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ILS1
04-18-2005, 07:48 PM
By Kevin Robbins

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Monday, April 18, 2005

CORPUS CHRISTI — They passed the helmet in the bottom of the second, when the tugboat horn wailed. A man near the dugout paused: What do I do with this? Someone explained. Currency emerged. It was a quarter to 5 on Sunday afternoon.

Corpus Christi became a minor-league baseball town again.

The Double-A Texas League returned to the Coastal Bend before a sellout crowd of 8,255. The Corpus Christi Hooks lost 6-2 to the Midland Rockhounds at Whataburger Field, where the gulf breezes gusted to left and despite the score, despite the sloppy play — everything else for the Houston Astros' newest franchise went as right as a starboard turn.

The Hooks' first hit at home came in the second inning, when catcher Dax Norris dumped a ball on the left-field berm.

Fans heard the home-run horn: a tugboat blast, a nod to the nautical soul of a city built on the fine sand and choppy green waters of the Gulf of Mexico. They filled a Hooks helmet with dollar bills for Norris. A buck means less than it did 45 years ago, when the Texas League left Corpus Christi after two seasons. But a tradition was revived.

People were ready to see baseball again. They voted in 2002 to finance the stadium, which cost more than $25 million. Sunday's game sold out in 45 minutes. Season tickets? Gone. Suites? Filled.

People came to Whataburger Field at noon Sunday so they could take pictures, shoot video, talk on the phone and shade their eyes with their new Hooks hats for two hours before the gates opened on the home season.

"This is going to make a lot of people baseball fans," said Astros owner Drayton McLane.

It's already baseball country. The evening sports news leads with high-school baseball from Moody and other prep teams. The anchor refers to the Astros as "the big club."

The Corpus Christi Caller-Times published a 48-page special section Sunday to commemorate the home opener. That followed a 32-page special section the newspaper published before the season began.

The community's public-art project reflects the pastime. Among the decorated dolphins populating the city is one painted in the image of an Astros pitcher. You can find it near the Executive Surf Club, a nightspot where Hooks fans met on Saturday night to count down the hours until the first pitch.

"This is huge for Corpus," said Hooks employee Nancy Tressa, who greeted fans at the top of the concourse with a big "Welcome to the ballpark!"

"This is quality. It's more than baseball. It's memories," Tressa said. "That's the slogan."

The Hooks' owners packaged the team as a something-for-everyone experience that goes beyond sports, much as they did so successfully in Round Rock. The Hooks were the Round Rock Express until this season, when the Express ascended to Triple-A and the Hooks opened play on the coast.

"There was no cost cutting," said Don Sanders, a partner with Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan in Ryan-Sanders Baseball, which owns the Hooks and the Express. "The city has embraced this as much as you could imagine."

Whataburger Field was built in little more than a year. A little bit of The Dell Diamond exists in every corner, every angle, every seam.

Spectators arrive at an open concourse. Local concessionaires serve snacks and beer. Fans who rent the pool area in right-center field swim in diluted saltwater — a little local touch.

Harbor Bridge spans the ship channel beyond the centerfield wall. Father yet: the USS Lexington, an aircraft carrier moored in permanent duty to tourism. Cross-oceanic freighters slip through the water, giving spectators the illusion the ballpark rotates.

"That won't be duplicated anywhere in baseball," Ryan said of the view from the chair-back seats.

The picnic area in right is named after Brooks Kieschnick, a local star who played for Milwaukee last year, signed with the Astros earlier this month and suited up for the Hooks for the home opener. Kieschnick's Korner retains the low-slung, steel-roofed character of the cotton warehouses that used to occupy the land the stadium was built on.

"They know how to build a ballpark," said Lonnie Robisheaux, who bought a pair of season tickets on the lower level in Row 13, behind home plate and shaded nicely from the afternoon sun. "I've been waiting for this day for a year and a half. I can't believe it's finally here."

Now fans are waiting for something else: winning baseball.

The Hooks are 3-7 in their first season in the Texas League. They committed three errors in the home opener, left 10 men on base and hit less than .200 when they had runners on second or third.

"We've just got to make sure we do the little things," said Manager Dave Clark.

The fans? They went home with a full creel. Landing the team itself was the big catch.




Corpus Christi Hooks Story (www.statesman.com/news/content/sports/stories/other/04/18HOOKS.html)


Hooks Photos (www.statesman.com/news/content/sports/photos/041805_hooks/index.html)

ILS1
04-18-2005, 08:27 PM
NM

pirate44
04-19-2005, 07:58 AM
i had to register for the american statesman online, but it was worth it. what great photos. wow. thanks ILS1:clap:

pirate44
04-19-2005, 08:09 AM
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/sports/photos/041805_hooks/images/Photo01.jpg

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/sports/photos/041805_hooks/images/Photo02.jpg

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/sports/photos/041805_hooks/images/Photo03.jpg

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/sports/photos/041805_hooks/images/Photo04.jpg

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/sports/photos/041805_hooks/images/Photo05.jpg

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/sports/photos/041805_hooks/images/Photo06.jpg

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/sports/photos/041805_hooks/images/Photo07.jpg

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/sports/photos/041805_hooks/images/Photo08.jpg

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/sports/photos/041805_hooks/images/Photo09.jpg

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/sports/photos/041805_hooks/images/Photo10.jpg

pirate44
04-19-2005, 08:28 AM
http://www.caller2.com/2005/slideshow/hooks0408/images/01.jpg

http://www.caller2.com/specials/2005/hooks/galleries/homeopener/hooks2/images/p-11hooks0418mc.jpg

http://www.caller2.com/specials/2005/hooks/galleries/homeopener/hooks2/images/p-1hooks0418jas.jpg

http://www.caller2.com/specials/2005/hooks/galleries/homeopener/hooks2/images/p-8gghooks0418.jpg

http://www.caller2.com/specials/2005/hooks/galleries/homeopener/hooks2/images/p-8hooks0418mc.jpg

http://www.caller2.com/specials/2005/hooks/galleries/homeopener/hooks3/images/p-3hooks0418.jpg

http://www.caller2.com/specials/2005/hooks/galleries/homeopener/hooks3/images/p-4hooks0418.jpg

http://www.caller2.com/specials/2005/hooks/galleries/homeopener/hooks4/images/p-12hooks0418mc.jpg

http://www.caller2.com/specials/2005/hooks/galleries/homeopener/hooks4/images/p-4gghooks04718.jpg

http://www.caller2.com/specials/2005/hooks/galleries/homeopener/hooks5/images/P-14HOOKSgg0418.jpg

AggieJohn
04-19-2005, 08:55 AM
i like minor league baseball it's so personable

ILS1
04-19-2005, 03:43 PM
Your welcome. I tried posting the pictures on here but it wouldn't let me.

AggieJohn
04-19-2005, 05:49 PM
those pictures are great