Businessmen make baseball a reality

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The anticipated return of minor league baseball after 54 years might make fans giddy, but it's the potential for spinoff development from his stadium that makes millionaire John Q. Hammons' heart thump.

Hammons, who has helped develop more than 30 buildings in the state's third largest city, is spending $20 million to finance "Hammons Field." He plans to break ground in June and have a Class AA team on the field in 2004.

What makes the project unique is that Hammons doesn't want any state money. It also marks the second stadium project to be built in Southwest Missouri without the Legislature's involvement.

Chicago businessman Horn Chen, majority owner of the Central Professional Baseball League, spent about $3 million of his own money to build a stadium in Ozark for his independent league team, the Springfield-Ozark Mountain Ducks.

"The state doesn't have any money," said Hammons, who has amassed a fortune building more than 50 hotels across the country. "Acquiring funds from municipalities, or states or even counties is not automatic. You have to fight for it. They have to find a reason that they can do it themselves because they have to represent all the people."

Don't be fooled. City leaders have wrangled with state legislators numerous times in recent years in hopes of seeing minor league baseball played again in Springfield, where in 1941 a young Stan Musial hit 28 home runs for a Class C team before rising quickly to the majors.

Finally, the city said uncle. Err, make that "Hammons."

A simple question

Springfield city manager Tom Finnie is unequivocal when asked whether the city that lost its team in 1950 would be preparing to build an 8,000-seat ballpark if Hammons hadn't stepped forward with an open wallet.

"This is not a complicated question," he says. "No. The answer is no. We would not be doing this if it were not for Mr. Hammons."

The city of Springfield did purchase about 100 acres at the downtown intersection of East Trafficway and John Q. Hammons Parkway and will lease it to Hammons for $1 a year. A newly formed public building corporation aimed at providing financing for downtown development is expected to issue the $20 million in bonds, Finnie says. But Hammons will be responsible for payment.

Springfield is seeking state support for an exposition center that will be included in the Jordan Valley downtown redevelopment project. Besides the ballpark, it also includes a parking garage and an arena to join an existing ice skating rink.

A proposal by Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder would provide up to $9 million in state aid for the Springfield exposition center. But the funding is lumped in with legislation providing for stadium projects in St. Louis and Kansas City and a convention center and arena in Branson.

The St. Louis and Kansas City plans dwarf those of southwest Missouri, but City Administrator Collin Quiglay of Ozark takes pride in the fact that his town of 9,600 people has a 4,500-seat ballpark built with private money.

"I can tell you that we wouldn't have ventured into it if we hadn't had a private developer interested in doing it," Quiglay says.

3,200 people a game

Todd Rahr, vice president for baseball operations for the Ozark Mountain Ducks, says the team has led the league in attendance since it moved to Ozark in 1999.

"We average roughly 3,200 people a game," he says. "We're filling up this place."

Rahr acknowledges the Mountain Ducks are considering the impact of Hammons' stadium -- especially if he convinces the St. Louis Cardinals to move its Class AA team to Springfield.

The Cardinals team is under contract with the New Haven, Conn., franchise of the Eastern League through the end of this season. Hammons admits reaching out to the Cardinals, but he won't say whether the deal is done.

Hammons takes pride in having attended Cincinnati Reds training camp for the past 43 years. He also hasn't missed a men's NCAA Final Four game in 35 years.

But Hammons insists he's a businessman first.

"I just like to create things," he says.