Art Savage

Art Savage (Right)
Photo by drtaxsacto

Art Savage, who brought the Rivercats to Sacramento, died over the weekend. I met him a couple of times at Rivercats luncheons. From those encounters he had several great qualities. First, he seemed to enjoy baseball - the experience at Raley Field seems to have been designed by someone who appreciates baseball. Raley Field is a fans field. Second, there seemed to be a lot of room around him for accomplishment. Sacramento, in the first ten seasons, had some remarkable accomplishments. We've won the PCL and the Brickyard Showdown twice, and eight divisional titles. But in each of those years Mr. Savage was visible but not at all like many team owners who seem to think that in addition to owning a business they are somehow part of the team. Third, he had a sense of the community. Independence Field - which was his dream to create a baseball venue for disabled players - came about because he encouraged all of the fans (with a substantial boost from his own resources) to create the dream. The Rivercats foundation makes real contributions to the community. Perhaps the best fund-raiser for a local charity was one a couple of years ago where they announced in the first inning that until the ballpark raised X amount of dollars that they would continue to play Kenny G between the innings. That was funny but also successful. Finally, Savage accomplished a feat without the public subsidy that some team owners (like the Kings owners - the Maloofs) claim they cannot live without. The owners of these businesses want to require taxpayers to pay for their stadiums under the false logic of a mix of civic pride and jobs creation. Savage built Raley Field and improved civic pride of West Sacramento, and indeed the region, without needing the subsidy. His model should be instructive to others who think they cannot run a private business without socializing some of the costs.