What’s the Count?

California CPA magazine: June 2008

Dan Vistica, senior vice president and CFO for the Sacramento River Cats, is entering his ninth season with the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland A’s. Prior to joining the River Cats, Vistica worked in private industry for more than 20 years in various roles at an environmental engineering firm (vice president and CFO), a subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company in the oilfield services business (vice president and CFO) and at the corporate headquarters (tax/financial manager) of the same Fortune 500 company.

What attracted you to the River Cats?
The challenge and professional rush surrounding a start-up situation: construction of a state-of-the-art ball park and entertainment facility, and dealing with developing systems, staffing, operations and the details that surround this business. It didn’t hurt that the majority owner and I worked together in the 1970s at Haskins & Sells, now Deloitte.

Have you always been interested in baseball?
Growing up in the 1950s in Portland, Ore., I enjoyed many Triple-A Portland Beavers games. We recently did oversight management/consulting for the club, which was special to me. Moving to Southern California in the early 1960s brought me the Dodgers and hours of enjoyment listening to Vin Scully dissecting baseball statistics and subtleties. When my sons started to play baseball, I jumped in to manage for about 10 years—best times of my life working with them and many other fine young men.

How many games do you attend each season?
We opened Raley Field May 15, 2000, and have had more than 600 games since then. I have missed three games over the course of our existence.

Who’s the next River Cat star that fans can expect to see in an Oakland A’s uniform?
My prediction would be Carlos Gonzalez. He came to the Oakland organization this past off-season in a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks that included the D-Backs getting pitcher Dan Haren from the A’s. Carlos can hit, throw, run and his defensive skills in the outfield are outstanding. I was offered in the package, but the D-Backs declined.

How will the River Cats fare this season?
While it will be difficult to exceed our 2007 season, where we again led all of minor league baseball (160 teams) in attendance and won both the Pacific Coast League and Triple A Championships, we should have a very strong and competitive team. My pre-season crystal ball had us at 82-62, which would probably get us into the playoffs.

Minor league baseball is known for its wacky promotions. What’s your favorite?
A couple of my favorite and semi-wacky promotions that we have are our mobile River Cats hot dog cannon that shoot buns and wieners into the crowd, and our superhero, Roof Man, who saves baseballs from being lost forever on our stadium roof and distributes them to kids.

Just how many river cats are there in Sacramento?
Well, there really is only one river cat in Sacramento: Dinger. He’s our mascot and left the river behind May 15, 2000, to join the club. So far, fans are pleased with what he does for us at the ballpark and in the community, where all the kids love him.