by Hank Hanson, Yuma Sun

October 4, 2011: Yuma, AZ – It’s been a tough few years for the fans of the national pastime in our fair town.  What are the odds that a foreigner might save the fiery, burning wreck spiraling to the ground that is Yuma Bulldozers baseball?

When the PEBA experiment started in 2007, many observers had their money on Yuma becoming the dominant ballgame town in Arizona, and the weak first season of the Tempe Knights seemed to prove them right.  A few years later, the roles have reversed.  The Knights won 101 games this season, while the ‘Dozers haven’t lost less than a 100 games in their 5-year history.

And now the team is also looking for a new owner after the previous holders threw up their hands in frustration and walked out.  Uncertainty rules in the clubhouse.  1B Carlos Guerera, whose .341 AVG led the team by a huge margin this year, is confident, however.  “We have the town’s support, the players are hungry; now all we need is the financial muscle to grease the machine.”

An aptly chosen metaphor.  The latest candidate for taking over the team once the offseason kicks off knows something about machines.  Alex Heller hails from Germany, and his trade is machines large and small that he sells across the world under the well-known HellCraft brand name.  One of his plants operates just outside town in Blaisdell, employing 200 people.

But why would a middle-aged German industrialist pour his money into a Major League baseball club?  “The game has always fascinated me”, he explains.  “I grew up in a small town with American soldiers’ kids.  We would play ball in the afternoons.  I kept following this wonderful sport, hoping I could at some point leave my own mark on the game.  And I think the time has come now.”

A bold statement?  Certainly.  Arrogant?  It may seem so at first, but if you sat down with Heller as we did last week for a Schnitzel at Das Bratwurst Haus and talk baseball, you’ll notice this Teuton knows his sport, and he’s passionate about it.  But why Yuma?

“As you know I have a small plant nearby.  Whenever I was over here and had a chance, I would catch a ballgame.  It’s a shame how the club was treated in the past and how much bad luck they had.  I hope I’m allowed to give the fine townsfolk the great games they deserve.”  He smiles a boyish grin.  “And it would be a way for me to give something back to the community that has supported this part of my corporation so well these past ten years.”

Not all players seem to be happy about the prospect.  Said one infielder who spoke on the condition of anonymity, “An owner who’d be outside the country most of the time?  How will this help us?  On the other hand, we may finally have some quiet around the clubhouse, without an obsessive owner breathing our necks all the time.”

Rumors of relocation have hung over the team for two years now.  Alex Heller will have none of it.  “If at first you don’t succeed, keep trying till you do.  If I become owner of the Bulldozers, I promise not to move the team away from their loyal fans.”  With a smirk, he adds, “And no, Lederhosen won’t become our home uniform.  That’s too Bavarian for a North German like me, anyways.”