ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 7, 1996 TAG: 9611070022
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
As the Salem Avalanche has moved into its new offices adjacent to Salem Memorial Stadium, an old hand has moved out.
Sam Lazzaro, whose resignation from the team's front office became public Wednesday, didn't bring professional baseball to the Roanoke Valley. He did bring credibility to the franchise in what has been a not-so-hot corner of the baseball world.
Kelvin Bowles brought Lazzaro from Elmira, N.Y., as the then-Redbirds' general manager before the 1986 season. That's the best move the Salem club owner has made. The worst move came last off-season, when Bowles created a two-headed management situation that brought uneasiness to a franchise still trying to settle into a new ballpark.
What happened was the inevitable: It didn't work. Lazzaro was given a nice title as vice president, but fewer responsibilities, as Bowles brought in Dave Oster, a young and vibrant prospect as general manager, from the staff of the Wilmington (Del.) Blue Rocks.
It was an uncomfortable situation - and unfair - for both men, not to mention those on the Avalanche staff. They coped on a daily basis with a working environment that was, at the least, strained. It was evident after a year that Oster or Lazzaro would be gone.
Bowles, often away scouting or dealing with his other business concerns, hired Lazzaro to run the franchise and make a profit. He did what he was asked - and did it well. Lazzaro wasn't always the easiest boss to work for, because he's a perfectionist and organized and a nose-to-the-grindstone guy. He often squeezed nickels so hard, Jefferson burped.
The franchise mostly has been a loser on the field, but Lazzaro got people to come to the ballpark. Although a very private man, Lazzaro has been a superb salesman, not to mention loyal. He sold not only the team, but the sport. He also was one of the men behind the Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame, of which, hopefully, he will remain a board member.
It's a hall to which he deserves election, considering his devotion to the game and his contributions to the local franchise.
While Bowles saved pro baseball locally when he bought the club after the 1985 season, it was Lazzaro who did the most to make the sport prosper. Bowles, Lazzaro and longtime assistant GM Dennis Robarge made what previously had been a mom-and-pop operation run by absentee ownership into a professional operation.
Lazzaro is a big reason why Salem has a new ballpark. But once the team moved into the $10 million palace, Lazzaro's influence and authority waned. It's Bowles' business, but his franchise prospered because Lazzaro ran a tight ship. Then, Bowles decided to try and fix what wasn't broken.
If Lazzaro got a lot of credit for baseball's prosperity here, he deserved it. His resignation means that the Roanoke Valley's two prominent pro franchises have experienced management upheaval in the same calendar year. The Roanoke Express changed its board leadership after 50 percent investor John Gagnon got most of the credit for the hockey club's success.
Gagnon, like Lazzaro, deserved it.
Certainly, working conditions in the Avalanche offices will be smoother now. Oster is clearly the man in charge, unless Bowles decides he wants to be a more hands-on owner. Oster has some great ideas, according to staffers, and some of those concepts will be different from those of Lazzaro. His more open style surely will be different. He's also popular with the people he oversees.
Here's hoping Bowles, as he did a decade ago with Lazzaro, hands the upbeat Oster the ball and lets him pitch the game he wants. Oster's job won't be easy, as the Avalanche, after averaging 2,632 fans last season, tries to come closer to filling the 6,000-seat ballpark.
He also has a very tough act to follow.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Lazzaro.by CNB