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• Lodi repossessor uses tact, skill to bring in motorcycles, trucks — even a Rolls-Royce

• Lodi Electric Utility Director George Morrow heading to new job in Southern California city

• Regional Roundup

• Correction

February 8th, 2010

• Public Meetings

• Locals pick best, most memorable Super Bowl commercials

• Regional Roundup

February 6th, 2010

• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch

• Meet Larry, Curly and Moe

• Baboon business

• Regional Roundup

• Several Lodi venues let you watch the Super Bowl in style

• Lodi Library celebrates 100 years of serving the community

• Culinary craft

February 5th, 2010

• Kids, teachers help Haiti by collecting pennies for Learning Link

• Lodi, Galt students reach out to help Haiti earthquake survivors

• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam

• Hours of sweat and work go into putting on crab feeds

• Things looking up for state's real estate

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• Stray bullet strikes Lodi home; police suspect gang activity may be factor

February 4th, 2010

• Managers at Geweke Toyota answer questions about recall

• Lodi City Council votes to replace play structure at Century Park

• Lodi extends ban on pot shops for another year

• Mokelumne River triathlon set for June

• Family, friends to run half-marathon in memory of Galt family

February 3rd, 2010

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• Delta College trustees again collide over stipend committee

• Lodi-area senators Dave Cox, Lois Wolk admit to gifts; Tom Berryhill case pending

• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts

• Galt City Council avoids budget cuts — for now

• New Lodi Memorial Hospital emergency room opens to the public without a hitch

• Bad bugs, weeds are hot topics at Grape Day

February 2nd, 2010

• Big rig plows 7 cars

• Local business leaders say tourism, Costco, Home Depot may play roles in city's future

• Former Lodian Erica Davis is first paraplegic woman to summit Kilimanjaro

• Jumpers across California

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• No snow leopards, otters for Micke Grove

• McNerney leads in campaign cash

• Police: Train victim was a Lodi teen

February 1st, 2010

• Find cuddly alpacas not too far from Lodi

• Public Meetings

• Patients can expect faster, better service when Lodi Memorial Hospital's new emergency room opens

• Man killed by Amtrak train in Lodi

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• Will terrorists be given Miranda warnings? (72)
• President Obama's first year (67)
• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts (64)
• Local business leaders say tourism, Costco, Home Depot may play roles in city's future (60)
• Islamic symbol in mosaic — what is all the fuss? (49)
• Writer comments on Neely column (42)
• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch (41)
• Many reject the politics of 'no' (39)
• Police: Train victim was a Lodi teen (31)
• Time to shed the convenient sham of 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy (30)

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Lodi Baseball Club survives hard times, looks toward the future

Questions and answers with lodi baseball club President Rick Souza

With its inaugural season in the books, the Lodi Baseball Club board met recently to talk about the 2009 season and where to go now. Lodi finished the season with a 28-14 record and played 36 home games at Tony Zupo Field, where fans could come at watch and admission was free.

Many of the players and coaches carried over from last year's Lodi GrapeSox, a team that ended its one-year tenure with financial problems and disbanded.

This year, Lodi board president Rick Souza said the team made a total of $31,754 from donations, advertising, merchandise sales and concessions, but after paying for the field rental, umpires, equipment and all other costs, the team did not break even.

Souza said he estimates 10,000 fans came to watch Lodi throughout the year, which is an average of about 278 per game.

The News-Sentinel recently talked with Souza as he reflected on Lodi's first season.

Q: With the first season come and gone, what are your thoughts?

A: We all enjoyed the season. We hated to see the season end. I think the players enjoyed it and I think the people that came out enjoyed it. We also saw some things that we'll change for next year.

Q: Why do you think the team didn't break even?

A: We knew we probably wouldn't break even. I think the No. 1 reason is the economy and we weren't able to get the sponsorships. No. 2 was last season. We didn't want to do a lot of promising, we wanted to put together quality baseball and do the things we said we would as far as finishing the season and I think we did. We set out to prove we were not out to make money. We wanted to have a good team and provide family entertainment.

Q: Were you surprised by the crowds of about 275 per game?

A: We had hoped the crowds would be bigger. At the beginning, the low estimate was 300 per game and high was 500. So we were pretty close with estimates. We don't know what to do to get a bigger crowd. We thought with no cost and the nonprofit groups and giving back, we'd get more out. We don't know what to do to get more. We are at a loss.

Q: Do you think it is effective to not charge admission?

A: I talked with other teams about it and a lot of them say that when people don't pay for something, they don't value it as much. So maybe the free admission worked against us. You look at the Yuba City team in Marysville and they charge $5-10 per ticket, charged more for concession and more for merchandise and they drew 1,000 to 3,000 fans when we played them. That proved to me that charging isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Q: At your recent board meeting, what were the main topics, concerns and bright spots discussed?

A: We talked about coaches, players, the field, umps, crowds, volunteers. Any good business person evaluates everything you do to see where you can improve. What are we very happy with and what do we want to change and how do we go about it.

Q: Is everyone on board for coming back next year as far as coaches and board members?

A: At this point, it appears as if everyone is planning on coming back.

Q: There were more junior college players this season and less Division I than last season. What are your hopes for recruiting in the future?

A: I think we would like to have a combination of what we had last year and this year. We had top-notch Division I players last year and top-notch local players this year."

Q: How do you try to recruit more Division I players?

A: There is a lot of competition out here. You have to get on it right away. You have to have a good product and an exciting product. If we had 1,000 fans at game, then college coaches might be more likely to send players than if we draw 100. As we continue to build as a club and gain more support, I think it will be easier for us to recruit.

Q: If the financial situation continued like it did this season, could the club continue on?

A: We really have to look at that. With the economy the way it is it's hard to subsidize, but we have to break even. Being a nonprofit, nobody set out to make a profit, but we need to break even.

Q: There seemed to be a solid following by hard-core fans of the team, but do you believe Lodi as a whole can support a baseball team?

A: That's a good question. You got the Ports, you've got the River Cats, and the A's and the Giants aren't too far away as far as baseball goes and then there are a lot of other things going on. We have the venue for it, we have the history, but I don't know. I think with good promotion and a good product, you should be able to do that because I think that it is there. But I think the million dollar question is how do you put it all together.

Q: Do you think Lodi will be in a league in the future?

A: We've been invited to join two different leagues. Leagues are important because you need playoffs and that competition and that was lacking this year. We were invited to join the West Coast League and another new league, the Pacific West Baseball League. You have to decide if you want to spend the bulk of the two-month season traveling and endure those costs or join a local league.

Q: What are your hopes for next year?

A: That we could come up with a better plan that can build on what we did this year to be more successful. I think we were successful this year, but I am not just satisfied with that. We want to build on it.