The Cardinals’ rebirth begins with luck, hard work
There is a field to sod. There are ongoing repairs and refinishings around the old stadium to complete.
There are players to sign and deals to complete and equipment to acquire and staff to assign and roles to sort out and on and on and on.
The Hamilton Cardinals start their new life in just over two weeks, yet the to-do list remains as long as the flight path of a fifth-deck home run.
“There’s so much to do and you’re almost starting from scratch,” says ownership group president Scott Warren.
You might recall that the Intercounty Baseball League team died late last fall due to a variety of factors, including spiking costs, disagreements be-
tween the city and the owner over field and stadium conditions. Concerns over league operations and general community disinterest.
Only to be yanked from the grave in January when it was given aggressive financial CPR and brought back to life.
That happened when Carmen’s Group CEO PJ Mercanti, and longtime player, manager, general manager and now president Dean DiCenzo decided to see if this organization — that hasn’t won a championship since 1978 and has generally been a bottom dweller — could actually work. They rounded up 12 part owners willing to put up some cash and got to work making it credible.
What’s followed have been the early days of this experiment.
The greatest break the team could’ve asked to receive came first. The lumpy field that was desperately in need of replacement was badly chewed up when it was used to film scenes for “A Handmaid’s Tale” in the fall. The only choice was to regrade it and redo it completely, which will mean a much-improved playing surface with the costs being covered by the production company rather than the city.
There was no hot water in the Bernie Arbour Stadium clubhouse, so Warren, who used to
run First Ontario Centre and knows his way around city departments, spoke to people and got it fixed. The club needed onfield batting cages for safety, so he spoke to people who allocate capital funds for facilities and made it happen.
There were needs for painting, leak repairs, clubhouse floor cleaning, staffing plans, chairs for the players, and new uniforms. Done, done, done, done, done and done. They’re little things, but they make a difference.
“Those things, when you add them up, become ‘wow,’” he says.
All these upgrades allowed DiCenzo to start working on luring players to Hamilton. Some local players have bought in and committed to come on-board. So
have five imports — the league maximum — who will be arriving from Miami, Kansas, Alabama, Buffalo and upstate New York. He’s been with the franchise for decades and can’t remember ever before being able to fill that stable.
He says more signings are to come, but the lineup in place today will already be more competitive than in past years. Far better, he says.
Now, Warren and the group wants to ensure that once the players come, they’ll want to stay. He says they’ll be hiring a coach bus to take the team to Barrie and Toronto when they play there, rather than expecting players to drive as they have in the past. A hot meal will be waiting after games. There will be more. Again, little things that go a long way.
“You’re going to get players who not only want to stay here but say: ‘I have friends on other teams who want to come here,’” he says. “While it’s not a pro league per se, we can do things in a professional way.”
Throw in a home schedule — which begins June 1 — that’s heavy on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon games, and Warren believes this unlikely reclamation project can work. It might take a couple years. Maybe even a year or two more than that. But it will, he says.
People will come watch because the experience will be good and the team will be successful. Especially the second part. The folks who’ve put up the cash to make this venture fly are successful in their businesses and lives, and aren’t getting involved in this hobby to lose, he insists.
“We’re in it for championships,” Warren says.
We’ll see if that actually happens. This remains a unique Hamilton sporting experiment, after all. There are no guarantees.
Even so, that attitude is a long way from merely trying to survive.