South Bend Silver Hawks owner makes dreams come true (including his own).
by Steve Kaelble
“My father used to take me to a lot of White Sox games,” Andrew Berlin recalls. Yes, the family lived closer to Wrigley Field, but back in those days, the only Chicago ballpark with lights was Comiskey Park, and because night games fit the schedule better for Berlin's dad, they cheered for the White Sox. “If workers wanted to take their sons to the ballgame after work, there was only one ballpark.”
Fast-forward to today. Andrew Berlin is now 53, and runs the Chicago-based family business, Berlin Packaging, an $800 million company that makes plastic and glass bottles, jars and closures to package food, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The company operates dozens of distribution centers across the country.
Berlin also owns a slice of the White Sox that he's supported his whole life; he's not allowed to say what percentage of the team he acquired in 2007, but his role is investor, as opposed to management. “It's a great team, and seeing the team and observing how it operates has given me great ideas. I got bitten by the bug,” he says. “I do have an intention of buying a Major League team, but a Major League team has to be for sale.”
So in the meantime, he did the next best thing. In late 2011, he bought the South Bend Silver Hawks, the Class A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. In doing so, he moved a step closer toward his ultimate dream, and fulfilled the dream of South Bend-area business leaders who were determined to keep the team in town for the long-term.
The Silver Hawks came to South Bend in 1988 as a farm team for the White Sox. Six years later the team took on the name of a famed Studebaker model manufactured in South Bend, the Silver Hawk, and in 1997 the Silver Hawks switched their affiliation to the Diamondbacks. The team won Midwest League championships in 1989, 1993 and 2005, but by that time there were rumors that the team was about to be sold and moved to Illinois.
In stepped Joe Kernan, the former Indiana governor and South Bend mayor. He put together an investment group to buy the team and keep it in South Bend. “As a group, they were the captains of industry,” Berlin says. “They did everything they could to keep the team in town, and they succeeded.”
They succeeded by ultimately selling the team to Berlin in 2011 and signing him to a two-decade lease at South Bend's Coveleski Stadium. Berlin also agreed to invest more than $2 million of his own money to upgrade the ballpark. It was a lucky connection for all parties. “I bought the team on 11/11/11 at 11:11 a.m.,” Berlin observes. “Baseball is all about superstition, and 11 is a good-luck number.”
Apparently so, because the numbers have all been moving in the right direction ever since. Attendance so far this season is up by 20 percent over last year. And last season, Berlin's first as owner, attendance was 68 percent higher than the year before. Even more important to baseball fans, the Silver Hawks in late June had a league-best record of 44-25.
Local business leaders like the numbers, too, according to Jeff Rea, president and CEO of the St. Joseph County Chamber of Commerce. “The Silver Hawks provide an important economic boost to our downtown, last year attracting over 180,000 people to downtown South Bend. They are a great asset to our community and an important part of the quality of life of the entire region. We are thrilled that the Silver Hawks call South Bend home.”
As good as the numbers have been, being a team owner means a lot more than numbers to Berlin. “You get into a business to make money, but once you're able to achieve a positive cash flow, you want to make money and have fun doing it,” he says. “South Bend is very close to Chicago, so my family and I can now go enjoy baseball in South Bend as well as on the South Side of Chicago.”
Clearly, baseball is a lot different from the packaging business, but “in any business the fundamentals are the same,” Berlin says. “You have to thrill the customers and convert prospects to customers.” And by that measure, the Silver Hawks are thriving. “We're hitting it out of the park.”
One key business aspect of minor league baseball is the fact that each team's players are all on the payroll of the affiliated Major League team, which uses its network of farm teams to develop and test athletes. The best ones, if they're fortunate, are called up to “The Show.” “We don't have to pay player salaries and don't have to recruit,” Berlin observes. “But if you get too good, the Diamondbacks are going to want to pick some of your players.”
Of course, if and when Berlin achieves his ultimate goal of becoming a primary owner of a Major League team, he'll rely heavily on the efforts of farm teams such as the Silver Hawks. In the meantime, he's doing all he can to make baseball in South Bend a home run, including pumping his own money into a stadium he does not own. Following a major renovation, there are now new family-oriented amenities such as a playground and splash pad, new suites, additional seats and a new team store.
“In general, it totally changed the fan experience,” says David Rafinski, vice president at the architectural and engineering firm Jones Petrie Rafinski. “It went from being a sit-in-your-seat-and-watch-the-game experience to the ability to get up and move around the stadium and enjoy different activities while watching the game. It makes the fans keep wanting to come back.”
Ballpark Digest named the project last year's Ballpark Renovation of the Year. According to the publication, “ballpark renovations should have one major goal: to turn the facility into a true destination. And that's what happened.”
Rea gives the project high praise as well. “We believe the improvements that have been made and the new look, feel and attitude at the ballpark mean good things for the future of the franchise and community.”
Lou Pierce is president of the Big Idea Company, a marketing and communications firm that worked with Berlin as he was getting league approval to buy the team. Pierce says Berlin has been very hands-on with the team, much more so than many owners tend to be. That includes the stadium renovation project. “On the day of Opening Day, he was working at the stadium, pushing a broom, and when they didn't have enough brooms and dustpans, he went to Lowe's and bought some more.”
Timothy Sexton, associate vice president for public affairs at the University of Notre Dame, also is thrilled with all Berlin has done for the team and the town. “The South Bend Silver Hawks have gone through an unbelievable transformation over the past 18 months and have become a destination spot for fun for many.”
Sexton adds that Berlin and the Silver Hawks have been great neighbors, including offering their field to the university team when Notre Dame's facility suffered storm damage. “This past spring, the Silver Hawks allowed the University of Notre Dame's baseball team to play a series at Coveleski Stadium,” he says. “Frank Eck Stadium, home of the Fighting Irish baseball team, was washed out due to rain and the Silver Hawks stepped to the plate, no pun intended, to help us out.”
“We have a very good partnership with the city of South Bend,” Berlin says. “We have prided ourselves that whenever we say something, we actually follow through.”
And why not be a good neighbor? Baseball is the ultimate feel-good, family sport, according to Berlin. “Baseball is a very romantic sport. It's got great history and great stories. Grown men become little boys when they go to a game.”
