Altoona Curve

Commitment made Lozinak’s dream come true

BY Neil Rudel

nrudel@altoonamirror.com

The Lozinak family has sold the Curve, and the only thing left for them to do is take a bow.

All the way back to the early 1970s, Bob Lozinak had a vision to bring minor league baseball to his hometown of Altoona, and although his dream was eventually realized, he overcame disappointments along the way.

At first, in 1976, city and community leaders ran into and presented resistance over how local leagues might be affected.

So Lozinak instead bought the Albuquerque Dukes, an organization affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers that quickly became one of the best-run franchises in the minor leagues.

When another opportunity developed locally in the late 1990s, through the early groundwork of Tate DeWeese and Mark Thomas and others, this time the area did not boot the one-hopper.

Local politicians such as Bob Jubelirer recruited Lozinak -- his old Altoona High classmate -- and Blair County Ballpark, with the help of city, county, state and national politicians, was built.

Altoona and Blair County came out in droves, averaging 4,000 per game over 25 years and even more on the weekends, and in fact proved Lozinak right -- that the area would support minor league baseball.

The extra-rich icing was an affiliation with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Lozinak, though, didn't like working with DeWeese, an idea man who was also difficult, and wound up selling the team to Chuck Greenberg in 2001, just two years after its launch.

The hole in Lozinak's heart was mended when he bought the team back in 2008 and has owned it since.

His son, David, has served as club president and one of his grandsons, Will, is employed there so deciding to sell again was a difficult family decision.

"It's a heart-string for sure because you put your lifeblood into it," David Lozinak said, "Is it the time to make a change? We hope so."

State Rep. Jim Gregory (R-Blair), who was among the Curve's first employees, called the news "bittersweet."

"I'm so happy for Bob and Joan and their family, but I'm sad that an era comes to an end," he said. "I think the Lozinak family is to be put in a place in our hearts for the incredible number of memories millions have experienced because of their love of this area."

David Lozinak said his parents' age - Bob is 86 - became a factor.

"This is where Mom and Dad were from, and we were involved from Day 1 in the building of the stadium," he said. "Dad's health has declined the last couple years. They're not spring chickens anymore, and they'll admit as much. I'm pushing 60 (actually 57) as well. It's hard to put in 16-hour days as you get older."

The clubhouse routines and dynamics have also changed over the decades. Owners - and writers, for that matter - could sit around before and after games with the manager and staff and gain insight.

Now that time is occupied by obsessive reports and the analytic-driven culture of how many degrees a curve ball drops.

"It's not like when I worked with Albuquerque, meeting with managers after every game," David Lozinak said. "It doesn't have the same feel as it did back then."

Further, Major League Baseball contracted 40 minor league teams in the last couple of years and keeps raising the bar on the facilities of its affiliated teams. The Curve received state grants of $2.4 million to upgrade its downstairs infrastructure during the last offseason.

"We always felt we were in pretty good shape because of this amazing stadium," David Lozinak said.

With their McDonald's background, the Lozinaks specialized in service and maintaining a clean ballpark that has been the jewel of the community.

Aside from the Lozinaks' age, the shrine of a stadium made the sale attractive to Diamond Baseball Holdings, which owns 20 other minor league teams and has plans for further expansion.

"We're super impressed," Peter Freund, CEO of DBH, said.

In that regard, the Lozinak family is confident DBH will build on the solid foundation left behind.

And the Lozinaks did it by leaving no stone unturned.

Here's a funny, true story: In the Curve's first year, Jim Lane and I bought two season tickets each (and kept them for many years). They were in the second row behind the plate, next to the Curve dugout.

During a media event a few days before the 1999 opener, we went over to check out our seats and immediately recognized that the dugout roof was too high - obstructing our view to right field (and even first base). We wandered over to the third-base side, and it was the same.

Lozinak and his team pledged to get the situation rectified, and they did.

After temporarily repositioning us for about a month, construction workers removed one row of cinder blocks the entire way around and lowered the roofs of both dugouts.

That kind of commitment, from the beginning, helped cement a legacy of incredible ownership - a local guy living his dream — that will stand forever.

Rudel can be reached at 814-946-7527 or nrudel@altoonamirror.com.