Having lost their owner and face of the franchise, what’s next for Wichita Wind Surge?
Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple met with Lou Schwechheimer only once, and he said that was all he needed to know what kind of man he was.
Schwechheimer, the Wichita Wind Surge owner and general manager who died of COVID-19 Wednesday at 62, grew up in New England and worked for more than three decades in the Boston Red Sox organization. Whipple, who spent time in that same region, said Schwechheimer picked up on their similar accents right away.
Whipple and Schwechheimer were supposed to spend just a few minutes together discussing the New Orleans Baby Cakes’ move to Wichita. But that meeting turned into a few hours. Schwechheimer talked about baseball and the new downtown ballpark he envisioned and all of the exciting things that he had in store for the Triple-A team at Riverfront Stadium.
But one topic in particular sold Whipple on Schwechheimer being the right man to lead the newly named Wichita Wind Surge.
“His purpose here wasn’t to sell tickets; it was to make Wichita better,” Whipple said. “He told me how he wanted to build a place in Wichita where his daughter could be here and live close to him because he missed seeing her.”
News of Schwechheimer’s passing broke at 3:39 p.m. Wednesday via a statement sent out by Jared Forma, the team’s senior vice president and co-general manager. Some of Wichita’s most popular personalities were soon taking to social media to express their condolences.
“Lou Schwechheimer is one of those guys you met once and felt like you’d known for years,” said Bob Lutz, The Eagle’s former longtime sports writer. “I am so sorry to hear about the news of his passing. He was so excited about being a part of professional baseball in Wichita. Damn.”
Wichita State baseball coach Eric Wedge, who played for a Schwechheimer-owned team while with the Boston Red Sox farm system, said Schwechheimer was a “true difference-maker.”
“People always asked me what I thought about them bringing the team to Wichita, and I always said, ‘You’ve got the right guy, because this guy is not going to fail,’” Wedge said. “He was never afraid. He was a strong, strong man. Very affable. He was a guy that was never going to fail, let’s put it that way. He was going to come here and make this city better, and he already made this city better.”
Riverfront Stadium, where games have yet to be played because of this season’s cancellation amid the pandemic that took Schwechheimer’s life, provides the most visceral evidence of Schwechheimer’s impact on Wichita. The ballpark is already deemed by many as one of the best in Minor League Baseball.
Schwechheimer was without question the face of the Wind Surge, its majority owner. And the team will remain in his family’s name, Forma said.
“In that regard, it’s business as usual,” Forma said. “Everything that Lou ever said will be done. All of that is still happening. We’re moving forward full-steam ahead, and if anything, we’re going to push it even further because that’s what Lou would want. ...
“In some ways, he will continue to be the face of our franchise. Everything we do will be channeling Lou’s spirit.”
Schwechheimer has already done the hard part, Forma said: He brought the vision of pro baseball’s return here to life. Now it’s up to the rest of the franchise to follow through on what he started.
“Bringing affliated baseball back to Wichita and building this beautiful Riverfront Stadium, it was almost a pipe dream a few years ago,” Forma said. “He dreamed it and brought it to life. He was magical to watch. It was never just words, whether it was about his love for baseball or his love for Wichita.
“He truly fell in love with this place and the great people in Wichita. It was his home.”
Whipple, the Wichita mayor, said that what made Schwechheimer different was that he wasn’t just a visionary, but a man of action.
“Lou told me he wanted to use the facilities to let low-income, non-profit youth baseball teams get better,” Whipple said. “He had a vision of putting Shrek up on the jumbotron at night, let families come in, put a blanket down and watch a movie for free. He told me stories about how he sought out kids with a troubled background and offered them a job because he felt like being part of something bigger than themselves would have a positive impact on them.
“He told me all of this, and I only met him once. That’s just the kind of guy he was.”
This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 5:02 PM.