Field of dreams for the Tuatara
Look around Auckland’s McLeod Park this afternoon and you might see some grown men in tears.
They’ll be watching the Auckland Tuatara play their first game on New Zealand soil, with the culmination of almost a decade’s work to get a professional baseball team in this country.
And as Jimmy Boyce throws the first pitch, the realisation of all this hard work paying off should hit home.
‘‘Undoubtedly there are quite a few emotions,’’ said Baseball NZ CEO Ryan Flynn, who is also the general manager of the Tuatara.
‘‘It’s been nearly a decade of my life, my family’s life and a small group of dedicated people to get to this point.
‘‘It’s emotional because I know what it will do for the lives of thousands of kids going forward who have never dreamed such dreams before, because now it’s tangible, now it’s real.
‘‘That was the whole idea of it, to put us on par with other countries in the sport of baseball and put us on par with other sports in New Zealand, to give us a fighting chance to show what’s available in baseball.’’
Getting a team into the Australian Baseball League was always the long term goal and while it was being quietly chipped away at, Flynn and his team gradually built the game up, from several hundred players eight years ago, to 8000 now playing it in schools and clubs.
At the start of the year, Baseball Australia dropped a bombshell by announcing the ABL would be expanding by two teams and invited Baseball NZ to apply.
Flynn knew that they couldn’t let this chance go by. It would be tight to get an entire professional sporting franchise set up so quickly, but he knew if they didn’t take this opportunity, they wouldn’t know when it would be offered again.
It hasn’t been plain sailing to get to this point and there have been times the Baseball NZ board came close to pulling the plug on it. But they’ve got the numbers to add up financially, got investors on board, sorted out a ground, chosen a name and team colours, hired a manager, selected a roster and now away they go.
It has been a fairly inauspicious start for the Tuatara, though. They had to play their first series away in Perth, with the time zone horrendous for those in New Zealand who wanted to follow their games and they got swept in the series 4-0.
Over that series, American imports Eric Jenkins, Zach Clark, Kris Richards and Josh Collmenter stood out.
Of the New Zealand players, Kyle Glogoski, who is with the Philadelphia Phillies organisation, was outstanding, pitching five shutout innings, but otherwise the Kiwi players didn’t do well and overall, the bullpen, made up of Kiwi and overseas players, was abysmal.
Small sample size, but the Tuatara can’t be a team that just relies on imports.
For Flynn, it’s a balancing act. Wearing his Baseball NZ cap, he wants the Kiwi players to get as much exposure as possible at this level, but wearing his Tuatara New Era cap, he wants the team to be successful.
‘‘I’m perfectly comfortable juggling that right now,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s a professional franchise with private investment and our goal is to compete and win.
‘‘We’ll put a team on the field to do that, but at the same time, the league allows for development players, reserve players and to move the roster around week to week.’’
First pitch for today’s game against the Brisbane is at 3pm. Tomorrow there is a doubleheader with games at 12pm and
3pm, with the final game of the series at
3pm on Sunday.