Hooks: TL Organization of Year

SAN ANTONIO - The Texas League of Professional Baseball Clubs has named the Corpus Christi Hooks its 2015 Organization of the Year, league president Tom Kayser announced.

It's the second such honor in club history and the second for the team under president Ken Schrom's leadership. The Hooks were first recognized in 2009.

"The Hooks excel at delivering quality experiences to all who are involved with them," Kayser said. "They provide an unrivaled fan experience. They are intimately involved in the fabric of the Corpus Christi community. They provide visiting players and umpires with top-flight accommodations, clubhouse services and a playing surface that is among the best in the league.

"Finally, this past season, the Hooks hosted the Texas League All-Star game, which participants called the best they had ever been a part of. The Hooks are an outstanding partner in the Texas League and an outstanding choice as the 2015 Texas League Organization of the Year."

"I feel like our front-office and field staffs are the best in Minor League Baseball," Schrom said. "I am so very proud of the work they do and who they are as people. This was an eventful year with the Astros exhibition game and the Texas League All-Star Game in Corpus Christi. We also had professional baseball's most wins during the regular season (89) after running away with the first half of the Texas League South Division race (48-22)."

"Our partners enable us to operate the way we do," Schrom continued. "Our great game brings people together night after night in a terrific venue, Whataburger Field. We couldn't accomplish our goals as an organization without the support of our sponsors and season-ticket holders."

The Hooks drew 362,968 in 2015 over 68 dates, an average of 5,338. Their total 11-season attendance is 4,746,793 (431,527). Corpus Christi has never finished lower than seventh among all Double-A clubs or below third in the Texas League.

Led by sales and marketing director Andy Steavens, the Hooks hosted the 79th Texas League All-Star Game on June 30. Attendance was 7,370.

2015 Hooks community involvement included:

•The donation of raffle and auction items to area sports leagues, schools, and community organizations. Donation recipients for the calendar year number 346.

•Recognition of the 1965 Solomon Coles High School state championship team. The Coles Green Hornets were Corpus Christi's first state baseball champions while playing in the segregated Prairie View Interscholastic League. Fifty years to the day of their triumph, eight team members were honored before the Hooks-Northwest Arkansas game June 4.

•Proceeds from the GRANDE (COMMUNICATIONS) GRAND PRIZE GAME benefited Big Brothers Big Sisters

•QualSpec Inspection Services assisted the developmentally disabled with SAVES FOR THE MIRACLE LEAGUE

•RUDY'S PRIZE WHEEL from Rudy's Bar-B-Q benefited the Wounded Warrior Project

•Mrs Baird's helped college-bound former high school student-athletes with the SWING FOR SUCCESS scholarship program (a $2,500 scholarship presented annually to the MATT BEVERIDGE AWARD winner at the South Texas Winter Baseball Banquet; $250 scholarships presented to a different student-athlete from Corpus Christi-area high schools on Mondays throughout the season).

•Eight non-baseball fundraising events staged, started and/or terminated at Whataburger Field benefiting the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, ALS Association, Conquer the Coast, Junior Achievement, the Rise School, and Childhood Cancer Awareness.

•Hooks players made numerous visits to Driscoll Children's Hospital, and the team hosted a Driscoll patient as its "Player of the Day" five times.

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ABOUT THE CORPUS CHRISTI HOOKS

The Corpus Christi Hooks, owned by their parent club Houston Astros, launched during the 2005 season. From 2005-2013, the Hooks were part of Ryan-Sanders Baseball and a sister club of the Triple-A Round Rock Express. Express and Hooks founder Reid Ryan, son of Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, left his post as CEO of Ryan-Sanders Baseball in May of 2013 to become Houston Astros President of Business Operations.

A 2012 extension of the Whataburger Field lease with the City of Corpus Christi from the original 15-year span (2005-2019) to 30 years (2005-2034) underscores the stability of the franchise. Astros owner Jim Crane's purchase of the Hooks assured a continuing long-term affiliation between Houston and Corpus Christi, a prominent Colt .45s/Astros out market for 43 years before affiliated Double-A Texas League Baseball returned for the first time in 46 seasons (San Francisco 1958-59).