Baseball: How the Auckland Tuatara survived a Covid-19 enforced hibernation early into their existence

Kyle Glogoski returned to the Auckland Tuatara for the 2022-23 ABL season. Photo / Photosport

The Auckland Tuatara are out of hibernation and thriving again.

Just two seasons into their existence, New Zealand’s professional baseball team were forced to bring a halt to operations by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In just their second season of the Australian Baseball League, the Tuatara qualified for the playoffs and had gained plenty of momentum locally. While it was their second year in the league, it was their first where they were able to utilise their home ground of North Harbour Stadium and provide the full intended product after something of a makeshift campaign in their debut year.

All of that momentum was brought to an abrupt stop, with the team opting out of the 2020-21 ABL season. It wasn’t a popular decision, and for a moment there was talk that they might lose their league license. Ultimately, they were fined and allowed to remain a part of the competition in the future.

For a new franchise, it was a risk to take – particularly when the Government had offered them a sum Wood estimated around $500,000 to help them go and spend the season based in Australia, an offer that the team politely declined.

It was a difficult decision to make but now, with the team back in action and playing good baseball, Tuatara general manager Regan Wood said it was the right call.

“Playing in Australia, you’re kind of out of mind, out of sight,” Wood said.

“If you’re not in New Zealand, you don’t get the support of mainstream media, the fans don’t know what’s going on, the time difference, when it’s on TV, and you drift away.

“Some of the teams got a little grumpy at us, but once they listened to our side of it, why we didn’t play and the fact we’d told people we weren’t going to play, they were very supportive.

The Auckland Tuatara reached the playoffs in just their second season in the ABL. Photo: SMPImages / Photosport

“It was the hardest decision not to play,” Wood said. “The easy decision would’ve been to play and take the Government money. But we said no, you keep your money and we won’t play. That was the sensible thing to do, and I’d suggest some of the other sports teams might be a little bit envious of that decision we made.”

Not only were they relinquishing some of the progress they had made in their short lifespan, but there was also the fact that it takes some time before a sports team is profitable and the Tuatara had not yet reached that stage – and their one-year hiatus became a two-year hibernation when they decided to withdraw from the 21-22 season due to ongoing uncertainty.

Unlike some sports teams who have players locked in on multi-year deals, the Tuatara were helped by the fact their players are on season-by-season deals and therefore had no player wages to cover. As Wood says, “You just have to reduce the costs, put your crash helmet on, and go from there.”

Despite the fact they weren’t playing and, being out of the public eye meant they weren’t generating a fanbase, their creditors continued to back the franchise where and how they could. And while the Tuatara brand wasn’t being represented on the baseball diamond, it was alive and well in the New Zealand sports scene early in 2022 with the franchise purchasing the Auckland Huskies in the national basketball league and rebranding them to the Tuatara.

Adding another team to the Tuatara family was something Wood had always been considering, and there had been suggestions made to him about perhaps taking on a team in another sport and turning away from baseball.

Instead, took on a second team which allowed them to utilise the members of their staff in a more effective manner.

“The big decision for us around the basketball was to grow the Tuatara brand. Having a sports brand – unless you’re someone like the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Manchester United or the All Blacks – it’s very difficult to be in front of the public,” Wood said.

“We made the decision to go ‘well, what if we had two or three, maybe four, different sports?’ We can grow this Tuatara brand which stands for community, fun, success on the field, accountability – all those things that we hold dear to our hearts.

Rob Loe captained the Auckland Tuatara to a runner-up finish in their debut season in the NZNBL. Photo / Photosport

Recruiting Kiwi veteran Rob Loe as their first signing saw them make an immediate impact before adding coach Aaron Young. The Tuatara exceeded expectations in their first season in the NBL – finishing the year as runners-up.

Wood said it turned out having a foot in both arenas has acted as a driver; the basketball side may wonder why bother with baseball if the baseball team isn’t performing well, and vice versa.

“We were committed to it. We made the hard call, but the right calls, early, parked the egos and said right, what’s the right thing to do for this organisation? It was to hibernate it, and what was really important was to put a competitive team on the field when we came back.”

Led by former Major League Baseball players Tzu-Wei Lin and Toru Murata, with a host of minor league talent including Kiwis Kyle Glogoski (Cincinnati Reds), Jason Matthews (Chicago White Sox), Elliot Johnstone (New York Mets) and Clayton Campbell Jr (Detroit Tigers), the Tuatara have come back with a vengeance.

Clayton Campbell Jr is one of several young Kiwis currently plying their trade in Minor League Baseball. Photo / Photosport

They have won three of their first four series in the 2022-23 season, and sit second in their division with a 10-7 record; already making plans around a potential playoff run early next year.

“When you ask how we did it, or more to the point why we did it, we did it because we’re in this thing; we’re in the middle of the ocean and you can’t turn around. You’ve just got to get across the other side.

“The easy thing would’ve been to wind up the franchise; to say ‘look, Covid’s got us. Sorry people.’ But you never want to die wondering and when you’re on this Earth for such a short space of time, why not have some fun on the way through?”