Saddleback Trustees to Vote on Baseball in Mission Viejo

Saddleback Community College District trustees are expected to end months of speculation today over whether a minor league baseball club will move to Mission Viejo.

“One way or another, it will be a relief to know for certain,” said Pat Elster, president of the Long Beach Riptide.

If trustees approve construction of a temporary ballpark on campus for the Riptide team, Elster says the club will relocate in Mission Viejo.

However, if the trustees turn down or delay the proposal at today’s special meeting, the team will remain in Long Beach, Elster said.

College trustees are looking at a one-year contract with Mission Viejo that would commit the city to spend $800,000 to replace the existing campus field and bring in about 3,000 temporary bleacher seats.

The city also would be required to commission an environmental report on a proposed $6-million ballpark that would be the Riptide’s permanent home.

College trustees will not decide whether to go ahead with the permanent facility until the outcome of the environmental study, which is expected by the end of February.

But with the Riptide season starting in May, the ball team needed some kind of commitment from the college and city.

The one-year lease would give the team a 1997 home base “and buy us some time to make a careful, well-thought decision,” Saddleback trustee Marcia Milchiker said.

“We have to make sure this costs the college nothing or as little as possible and make sure the stadium is an environmentally sound idea,” Milchiker said.

“There is a certain pressure on us because the team needs to know where to go by a certain date.”

Milchiker said she needs more information on liability issues such as who is legally responsible if a baseball strikes a spectator or someone walking outside the ball field.

City Manager Dan Joseph said the city is ironing out some final insurance questions.

“It’s mostly legalese,” he said. “For all intents and purposes, we’ve reached an understanding on all points” with college officials.

The Riptide has been unhappy with its lease in Long Beach because team officials believe they were not receiving enough revenue from concessions and because they did not have first choice of the available playing dates.

After working since August on bringing the Riptide to Mission Viejo, “it will be a relief to see this decided,” Joseph said.

In the meantime, Elster said, the team is working on an advertising campaign to market season tickets in South County.

“We’ve been aching to get out there and sell tickets,” Elster said. “We normally would have already started months ago.”

The Western Baseball League recently issued its schedule for 1997, and the team’s opening game is listed on May 23--in Mission Viejo.