negotiations failed.

“I think our prediction that it was not a feasible financial project has come true,” Morton said. “I don’t think the Vigilantes were as sophisticated an asset for the city as officials thought they would be.”

Board President John Williams said district officials are willing to negotiate directly with the Vigilantes to try and keep them here.

“The Vigilantes would need to indicate what kind of stadium it would take for them to effectively function,” Williams said. “We need to look at all options.”