Baseball Fans Pushing The Drillers To Stay

Baseball fanatics take a swing at keeping the Drillers in Tulsa. Die hard Drillers fans showed up to the stadium Tuesday night to cheer on the team, and to keep the organization from moving to Jenks.

Tuesday, August 28th 2007, 9:00 pm

By: News On 6

Baseball fanatics take a swing at keeping the Drillers in Tulsa. Die hard Drillers fans showed up to the stadium Tuesday night to cheer on the team, and to keep the organization from moving to Jenks. News On 6 anchor Omar Villafranca met with a few of the supporters; he reports the team is fighting to make the Texas League playoffs, while the fans are hoping to keep the team playing in the Tulsa ballpark.

Loyal Drillers fans lined up before the first pitch to support Tulsa's baseball team, and while the team warmed up, fans that read "Tulsa Loves Our Drillers" were handed out to baseball fans. Ralph Erz and his wife Marilyn believe baseball just wouldn't be the same in Jenks.

"It wouldnâ€™t' be, it wouldn't be, no, it's Tulsa, Tulsa Drillers," said Drillers fan Ralph Erz.

"We're baseball people so we love it," said Ralphâ€™s wife Marilyn Erz.

Ralph and his wife started going to Drillers games back in the 70s, he doesn't want the team to move to Jenks, or from this stadium.

"It's just a great location here, it's easy to get to,â€ he said. â€œTo take it downtown I think would be a mistake. I think you'd lose fans."

Mike Patton of savetulsabaseball.com brought homemade signs to the game. He wants to preserve Tulsa's baseball history by keeping the game in town. He admits Jenks might end up stealing the Drillers home plate, but felt he had to do something.

"You know if they left town and we didn't do anything we'd feel terrible,â€ said Mike Patton, creator of savetulsabaseball.com. â€œSo that's why we got together so quickly. I mean this is a last ditch effort, a 9th inning rally to try and make something happen.â€

"Tulsa Loves Our Drillers" fans were handed out by savetulsabaseball.com before the game, hoping to sway the teams decision, but a big factor in that decision is Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor. She was at Tuesday's game, she says she wants the Drillers to stay in Tulsa and play ball in downtown Tulsa, but no plans about that ballpark have been made public. In contrast Jenks developers have already showed private money and plans for a new ballpark to the Drillers. The News On 6 asked Mayor Taylor if the City of Tulsa is all talk.

"I can tell you we've drawn ball stadiums, we've been working with Chuck and his advisors for the last six months," said Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor. "The announcement in Jenks was a non-binding letter of intent, it's just what we have with Chuck, and that is serious discussions about the right place for the future of the Tulsa Drillers."

Of course we'll have to see how this all plays out. According to people at the gate attendance for a Tuesday night, free ticket game was up slightly, and it might have something to do with savetulsabaseball.com.

Watch the video: Fans Take Their Fight To Save The Drillers To The Ball Field

Related Stories:

8/20/2007 The Jenks Drillers?

8/21/2007 Jenks Trying To Lure The Drillers From Tulsa

8/21/2007 Fans React To Possible Drillers Move

8/21/2007 Previous Plans To Move The Drillers Have All Failed

8/27/2007 Group Turns To The Web To Keep The Drillers