In the weeks following the Sept. 17 announcement at BB&T Coastal Field that the Advanced Class A Myrtle Beach Pelicans were changing parent clubs from the Atlanta Braves to the Texas Rangers, Pelicans principal owner Chuck Greenberg received mixed reactions.
Though the change made sense in many ways because Greenberg headed a group that purchased the Rangers on Aug. 5, Braves loyalists in the area were disappointed that the Grand Strand's adopted major league team would no longer have organizational ties to the area.
Strand residents would no longer get to see future Braves players developed at BB&T Field, such as Rafael Furcal, Marcus Giles, Brian McCann, Tommy Hanson and Jason Heyward, who played their way to stardom in Atlanta through Myrtle Beach.
"Initially the feedback was about 50/50," Greenberg said.
But much of the negative sentiment has been assuaged by the best season in Rangers history. The Rangers earned the franchise's first playoff series win against Tampa Bay and defeated the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series to reach the World Series, where they fell to San Francisco in five games two weeks ago.
"Over the last month, particularly as well as the Rangers did in the postseason, it was overwhelmingly positive," Greenberg said. Pelicans front office personnel helped encourage the burgeoning support of the team's Rangers affiliation with a World Series viewing party for season ticket holders and sponsors.
"There was certainly a lot of excitement among them," Pelicans general manager Scott Brown said. "I think [the playoff run] put the Rangers on the map and it will help our cause."
The team's success came after Greenberg and his investment partners, including Rangers president Nolan Ryan, struggled for much of the season to purchase the team. They struck a deal with previous owner Tom Hicks early in the year but it wasn't approved by the team's creditors. Hicks filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the Rangers, presumably to facilitate the sale, and Greenberg's group had to outbid a group led by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban in an auction that extended through the night and into the early morning hours Aug. 5.
"The process we went through to buy the team was so difficult and we had so many unanticipated setbacks in the process, I don't know if the word 'easy' has returned to my vocabulary," Greenberg said.
Greenberg, a sports attorney based in Pittsburgh before his move to Westlake, Texas, in the past year, has been a minor league baseball team owner since 2002, when he organized and led a group that purchased the Double-A Altoona (Pa.) Curve. He later added the Class A Short-Season State College Spikes and Pelicans in 2006 while selling the Curve late in 2008.
Though team ownership at the major league level is new to him, his business model remains consistent.
"My biggest surprise was how different it is not," Greenberg said, "meaning the success we've had in the minor leagues has all been based on taking care of people, being interested in their opinions, and providing good value and entertainment at the park while doing good things in the community.
"All of those things resonate as much with people at the major league level as they did at the minor league level, there are just more people."
Since taking over the Rangers, Greenberg has reduced ticket prices and mingled with spectators at games while sitting with Ryan in outdoor seats near the field rather than in an owner's box. "Chuck is wildly popular with the fans and is already more recognizable than Tom Hicks ever was," said Fort Worth Star-Telegram baseball writer Jeff Wilson. "Some of that has to do with his association with Nolan Ryan and that they prevailed over Mark Cuban in the auction. The price-cutting initiatives were an instant success, too. But the fact is that Chuck's personality - easy-going, upbeat, likes sports - is hard to not like."
One difference Greenberg appreciates at the major league level is the opportunity to have an impact on his teams' rosters. As a minor league owner, you take who the parent club sends you. Now he is the parent club.
The Rangers' biggest potential loss in free agency this offseason is left-handed ace Cliff Lee, who the Rangers acquired from Seattle in July. Though Lee failed to win his two World Series starts, he went 3-0 in the previous two playoff series to help the Rangers reach the fall classic.
"He's the big one for this year that we've got to weigh," Greenberg said. "We said from the outset when the trade for Cliff was completed that we want him to stay."
Greenberg referred any further inquiries into Lee's status with the Rangers to general manager Jon Daniels, who gives Greenberg further reason for optimism, along with Ryan and assistant general manager Thad Levine.
They were all firmly in place when Greenberg began his pitch to buy the Rangers, and they helped build the Rangers over several years into World Series contenders.
"I enjoy having discussions with them but I know to leave the baseball decisions to people who make them best," Greenberg said. "My focus will be creating a business operation that is as strong as the baseball operation of the team."
Greenberg can't help but admit he likes the makeup of the Rangers as they are, however.
"We had a team that was uncommonly close. It was a great clubhouse and guys picked each other up," Greenberg said. "We'd like to keep the core of the team together and build up from there. ... We're built to be able to compete for years to come. We have a young nucleus and some veteran leadership so the outlook is very bright."
The Rangers' success was built through the minor league system, which is headed by Director of Player Development Scott Servais and has been ranked first or second overall by both Baseball America and ESPN in each of the past two years.
Much of the talent is at the lower levels, and Myrtle Beach should benefit.
The Rangers' Low A team in Hickory, N.C., that will feed the Pelicans went 75-64, and Myrtle Beach will likely host some players from the rookie Class A Short-Season Spokane Indians squad that reached the Northwest League Championship series. Greenberg said Spokane had six of the top 15 prospects in the league.
"That's the kind of talent we'll have over the years," said Greenberg, who is expected to travel with the Rangers to BB&T Field for a late spring training game against another major league club. "It's a great time to launch this new affiliation, and to launch it officially with an exhibition on March 29. It's even more exciting now than the day we announced it back in September."
Brown said he believes it's too early to tell if the new affiliation and the Rangers' playoff run will boost sales and interest in the Pelicans, and said season ticket sales are about on pace with last year at this time.
But he has reason to believe the Rangers' success will have a positive impact on the Pelicans' fiscal performance. Brown, who has been in minor league baseball since 1988, was at the New York Mets' Double-A affiliate in Binghamton, N.Y., when the Mets reached the World Series in 2000. He believes it piqued interest in the Binghamton team.
"Anytime your parent club is in the public spotlight like the Rangers just have been, it's only going to help your cause and make people pay attention," Brown said. "I don't think it's make or break, but ... I think certainly the big league club winning adds to the mystique and product value. It gives you some excitement and something to use in your sales pitch to the fans."
Greenberg Sports Group manages both the Spikes and Pelicans, and Brown often works with company vice presidents Rick Janac and Jeff Garner. But Greenberg also remains in regular contact with him.
"On one hand I now have these duties with the Rangers, on the other hand I'm not practicing law anymore," Greenberg said. "It's a pretty good trade for me and a good trade for the Pelicans, too."
Greenberg anticipates making four or more visits a year to Myrtle Beach. "Now that it's a Rangers affiliate we'll get down there even more," he said. "It will be a chance to watch our prospects develop and look after the Pelicans as well."
If he picks the right dates, Greenberg can join Myrtle Beach fans in seeing what they would have had if the Pelicans remained a Braves affiliate. Atlanta's Single-A affiliate remains in the Carolina League in Lynchburg, Va.
"The cool part is the Braves organization is coming 10 times [to BB&T Field] with Lynchburg," Brown said, "so if we can get every Braves fan to come out for those we could have a record season."
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