Kost Fired as General Manager of WhiteWings

Published on August 26, 2008 under United League Baseball (ULB)
Last updated: August 26, 2008
Source: Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings News Release


Harlingen, TX - The Harlingen WhiteWings Baseball Club relieved Dave Kost of his General Managerial duties on Thursday, July 14th.

When Kost was announced as the new General Manager of the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings back in October of 2007, he made it very clear that his mission was to change the overall attitude about WhiteWings' baseball in Harlingen, surrounding communities, and the Rio Grande Valley. It was very obvious that Kost meant business by changing with team name from Rio Grande Valley to Harlingen which included team logo, color, and uniform changes. "It made sense to make those changes then and it appeared to work because we had a lot of fans visit the clubhouse store this year to buy their favorite team apparel", Dave Kost said.

Despite the fact that the WhiteWings were the worst team, on the field, this year in the United League finishing the 2008 campaign with a record of 20-62, which included the cancellation of the final 3 regular season games in Amarillo, fans seemed to buy into this new attitude created by the WhiteWings front office under the direction of Kost. Part of the mission statement included providing the community with affordable family entertainment and with attendance much higher than last year, fans certainly agreed. "Since day one of my tenure I made it known that our goal was to get families back to the ballpark by providing affordable family entertainment and we enjoyed seeing our hard work payoff", Dave Kost said. "We were experiencing great crowds right up until Hurricane Dolly changed the landscape of the valley and particularly Harlingen", added Kost. "Attendance was light for the 3-4 days after that but picked up nicely for the remaining home games".

So to recap, a new name, new logo, new uniforms, new attitude, new General Manager, and higher attendance creates the mystery of why would you fire the person who created a successful trend. "Of course I was given a reason as to why I was relieved of my duties and it's important for me to have people understand that it had nothing to do with nothing, in terms of the explanation I was given by ownership", Kost said. "Several issues remain unresolved regarding my contract but I am more concerned that our fan base, season ticket holders, and community know that I was fired and I did not resign", Kost said. "I made a commitment to turn this organization around and we were well on our way to doing that so I don't want anyone to think, for a second, that I bailed on this project because that couldn't be further from the truth", Kost added.

"I want to take this opportunity to personally thank our fans, vendors, season tickets, City of Harlingen, and the entire community for their outstanding commitment to the WhiteWings during my tenure", Kost said.

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