VERO BEACH — Minor League Baseball announced today the formation of a new entity to operate Vero Beach Sports Village. In addition to MiLB, the participants include former Dodger President Peter O’Malley, his sister, Terry Seidler, and former Dodger star pitchers Chan Ho Park and Hideo Nomo.
MiLB will submit the proposed transfer of its VBSV lease to officials of Indian River County, which owns the facility, for approval.
Each of the five participants would have an equal ownership share in the new entity. O’Malley would be the Chairman and CEO, MiLB President Pat O’Conner President and COO and Craig Callan will continue in his current role in the operation of VBSV.
Callan has worked for 33 years at the historic facility.
The VBSV grounds are where the Dodgers held their spring training camp dating back to 1948, before relocating to Arizona in 2009.
O’Malley served as the director of the facility from 1962-65 before being named Dodgers’ President in 1970. For decades, he has also heavily been involved in the promotion of baseball on the youth, Olympic and international levels.
Seidler first worked at VBSV in the mid-1950s when she was the secretary for the Dodgertown Summer Camp for Boys. She owned the Dodgers with her brother Peter from the death of their father in 1979 until 1998.
O’Conner joined Minor League Baseball in May 1993 as Chief Operating Officer and was elected President at the Baseball Winter Meetings in December 2007. O’Conner is responsible for overseeing the planning, development and program strategy within MiLB, an organization that encompasses 20 leagues and 247 teams in five countries; the United States, Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
“This combined effort of Minor League Baseball, the O’Malley and Seidler families and members of our extended baseball family will undoubtedly have a positive impact on Vero Beach Sports Village,” O’Conner said. “Peter O’Malley and his family have a long and storied history in Vero Beach and baseball in general, both domestically and internationally.”
“Chan Ho Park and Hideo Nomo provide insight from a player’s perspective, as well as enormous credibility in Asia and the Pacific Rim,” O’Conner added. “We believe this new partnership will enhance our ability to utilize the facility for local, domestic and international sports programs as we continue to attract an array of visitors.”
“I embrace this wonderful opportunity to use this iconic facility that my family has cherished for decades to promote baseball,” said O’Malley. “Vero Beach Sports Village should always be an asset and a jewel to the citizens of Vero Beach and Indian River County and I look forward to adding further luster to its rich history.”
Nomo spent all or parts of seven of his 12 Major League seasons with the Dodgers. He has been bringing Japanese youth players to the United States for the last couple of years to play against their American counterparts and share information about each other’s cultures.
“Being a part of the group that will operate a facility that provides youths with resources they can use both on and off the field is extremely rewarding,” Nomo said. “Those who come to the facility can improve not only as athletes through tournaments and training, but can also develop skills to help them mature into young men and women.”
Park played the first eight of his 17 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers after signing with them as a 20-year-old free agent in January 1994. The right-hander also played for the club in 2008.
“I have many fond memories of Dodgertown from my nine seasons playing for the Dodgers,” Park remarked. “I love it there and look forward to seeing many teams and individuals enjoy all of the unique features of the complex and take full advantage of the amenities it has to offer, as I did when I trained and played there.”
Minor League Baseball began operating VBSV in 2009. Since then, the 67-acre sports complex and conference center facility has hosted several international teams, including the Chinese National and Italian National Baseball teams on two occasions. The Chinese National Boxing Team has also trained at VBSV.
The SK Wyverns, a South Korean Professional Baseball Team, are the latest international team to train at VBSV. They arrived on Nov. 1 and will hold their winter camp at the facility through the end of the month.
The Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, with future Japanese Hall of Famers Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima, were the first international team to use the facility when they held their spring training at the camp.
Over the last two years, VBSV has hosted events such as the Minor League Baseball Youth Leadership Academy, a six-day event that combines the history, principles and structure of the game of baseball to provide an opportunity for at-risk youth to develop and master leadership and life skills; spring training for high school and college baseball teams; the University of South Florida’s football training camp; the Washington Freedom professional women’s soccer team’s training camp; and various other baseball, football, soccer and lacrosse camps.
Beginning in January 2012, VBSV will also be home to The Umpire School, a 28-day state of Florida accredited school operated by Minor League Baseball that trains umpires in the latest techniques, theories and interpretations.
By virtue of the full-service amenities at VBSV, The Umpire School is the only all-inclusive school available among the three accredited ones that provide candidates to the annual Professional Baseball Umpire Corp. Evaluation Course, from which umpires are selected to begin their careers in The Minor Leagues.