AARON ARTMAN PRESIDENT OF TACOMA RAINIERS

Rainiers’ president reflects on his rookie season

By Karen Westeen

For Tacoma Weekly
Published on: July 10, 2008

Aaron Artman came on board as the president of the Tacoma Rainiers in June 2007. Having held the office for just one year, Artman is still getting used to his duties on the business side of Rainiers baseball.

Before coming to work for the Rainiers, he spent six years as the sales and marketing director at Mandalay Baseball Properties, a company with franchises in Texas, Ohio and Nevada. Then Artman, an Oregon native who majored in journalism and political science at the University of Oregon, worked briefly as an executive at Microsoft.

He spent his first half-season here observing and getting to know the Tacoma fans.

“The fans here are very loyal and very vocal,” he said. He also noticed that there were not many businesses around Cheney Stadium.

“We need more business around the stadium, even if (our product) is a seasonal activity,” Artman said. “They would still help bring people out to the park.”

By the conclusion of the 2007 season, he had gotten a good sense of some of the opportunities that the team and stadium could offer the community.

“Personally I want the team to keep building and improving.”

But it is not up to just Artman and the team owners to decide what improvements should be made.

The business end of the Rainiers is complex. It is a partnership between the franchise owners (Schlegel Sports), the Seattle Mariners, the city of Tacoma and Pierce County. Schlegel Sports, headquartered in Dallas, bought the franchise from George Foster in 2006. The Rainiers have been the Triple-A franchise of the Mariners since 1995.

The team on the field is the main concern of the parent organization. The Rainiers’ manager, coaches and trainer file reports about the players after every game. When the Mariners need to bring up a player from Triple-A, or a lower minor league level, they contact the team, make travel arrangements and pay the player’s reporting expenses. The Mariners supply most of the baseball equipment, and the two teams share bat and ball expenses.

In 2006 the state allocated money for renovations to all of Washington’s minor league facilities. In addition to Cheney, there are Single-A parks in Everett, Spokane, Yakima and Tri-Cities. Cheney’s share of this funding was $2.5 million. It was used to improve the exterior appearance of the stadium with new fencing and graphics on the stadium façade. Updates to the party deck along the left field line were also included in the renovation. Completed before the 2007 season, this area has proven to be a popular place where businesses can entertain clients or hold a company picnic. Food and beverages are included in the ticket package. These areas are available on a game-by-game basis.

The state allocated a second $2.5 million for stadium improvements in 2007. This money will not be spent until additional plans for the stadium are finalized.

Artman has some ideas for what he would like to see done to Cheney Stadium. “This is a great place to watch a game, but it could be updated. I would like to completely redo the concourse, so people aren’t in line too long, or would be able to see the game while they wait.” He would also like to add some box seating and install a video board where fans can see more stats and replays along with Major League-style entertainment. Upgrades to the concession areas and additional compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act are included on his wish list, along with adding some areas for children to hang out and play games. “Kids are the future of baseball,” Artman said, “but we need to have more video-style games to keep their attention.”

On the baseball side, Artman thinks new clubhouses would be a good idea.

During the 2007-’08 off-season, the Rainiers replaced the safety netting behind home plate. The city of Tacoma paid for this upgrade. About a third of the right field bleachers were removed and a second party area was added at the end of the remaining bleachers. Called Gold Club II, this membership-only section provides food and beverages to fans along with a special seating area next to the right field foul line. Memberships cost $600 (24 games) and $1,500 (full season). The original Gold Club is located in the pub behind the main concourse.

Even with the new configuration, fans still have access to Rainiers’ players as they warm up before games near the home bullpen. There are also two players signing autographs in the concourse before each game. Another plus for fans is The Dirt, a slick magazine including a scorecard distributed free to all as they enter the gates at each game. The Dirt also contains stats that are updated after every home game, along with player bios and articles about various aspects of the game. Hitting coach Alonzo Powell was profiled in a recent issue. Another copy featured an article on broadcaster Mike Curto, who just celebrated his 10th anniversary with the team.

Beginning with the 2007 season, special premiums such as bats and bobble head dolls were made available only to season ticket holders. Artman said this was not a popular decision at first with walk-up fans.

“We aren’t spending too much energy on walk-ups, “ he admitted, adding that this group is an iffy sort of proposition, depending on the weather and other variables. “We want to take care of our season ticket holders and we never know how many walk-ups will show up.”

Some fans have commented that the “new people” have changed things, and Artman knows that there are not as many die-hard baseball fans coming to games. Young crowds need other things to do, while older fans prefer just the game.

“We can overdo it,” he said, speaking of between-innings activities such as shirt shoots and dancing mascots. “We need more balance, maybe two or three skits a game and just music, not a lot of loud noise.”

Looking ahead, Artman said he was anxious to be with the team for a whole season of baseball, to see people at the stadium smiling and having fun.

“We hope the new goodwill will outweigh this perception of change. But no matter what,” he concluded, “you can’t change the game. It’s what everyone enjoys.”

NEXT UP FOR THE RAINIERS

The Rainiers’ current road trip continues until after the all-star break. They close out the first half of the season with games in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. Then all but one player will enjoy the three-day break (July 14, 15 and 16). Relief pitcher Jared Wells was chosen as the Rainiers’ all star representative this season. As of July 7 he led the Pacific Coast League with 15 saves in 35 appearances. He has a 1-3 W-L record and a 5.20 ERA. The game will be played at Louisville (Kentucky) Slugger Field, home of the Louisville Bats, on July 16. It will be broadcast on ESPN-2 (ch. 32 in Tacoma) beginning at 4 p.m. PDT. (The Bats play in the International League. They are the Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds.)

The Rainiers are currently (as of July 8) at the bottom of the PCL’s Pacific North Division, with a record of 45-46. They are currently nine and a half games behind Salt Lake.

When Rainiers’ second-year manager Daren Brown reflects on the first half of the season, he sees two main reasons why the team is at the bottom of its division—transactions and Salt Lake.

“We had a decent start at 13-10 but Salt Lake went 23-1 so we were already nine games back after three weeks,” he said. “We’ve been fighting an uphill battle ever since.” Two of Tacoma’s most consistent pitchers, Ryan Feierabend and Chris Jakubauskas, were on the DL during the first half after both got off to 4-1 starts. Many players have traveled the I-5 shuttle between Seattle and Tacoma, as the Mariners were plagued with injuries and poor performances.

“I’m glad to send guys up and they have all contributed at some point,” Brown said. “That’s just part of the game here. You deal with it and go on.”

Brown is hoping the team will go on a long winning streak during the remaining games, something they did not do before the break. Two stretches of four wins has been their best so far.

“We’re fighting an uphill battle but eight and a half games back is doable,” he said. “If we can get everybody healthy and get (other players such as) OF Wladimir Balentien going a little better, we can make a run for it.”

With Feierabend and Jakubaskas back in the rotation, spot starters such as Scott Shoemaker and Alfredo Venegas can return to a bullpen that needs shoring up now that Cesar Jimenez has been sent to Seattle. (Venegas, who was in Tacoma for just one game, has already returned to Single-A. He remains the only Ecuadorian currently playing professional baseball.)

Brown was pleased that Wells was going to be an all star, but said he thought Feierabend and Jakubauskas would have been deserving of the honor if they had stayed healthy. “Rob Johnson would also be a good choice, because of how he’s come on in the past month,” Brown added. He mentioned the way IF Oswaldo Navarro has rebounded from a tough 2007 season. He is currently batting.278, up from a season average last year of .249.

Brown hasn’t been home since February. He’s looking forward to spending the all star break with his family in Amarillo, Texas. Then it’s back to work on July 18, with four games at home vs. Tucson. The Rainiers definitely have to get plenty of rest during the ASB as they only have one day off between then and the end of the season on Labor Day.

All Rainier games can be heard on KHHO 850 AM radio. Visual recreations of the games are also available via Datacasting online by going to www.MiLB.com and finding the Rainiers’ game on the Scoreboard link. Click on the baseball diamond icon once that game has started to pull up the datacast.

Rainiers’ president reflects on his rookie season

By Karen Westeen

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