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San Jose group to begin pursuing major league team

By Mark Purdy
The San Jose Mercury News
Thurs. May 6th

Bud Selig visits Network Associates Coliseum today. He's on a fact-finding tour.

The prediction here is that the baseball commissioner will find that the facts of Bay Area baseball are still idiotically out of whack -- even if Selig will never acknowledge it publicly.

The A's occupy a dumpy and deformed semi-football stadium, in a small and stressed-out city that has treated them shabbily in their pursuit of a new ballpark.

Meanwhile, the Bay Area's largest and most prosperous city has great interest in the A's, but the Giants want to keep San Jose on double-secret baseball probation through the team's arrogant ``territorial rights'' claim -- even though if the A's relocate to the South Bay, they would move farther away from the Giants.

Yes, the whole thing is nutty. But smart clarity could be upon us soon.

The Mercury News has learned that before the end of this month, a group of prominent South Bay movers and shakers -- along with many regular folks -- will announce the formation of a grass-roots organization called Baseball San Jose. The group's mission statement will proclaim its desire ``to attract a Major League Baseball team to San Jose.''

Jim Cunneen, chief executive officer of the San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, verified Wednesday that he will be a board member of the new organization. It is the first outward indication that San Jose is going to step up and be counted in the A's ballpark debate.

``We think it's an opportunity for this city to finally think big,'' Cunneen said. ``We think a great metropolitan area is one that has venues for sports and the arts. We want to send a strong message. It's time for San Jose's national prestige and profile to be raised, and this is a group of people ready to execute that vision.''

Who might those people be? Names will be released soon enough. But two were confirmed Wednesday. The chairman will be Mike Fox Jr., president of M.E. Fox and Co. Inc. beverage distributors. Another board member will be San Jose City Council member Dave Cortese.

Fox is one of the valley's true believers, a vigorous advocate of many civic causes. Cortese has been city hall's foremost advocate of an A's ballpark. Sources say future names will include top-tier Silicon Valley businessmen. Mayor Ron Gonzales is aware of the effort. So is A's owner Steve Schott.

The group's initial strategy will be two-pronged. First, it wants to build a database of supporters as a demonstration of baseball support in

the South Bay. A Web site,

Baseballsanjose.com, is scheduled to be up this week and will be equipped to receive e-mail for that purpose. The Chamber of Commerce has provided start-up funds. Baseball San Jose's first public event will be a downtown rally this month, probably at Cesar Chavez Plaza.

Cunneen understands there will be eagerness for information about where a San Jose ballpark might be built, as well as other details. The location mentioned most often is the former Del Monte cannery on Auzerais Avenue, which remains undeveloped.

``We will find a site, and we know there will be discussions about financing,'' Cunneen said. ``But first we need to establish a fan base and let baseball know about the interest here.''

The group's second strategy will be to start dialogue about San Jose as a major league city and to tactfully challenge the Giants' territorial-rights claim.

The argument: If baseball wants to keep all of its franchises healthy, then the owners should wake up and realize that the South Bay is the only logical location for the A's -- although the team will not be specifically mentioned in Baseball San Jose's mission statement.

``We don't want to confine it that way,'' said one source involved with the group. ``Because what if the A's end up leaving the Bay Area one day? Why should San Jose, as the Bay Area's largest city, be precluded from trying to get a team? We want to shake the trees and provoke discussion going, within baseball and within San Jose.''

Best wishes to the commissioner on his fact-finding trip to Oakland today. But when it's over, he ought to extend the trip -- about 45 miles south.