Vince Naimoli puts on a ceremonial robe in preparation to crack a case of sake during the Devil Rays' trip to Japan.
Ultimately, Vince Naimoli has the answers to all questions Devil Ray. As managing general partner, he is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the team, and he takes the job literally as one of the most hands-on and visible owners in sports. He is also the Rays' No. 1 fan, which can make for some interesting days and long nights.
After the Rays got back from Japan, Naimoli, 66, sat down with Times baseball writer Marc Topkin to discuss the buzz surrounding this year's team, the potential sale, embarrassing David Letterman, the success of the Lightning, silly love songs, and what he'd like most to import from Japan. Here are excerpts:
Q: Do you sense increased interest in the team this spring?
A: I do. It's hard to say there's a renaissance, but there's interest we haven't seen since before opening day of the first year.
Q: Such as . . . ?
A: It's the buzz in the community. It's the sales. The biggest indication was the breakfast Wednesday morning when all those people showed up (to watch the Devil Rays and Yankees game from Tokyo). It's been attendance at spring training games - we're up almost 50 percent. There are a lot of indicators.
Q: Without getting into specifics you can't discuss about the possible sale of a large share of the team to New York investor Stuart Sternberg, should people in Tampa Bay feel good about what's ahead for the franchise?
A: First of all, I think everyone should be appreciative of the selling stockholders because had it not been for them, we wouldn't have had baseball here in the first place. They were instrumental among many people, but they were instrumental because of their money, basically.
Secondly, lives change and we're fortunate in that we found, or they found us, an enthusiastic person who thinks greatly of the future of baseball in this area. So I think we ought to be happy on both parts, happy for the selling stockholders for what they've done for us and happy for the buying stockholder for his faith in us. He's an astute buyer, and the old adage on Wall Street is that you buy low and sell high. So he does believe in the future and what's ahead for us.
Q. Having gone through one season and two winters with Lou Piniella as manager, can you quantify how much impact he has had on the franchise?
A: I'm not sure you can measure it. You can feel it more with the players. Certainly, we saw in the offseason we attracted some players because they wanted to play for Lou. I think he's had impact in a great number of ways. Some people say our best marketing decision was hiring Lou, and that's probably true. I think a close second was our trip to Japan.
Q: What was your thinking behind the timing of announcing GM Chuck LaMar's two-year contract extension last week?
A: I really wanted to do it before the season started for a number of reasons. First of all, during the season the timing isn't right. Secondly, he has to work with the other GMs, and certainly it was an indication he's the right guy to talk to. As you know, there are discussions going on this weekend on trades between GMs, and it was important to give him that clout.
Q: Is this a turning-point year in franchise history?
A: This is certainly a milestone on the road. I think we helped our reputation, first of all, by hiring Lou. Second of all, by the exciting brand of ball we play - last year there were many opposing managers who said we weren't patsies, and they had to think twice about playing us. Then I think we increased our recognition with the Japan trip greatly. Fourthly, I think we put together a competitive team this year, and though it is difficult with the unbalanced schedule, I think they're going to show up every night and play hard every night.
Q: Are the days gone when people will consider the franchise a joke?
A: I think so. I'm disappointed that David Letterman canceled sending Biff Henderson to Japan. But I think perhaps he canceled him because he thought we were going to win, and he'd be embarrassed because he couldn't use us as the brunt of jokes anymore.
Q: Which is more likely to happen - a switch to a balanced schedule or realignment?
A: There are owners in baseball who are great believers in the unbalanced schedule. If we were one of the high-payroll teams, we would be more apt to like the unbalanced schedule. I think the chances of changing that are probably fairly narrow, though there could be a modification, and I know that's being talked about. There is a greater percentage for some sort of realignment. I don't see that happening immediately because we have to see what happens on a number of fronts - the commissioner's initiative committee and the Expos.
Q: What about adding teams to the playoffs?
A: We haven't gotten the commissioner's report yet, we've only heard rumors. The drumbeats are there'll be additional teams. Whether that comes to pass I can't say yet.
Q: What's the biggest reason for someone who hasn't been a fan to come to Devil Rays games this season?
A: It's family fun and it's affordable. It's always been that way. But it's probably more exciting now. It's a team that like last year is going to play until the last out but, a little unlike last year, it has more talent to put the last run across.
Q: Just curious, do you know how to surf the Web?
A: No, not really. Whenever I need something, I find a young person.
Q: How about programming a VCR?
A: I can do that. And I've also recently learned how to use a BlackBerry (wireless portable device) for e-mails. And I have to tell you, having found out how to use it, I've been missing a lot all these years. It's an effective way of communicating.
Q: Who would you invite to the ultimate dinner party?
A: Probably Joe DiMaggio, Father Hesburgh of Notre Dame, George Will, and probably the Pope, though we'd have to have a translator.
Q: What book are you reading right now?
A: It's a book about the Marines in Korea by James Brady (The Marines of Autumn). A friend told me when he sent it that my heart would be warm and my feet would be cold, and they were.
Q: What do you listen to on the radio?
A: It depends if it's a good game or a bad game. Either sports radio or Delilah (a syndicated show featuring love songs and dedications).
Q: Are you happy for the Lightning?
A. Absolutely. I think it's tremendous. And what I think is most tremendous is that the Lightning were cellar-dwellers for a long time yet through constant improvement, through drafting players, through trading smartly and through good coaching they've become a championship team.
Q: Having just made your 29th trip to Japan, what do you admire most about the Japanese people?
A: They're extremely disciplined, they're extremely polite, they have a wonderful production system, which we have learned from, and they're tremendously organized. On the other hand, they are so structured that it's difficult for them to experience change of any sort.
Q: Favorite Japanese meal?
A; Sushi.
Q: You wore the traditional Hapi coat at the sake-barrel breaking ceremony in Tokyo. Any chance of you sporting that look over here?
A: It's very comfortable.
Q: What's something the Tokyo Dome fans do that you'd like to bring to Tropicana Field?
A: What fascinates me is that song they play, I don't know what it is, but it's kind of up and down, up and down. It's really a catchy tune.
Q: What about the girls selling beer from small kegs on their backs?
A: It's really sexist. It's all young girls and no young men. Dressing them in the uniform of the product they're serving is very good. But I didn't like the fact that it's only young girls.
Q: Anything else?
A: If there's one thing that we could take away from the Japanese culture that applies to the Devil Rays, it's kaizen, which means continuous improvement. They use it all the time.
