chris richards / ARIZONA DAILY STAR 2003

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In 40 seasons of Pacific Coast League baseball in Tucson, the Toros/Sidewinders had six ownership groups. The price of the team went from $6,000 to $15 million.

Although three previous owners had a higher percentage return on their investment, none pocketed more of a profit than Tucsonan Jay Zucker. He made an estimated $6.5 million on his sale to a group of rich guys from New York.

At the franchise's final game Monday night, Zucker appeared to get choked up and teary-eyed while addressing the crowd on the stadium's PA system. Surely they were tears of joy. Baseball is a business even in the backwater PCL. If nothing else, the baseball novice Zucker proved that his knowledge of dollars and cents overcame his unfamiliar sports background.

Here is how the Toros/Sidewinders owners profited:

● Pennsylvanian Roy Jackson paid $6,000 and sold for $600,000.

● The Bill Estes family of Tucson bought for $600,000 and sold for $685,000.

● Canadian entrepreneur Bill Yuill bought for $685,000 and sold for $3.3 million.

● Chicago real estate investor Rick Holtzman bought for $3.3 million and sold for $8 million.

● Upstate New York industrialist Martin Stone bought for $8 million and sold for $8.5 million.

● Zucker bought for $8.5 million and sold for $15 million.

"The PCL will be back in Tucson someday,'' said Rincon High grad Jimmy Johnson, manager of the Toros in the 1980s and now a Colorado Rockies instructor. "I wouldn't give up on it.''

But the price goes up yearly and the Tucson Electric Park location is undesirable. To bring the PCL back to Tucson it would cost, minimum, $50 million to $100 million for a new stadium in a better location. Never say never, but the return of PCL baseball in Tucson is as close to never as you can get.

Sixteen former Arizona Wildcats will open the season on NFL active rosters in Week 1. They are scheduled to earn a cumulative $50 million. Here's the list in rounded-off figures:

● Chris McAlister, cornerback, Ravens, $10.9 million.

● Dennis Northcutt, receiver, Jaguars, $5.5 million.

● Lance Briggs, linebacker, Bears, $5.4 million.

● Antonio Pierce, linebacker, Giants, $5.3 million.

● Bobby Wade, receiver, Vikings, $4 million.

● Antoine Cason, cornerback, Chargers, $2.5 million.

● Edwin Mulitalo, tackle, Lions, $2.3 million.

● Tedy Bruschi, linebacker, Patriots, $1.7 million.

● Brandon Manumaleuna, tight end, Chargers, $1.6 million.

● Chris Henry, tailback, Titans, $661,000.

● Nick Folk, kicker, Cowboys, $397,000.

● Michael Johnson, safety, Giants, $388,000.

● Copeland Bryan, defensive end, Ravens, $376,000.

● Syndric Steptoe, receiver, Browns, $310,000.

● Lionel Dotson, defensive line, Dolphins, $300,000.

● Spencer Larsen, fullback, Broncos, $295,000.

Among those attending the final Sidewinders game last week was Jim Olander, a major-league scout for the Detroit Tigers. The former Sahuaro High School outfielder was scouting some Salt Lake players. He is one of 12 ballplayers from Tucson-area high schools to have played for the Toros/Sidewinders. The others were: Erubiel Durazo, Amphi; Rich Hinton, Marana; Frank Kellner, Catalina; Willie Morales, Tucson; Ed Vosberg, Salpointe; Tom Wiedenbauer, Sahuaro; Colin Porter, CDO; Jesus Cota, Sunnyside; Scott Hairston, CDO; Jason Jacome, Rincon; and Jeff Morris, Catalina. … At this time last year, Cholla High grad Mel Stocker was an outfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers. This year he was demoted to Class A Brevard in the Florida State League, where he finished the season hitting. 322 with 19 steals in 40 games. … To those who continue to assail retiring Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen for the league's lack of exposure on ESPN, take a look at what the WAC got from ESPN last week. WAC commissioner Karl Benson agreed to a long-term deal in which its teams will have to play football games on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays in addition to Thursdays and Saturdays. Because ESPN's prime time programming was long ago awarded to Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12 markets, the WAC had to settle for six football games annually on ESPNU, which is available in only about 19.5percent of American homes.

CDO senior Nick Marshall, who is a college-level soccer recruit, kicked four consecutive points-after-touchdown during the Dorados' 28-0 victory over Sahuaro on Friday. That gives Marshall a streak of 75 consecutive PATs in his high school career. "He's getting looked at by some colleges,'' said CDO football coach Pat Nugent. … Former UA and Sabino High golfer Nate Tyler continued his remarkable season on the Gateway Tour. He now has seven consecutive top-10 finishes (he was ninth last week in Dallas) and has been under-par in 18 of his last 19 rounds. Tyler has two events left before he begins preparations for the PGA Tour Qualifying School. … Former CDO basketball coach John Saintignon, a Salpointe grad who was on Jay John's staff at Oregon State, is back in college coaching. After two seasons coaching in the Mexican pro league, Saintignon has been hired as assistant head coach at Division II Cal State-Stanislaus. … Last September, CDO grad Shelley Duncan was hitting home runs for the New York Yankees. Today, he is starting in right field for Scranton-Wilkes Barre (Pa.) in the International League playoffs with a .239 batting average.

Here's a name to file for future reference: When Salpointe Catholic opened its boys swimming season last week, freshman Alex Leighton won the butterfly and helped his team win two relay events. Talk about good genes; Alex is the son of Crissy Ahmann Perham, the UA's first female NCAA champion and a 1992 Barcelona Olympics gold medalist. Crissy's premier event also was the butterfly. … Tucsonan Lacey Nymeyer was in Chicago last week as part of Oprah Winfrey's season-opening special on the USA Olympic team. Nymeyer, who won a silver medal in swimming in Beijing, was among about 160 USA Olympic medalists invited to the program, which will air Monday afternoon. … Best travel story of the week was from Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who admitted he and an assistant coach got lost while driving from Chicago to Cincinnati. But how about this one involving the Nogales High School junior varsity football team: Nogales' varsity coach, Vince Villanucci, got a call from athletic director Tim Colgate early Friday asking why the JV team did not return from Douglas until 2 a.m. After a few phone calls, Colgate and Villanucci discovered that the bus driver took the wrong turn out of Douglas and didn't realize her problem until she saw a sign that said, "Welcome to New Mexico."

Never thought I'd see the day that the long-distinguished UA men's and women's golf teams didn't have a single player ranked in the Top 100 by Golfweek magazine, the periodical that more closely covers college golf than any other.

Nor is either team ranked in the Top 25.

How did this happen? Part of it is that the UA's home course, Arizona National, is a 30-minute (or more) drive from campus. Another reason, as Golfweek reports, is that Pac-10 foes UCLA, USC, Arizona State, Stanford, Cal and Washington have spent millions for nearby practice facilities.

Further, cold-weather schools of all sizes — Northwestern, Illinois, Colorado State, East Tennessee State, Kent State, Iowa, et al. — have built indoor practice facilities that give them some recruiting traction.

UA coaches Rick LaRose and Shelly Haywood both are fielding extremely young teams this year, rebuilding to some degree. Battling back into the Top 25 is going to be harder than it has ever been.

The UA last week sent a rare e-mail to its constituency announcing the availability of men's basketball tickets "in all areas'' of McKale Center. The school outlined a procedure in which those tickets soon will be available on its Web site.

Predictably, the once-coveted basketball tickets have become less coveted following the turbulence and uncertainty of the last two seasons.

Could anything else go wrong? Well …

This is a significant week for the Lute Olson enterprise. The only meaningful recruit left on Arizona's once-impressive wish list, Seattle point guard Abdul Gaddy, is visiting UCLA this weekend and will entertain Bruins coach Ben Howland in Seattle on Tuesday night.

The UA goofed two weeks ago when it offered a scholarship to Reger Dowell, a middle-tier point guard recruit from Texas, rather than wait for Gaddy's decision. It's not that the UA gave Gaddy an ultimatum, but rather that it didn't show him much respect by going after Dowell first. What was the rush? It wasn't a shrewd political move.

Gaddy already has withdrawn a commitment to Arizona but has pledged to make an official visit to Tucson next weekend — unless he first commits to UCLA. If that happens, the damage done to Arizona's reputation (not to mention its future roster) will be crushing.

Over the last 20 years, the UA has recruited a score of prospects more touted than Gaddy, but rarely has it needed a player as much as it needs him now.