AT&T Field is the home stadium of the Chattanooga Lookouts.The Chattanooga Lookouts and Minnesota Twins displayed their commitment to one another Wednesday with the signing of a four-year player development contract.
That commitment is especially evident with the Twins, who have partnered with a Class AA franchise that within months could undergo a change in ownership. Bill Smith, the former general manager of the Twins who now serves as a special assistant to Minnesota’s GM and president, visited Tuesday night and Wednesday with Lookouts owner Frank Burke and Lookouts general manager Rich Mozingo.
“We have enough confidence in our own organization that we can work with anybody,” Smith said. “We’ve been with other player development arrangements where there have been ownership changes, and we’re confident in our side of the relationship that whoever they sell this club to, we will work well with them. We just went through this in New Britain (Conn.) two years ago, and we’ve had a great relationship with the people up there. Frankly, Rich’s role is probably more critical, because he’s our day-to-day guy.
“We’ve been in Rochester (N.Y.) for 12 years. We were in New Britain for 20. We’ve been in Fort Myers (Fla.) for 20. We come to stay.”
Smith has been with the Twins for 28 years and has known Burke most of that time. The two served for a decade together on Minor League Baseball’s board of trustees.